Android Question How do you start a new app/project?

Graham Bonner

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Hello,

How do you guys go about starting a new project.
Do you start getting it down on paper, do you jump straight into coding, do you use a tool to get your ideas in a workable format?

I'm asking as I struggle to finish my apps, I jump straight into coding and generally end up recoding large chunks as the first bits don't work for the next bits. This usually results in me getting fed up and frustrated and never getting things finished.

Any ideas welcome.
 

thedesolatesoul

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What do you mean by: the first bits don't work for the next bits?
I assume you mean your modules dont interface together, and this is the case with many libraries i picked up from the forum, had to re-code a lot of my stuff to glue with it.
Its a real problem and there is no way around it, you may be 99% done with the project and realize a small issue at the end (something that didnt scale initially), and you end up re-coding everything.
Its only after hitting these issues one after the other I have a small bit of foresight to know what can or will go wrong.
The only advice I can give you is to take the problem and divide it into as small bits as you possibly can.
Solve all of these individually in separate projects with a clean interface, and test them as much as you can.
Then export them as libs and use them in your main project.
 
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KMatle

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It depends on the experience you have. After some try-and-error projects you get to the point where you know how standard processes work and how to design them (like login/register -> Check it -> login ok/not ok -> ...) or "I need 20 panels. How do I handle them?".
 
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Peter Simpson

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When I get an idea for an app, I first think about what the basic screen layout should look like, then I start designing the basic screen layout(either in code or via the designer and designer script), then I place the code behind the screen layout. If I find that I need more views, I just add them as I need them.

It's that simple :)

I'm going to look into this Pencil Project @KMatle, cheers...
 
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Cableguy

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I usually start by making a mental gui and think of what would be nice to have; what I must have and how it should perform.
Them I make a paper version of my gui (didn't know pencil project existed until now ) and place my views. I always use relative positions in order for my gui to scale correctly.
I like to hard code my gui... but that's me, the designer is always a good option.
Then I start the real coding and if needed, I make "feature tryout projects" before messing up my main project.
It's not uncommon to find myself restarting my code project from zero because of a feature implementation...
 
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