Spinner and its settings

Spinner is quite a handy widget when you have a set of options to select from.

In the layout file, add the spinner widget with its width and height. Dropdown items of spinner can be taken from an array.


Use an array adapter to attach these values to the spinner.


ArrayAdapter<CharSequence> adapter = ArrayAdapter.createFromResource(
              this, R.array.lorem, android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item);
myspinner.setAdapter(adapter);
adapter.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);


But I faced a  problem that text color and gravity for spinner. Text color was  black and gravity was left even after setting proper values in xml file.

Now I created a theme in /res/values/styles.xml file as follows

<style parent="@android:style/Theme" name="my_theme">
 <item name="android:textColor">@android:color/white</item> 
<item name="android:gravity">center_horizontal</item> 
</style>

And then applied this theme to the activity in AndroidManifest,xml file of the application as

<activity android:name=".myactivity"   android:theme="@style/my_theme" />

Good. Now my spinner was looking nice with a background, an arrow, white text which is centered.

But the theme made the background and text both white, for dropdown items of the spinner



I created an xml file, language_options.xml  for the textview as follows

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TextView 
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:padding="20dp" 
android:gravity="left" 
android:textColor="@android:color/black" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
android:id="@+id/tv" > </TextView>



Then changed this for dropdownviewresource.

adapter.setDropDownViewResource(R.layout.language_options);

This textview is used for each of dropdown items in the pop up screen for spinner.

Next to add a title to the pop up screen I added this line


spInputLanguage.setPrompt("Select One");

Now this is how spinner items look like

Drawables in android - Part I

Have you ever gushed over beautiful , very beautiful UI of your android apps? Sorry, most of the times these are iphone apps. That does not mean you can try to create beautiful UIs in android app.

You can create a gradient background to your button of layout using xml easily. But today let us consider how it is done using code.

int colors2[] = new int[]{Color.CYAN, Color.WHITE,Color.CYAN};

GradientDrawable grDr =new GradientDrawable(GradientDrawable.Orientation.TOP_BOTTOM, colors2);

grDr.setCornerRadius(5);

grDr.setGradientType(GradientDrawable,LINEAR_GRADIENT);

grDr.setStroke(1,Color.WHITE);
btn.setBackgroundDrawable(grDr);

This is how the button would look.

The code is almost self explanatory. The constructor of GradientDrawable takes the orientation of gradient and array of colors as parameter. Orientation can be top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right etc, or TL_BR or TR_BL (top left to bottom right - diagonal and top right to bottom left). Unlike xml, the colors can be more than 3. Stroke is the line surrounding the gradient with first parameter as thickness of the line.

If you are more creative, you need to restrict yourself with java colors, you can even use html color codes.

e.g.

int

colors[] = new int[]{Color.parseColor("#451d42"),Color.parseColor("#efa5bc") ,

Color.parseColor("#b67caf"),Color.parseColor("#1e3e65"),Color.parseColor("#3224af")};

The parseColor function will convert html color code to java int color. Its string parameter is the code in the form #RRGGBB. If you provide improper code, it throws invalid argument exception at runtime.

Instead of linear gradient, you can have radial gradient or sweep gradient. The shape of gradient can be rectangle, line, oval or ring.

To use radial or radial gradient, you have to mention center of gradient and the radius. The center 1,1 is taken as lower right corner, 0,0 as upper left corner of your widget. Look at this radial gradient

 And the code for this radial gradient shown in the begining of post is

 int colors[]= new int[]{Color.parseColor("#cff2f5"), Color.parseColor("#23c5ca"),Color.parseColor("#21b1b9")};
 GradientDrawable grDr = new GradientDrawable(GradientDrawable.Orientation.TOP_BOTTOM, colors);
grDr.setGradientType(GradientDrawable.RADIAL_GRADIENT);
grDr.setGradientCenter(0,0.5f);
grDr.setGradientRadius(600);

By setting gradient type to sweeping, (and you need not set radius or center), you can create even more colorful gradients as shown below

int colors2[] = new int[]{Color.BLUE,Color.YELLOW,Color.RED,Color.GREEN,Color.MAGENTA,Color.WHITE};
 GradientDrawable grDr = new GradientDrawable(GradientDrawable.Orientation.TOP_BOTTOM, colors);  

grDr.setGradientType(GradientDrawable.RADIAL_GRADIENT);

In the next post, we will see how to use layer drawable. 

