You can then define the appearance of a graphical component. Create a folder called drawable. Within this folder create an xml file with an appropriate name for the appearance that you want to create, say red_menu_btn1.xml. You can use the shape tag in conjunction with the item tag to specify specific features of the appearance, for example:

red_menu_btn1.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >

    <item>
        <shape>
		\\ description tags
        </shape>
    </item>
</selector>

Example item tag

You can specify the appearance when in a particular “state”. In this case we will apply it to a button which can be pressed. This could allow you to change the entire “look & feel” of a button in one click. The code below changes how the colour of a button is displayed when clicked.

<item android:state_pressed="true">
</item>

Example shape tags

You can set image related attributes by defining shape drawables in xml and then them use as resources in java code and xml to set image related attributes. For example, to define the gradient of a shape then you could use a gradient element allows you to set start colour and end colour, stroke, corners and padding, gradient type and angle, as shown on a sample code below.

<shape>
        <gradient 
            android:startColor="@color/red_gradientS"
            android:endColor="@color/red_gradientE"
            android:angle="270"/>
        <stroke 
                android:width="1dip"
                android:color="@color/red_stroke"/>
        <corners 
                android:radius="3dip"/>
         <padding 
                android:left="10dip"
                android:right="10dip"/>
</shape>

A style resource is used to define the format and look for a User Interface (UI). You can apply a style to:

An individual View

An Entire Activity

A style or theme can be created by adding a <style> element with a unique name that identifies the style and then add an <item> element to define each of the style attributes. To do these you will have to open res/values/styles.xml file of your project. So, first you could define the style and set drawable background colour as in the following example:

<Button
       android:id="@+id/button4"
       android:background=
       "@drawable/blue_menu_btn1"   
       style="@style/main_menu_btnNormal1"
       android:text="Blue"
/> 

And later have the code to specify the name of each item elements and its attribute

<resources>
     <style name="main_menu">
        <item name="android:layout_width">fill_parent</item>
        <item name="android:layout_height">55dip</item>
        <item name="android:textColor">@color/menu_text_color</item>
        <item name="android:gravity">center</item>
        <item name="android:layout_marginLeft">45dip</item>
        <item name="android:layout_marginRight">45dip</item>
        <item name="android:textSize">30sp</item>
        <item name="android:textStyle">bold</item>
        <item name="android:shadowColor">@color/menu_shadow_color</item>
        <item name="android:shadowDx">1</item>
        <item name="android:shadowDy">1</item>
        <item name="android:shadowRadius">4</item>
    </style>
</resources>

Applying to a view

Then, the above defined style can be applied to the entire activity/application or an individual view using textview. So, you could write custom java class or apply to individual style like:

<TextView
    
style="@style/myStyle"
   
/>

At Design Time

You can apply that specified style at design time by adding the following sample code:

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button2"
    android:background="@drawable/red_menu_btn1"
    style="@style/main_menu_btnNormal1"
    android:text="Red"
    />

Or at Run Time using:

Resources res = getResources();
Drawable shape = res. getDrawable(R.drawable.gradient_box);

TextView button2 = (TextView)findViewByID(R.id.button2);
button2.setBackground(shape);

Simple borders can be added by setting a shape drawable (a rectangle) as background for the view and put the rectangle drawable topbottom.xml and sides.xml into res/drawable folder. You can then set a solid colour background in the theborder.xml by using @android:color="#... " and use padding to separate the text from the border.

So, first you will need to use a shape drawable theborder.xml and then set stroke, padding and corners as shown in theborder.xml, topbottom.xm and sides.xml

Drawable theborder.xml

<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<item>
     <shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> 
    	<stroke android:width="1dp" android:color="#55771B" /> 
    	<padding android:left="17dp" android:top="13dp" 
                              android:right="17dp" android:bottom="17dp" /> 
            <corners android:radius="14dp" /> 
     </shape>
</item>
</layer-list>

Drawable – topbottom.xml

<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item>
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <stroke
                android:width="2dp"
                android:color="#e10606" />
            <solid android:color="#9bce64" />
        </shape>
    </item>

    <item
        android:bottom="2dp"
        android:top="2dp" >
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <stroke
                android:width="2dp"
                android:color="#9bce64" />
        </shape>
    </item>
</layer-list>

Drawable – sides.xml

<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item>
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <stroke
                android:width="2dp"
                android:color="#e10606" />
            <solid android:color="#9bce64" />
        </shape>
    </item>

    <item
        android:end="2dp"
        android:start="2dp" >
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <stroke
                android:width="2dp"
                android:color="#9bce64" />
        </shape>
    </item>
</layer-list>

<TextView  
    	android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    	android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    	android:text="@string/hello"
    	android:background="@drawable/theborder“
/>

Ambient computing involves transformation of computing devices (IoT devices) by using existing technologies to create interconnected intelligent systems that enables communications between these devices without human interaction. The ambient computing address issues of interface design and interaction arise from ubiquitous computing and Pervasive computing. We looked at Ubiquitous computing and Pervasive computing on week 2 presentation, this presentation will cover Ambient computing.

The vision is to provide:

Computers Everywhere

Computers in Every Object

Computer Services can be accessed at any time and in any place

Action/Activities feeding data into a computer

Visual representation of changing data

Intelligent Cities

Advanced development of ambient computing led many cities around the world such as Singapore, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and many others around the world uses intelligent systems and architectures transforming them intelligent(smart) cities. The purpose is to for assist in the making of real-time decisions by enhancing communications, availability and accessibility of information at anywhere and at any time including:

Face recognition

Voice recognition

Monitoring of air quality

Chemical Sensors in phones!

Interactive Art

Interactive art is a form of art that involves the participation of a spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose, a good example of this is the “Cloud” and the Source which is a three story high kinetic sculpture. The “Cloud” is a “Persuasive” Device, pressure sensors monitor footfall at entrance to each lift and on each staircase.

The Source

This is a kinetic sculpture at the London Stock exchange which represents the movement of stocks and shares.

📹 The Source (Channel Four footage)

As discussed in previous section, ambient computing:

Present a small amount of information

Use sensory output

Colour

Sound

Changing picture

Single device

Unobtrusive

Ambient Computing Examples

Ambient Room at MIT

Ambient Orb

Ambient Umbrella

Ambient Energy Joule

Microsoft Whereabouts Clock

Ambient Orb

Energy Joule

Whereabouts Clock

How do these ideas relate to mobile platform development/ ubiquitous computing?

Big range of mobile devices that need programming.

Not just mobile phones

Sensors are part of many solutions

Decisions are made as sensor values are combined

Decisions are made as sensor values are combined