Using Kannada or Hindi font in your phone

I have published an app called Kannada Hindi keyboard in the android market. You can download it from here


https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hegdeapp.kannadakeypad&hl=en

Once you install the keyboard, you can select either kannada /hindi language.

You need to have kannada/hindi font installed in your phone. If it is not present, in my earlier post, I have mentioned how to install a custom font in your android phone
http://myandroidtipsandtricks.blogspot.in/2011/08/how-to-install-custom-font-in-your.htm

Now let us see how to use it. First of we need to enable this new input method. In my app, it is called kannada keyboard. In case of galaxy 551, you should select

Settings
Language and Keyboard
TextSettings - Check your keyboard name here. Check Kannada keyboard

Now this keyboard is activated.

When you are typing anything, to use this keyboard, long click on the text box. You get the context menu. In that select Input method option

Again check kannada keyboard

Now you touch on the text box, the kannada/hindi keyboad will appear on your phone.

Mobile Spy Review

MobileSpy, the state-of-the-art mobile monitoring application, is an advanced program that helps you monitor someone’s smartphone activities. Everything you need to do is to simply install it onto the target person’s cell phone; it will start recording each and every activity that the person does on his/her cell phone, and uploads them as logs to an authorized online account.

The need to monitor someone, such as your teenage son to know if he is indulged in any wrong companionships, your employee to know if he is misusing his company cell phone privileges or if he is leaking any of your business secrets to your rivals, and so on.

To avail the benefits of Mobile Spy monitoring app, you need to purchase, download and install the app onto the suspect’s smartphone. It is compatible with iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and others. You can checkout its official website to know detailed information, such as model numbers that are compatible with this innovative mobile monitoring app.

Once you install the app onto the user’s cell phone, it records and uploads activities, such as SMSs, Calls, Browsing History, Contacts including that are recently added, Images and Videos, Memos, GPS locations that the target person was present at given intervals, and so on.

How Does Mobile Spy Work?

Though using Mobile Spy sounds complicated, it is very easy and simple to install and use. In case of necessity, you can take help from its User Guide that you receive while buying the software online. Provided below is some basic information on how Mobile Spy works:

Step #1 – Check Compatibility

First thing you need to do before choosing Mobile Spy is to check the compatibility. This app works mainly on numerous smartphones of the five major platforms – BlackBerry, Symbian, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Android. Mobile Spy is also compatible with jail-broken iPad. You should note that Mobile Spy is not compatible with those tablets that you get in the local market, because they are neither smartphones nor do they have same hardware that smartphones include.   

Step #2 – Purchase Mobile Spy

If the target smartphone is compatible and if you are ready to purchase the Mobile Spy software, you need to visit its official website, fill-up all the required information including billing details, complete the form, and then check your email inbox. Once the purchase order is processed, you will immediately receive a confirmation mail that includes a URL to download Mobile Spy, a registration code, and a key that is required when you want to bring the Mobile Spy interface on the target smartphone in future.

Step #3 – Download and Install Mobile Spy Onto Target Phone

Firstly, you need to visit the given URL, enter the registration code that you got through email, create a username and password, and then download the software to the target smartphone. The download hardly takes few minutes. Once download is complete, you can install the smartphone onto the phone.

Step #4 – Adjust Settings

Once Mobile Spy is downloaded and installed onto the target phone, you need to adjust the settings. Whenever you want to see the interface, you need to enter the key sequence that you got while purchasing the app. You can check the order email for further instructions on this. Then, you need to choose the GPRS that you want to use for uploading the recorded logs to your online account, and as well as the smartphone activities that you need to monitor. Now, Mobile Spy starts working in the background of the smartphone in a stealth mode.

Step #5 – Monitor Activities Online

Mobile Spy remains active in the smartphone from the time you began monitoring. The app starts in the background during the boot-up process of the smartphone. Then, Mobile Spy records and uploads the mobile activity logs to your online account. In order to view the uploaded logs, you need to login to the online account through the created username and password. Once you enter the control panel of the app, you will find all the logs with the relevant names, such as SMS logs, call logs, URL logs, GPS logs, and so on.

 

Mobile Spy Features   

MobileSpy lets you monitor the target phone’s activities virtually in real time. All the recorded logs are uploaded safely onto your online account which is easy and safe to access with the help of username and password. Whenever you want to monitor the activities, you can simply login to your online account without physically accessing the target smartphone. The following logs are available at the control panel of the online account.

• SMS Logs: View all the SMSs sent and received through the target phone. The logs include phone number, full-length content of the SMS, time of SMS, and the contact name if the phone number is already saved in the target phone’s contacts list. 
• Call Logs: View all the outgoing and incoming calls of the target smartphone including the phone number, call time and duration, date, and the contact name.
• Contact Logs: View the entire contacts list including the contact names, phone numbers, and other information, including the newly updated ones.
• Email Logs: View all the outbound and inbound emails, including the full-length content, email ID, time and date stamps, and so on.
• URL Logs: View all the URLs of the websites visited by the target user.
• Photo and Video Logs: View all the photos and videos downloaded and captured through the smartphone.
• GPS Logs: View all the visited locations of the target user along with the GPS location on Google Map.
• Other Logs: View other logs such as memos, tasks, calendar events, and so on.

LIVE Control Panel (Add-On Feature)

Mobile Spy is a unique monitoring app that tops all the other mobile monitoring apps available in the market, with its add-on feature called LIVE Control Panel. With this advanced feature, you can perform remote live monitoring of the smartphone, as well as you can control the smartphone remotely at anytime and from anywhere. The LIVE Control Panel feature of Mobile Spy comes for a little additional cost, which is worth considering. By selecting this feature, you can watch the live screen of the target smartphone, just like a Television, along with a Google map of the current location. It lets you send silent commands through SMS, such as SIM information, current GPS location, lock and/or unlock the smartphone, and more. This feature also sends the logs to your email at pre-selected intervals.

LIVE Control Panel Features

• View The Live Screen: View the live screen of the target smartphone virtually in real time which gets updated for every 90 seconds
• Instant GPS Locations: You can get the instant GPS locations of the target phone along with a Google map.
• Call Initiation: Initiate remote calling through an SMS command from the smartphone to any phone number
• Send SMSs: Send SMSs to any mobile with the help of remote commands of the LIVE Control Panel
• Lock and Unlock The Device: You can lock and unlock the target device through SMS commands
• SIM Information: Get all the information of the SIM, which is helpful especially when the target person removes the current SIM and inserts a new SIM.
• Wipe Data: You can wipe the data from the target smartphone through an SMS command of LIVE Control Panel

Mobile Spy Advantages

Easy To Use: Now, with the invention of Mobile Spy, you can view all the activities of the smartphone without having to access it physically. All the activities recorded by the Mobile Spy will be updated to your online account time to time. Everything you need to do is to login to your online account through an internet-enabled device.

Stealthy Functioning: Mobile Spy works in a stealth mode. Thus, the target user never comes to know about your monitoring process. Most of the monitoring apps available in the market leave clues to the phone user that lets him know that someone is spying on them. The app never shows on the phone’s screen until and unless you enter the key sequence that you got while purchasing Mobile Spy.

Reasonable Cost: Mobile Spy comes at a very reasonable price when compared to many surveillance apps that are available in the market. And, the best part is Mobile Spy offers more of advanced features than other similar apps.

Free SniperSpy: Users who subscribe for Mobile Spy for an year get a free SniperSpy, which helps them monitor a computer/laptop remotely. You can change the period of subscription during the next billing if you want to.

Monitor Multiple Mobiles: Mobile Spy lets you monitor 3 smartphones simultaneously with single license, which is another important factor that makes many people to opt for Mobile Spy. Mobile Spy also offers special discounts too to corporate users.

 

What Can You Do With Mobile Spy?

Employee Monitoring

Many organizations today provide mobile phones to their staff for exclusive office use.  Sometimes, they have to pay huge bills every month for their staff’s mobile phone usage. But, are you sure that your employees are really using the mobile phones just for office use? The answer is simple – Mobile Spy. This monitoring app lets you monitor all the cell phone activities of your employee, so that you will get to know if he is doing any personal calls, wasting work hours on social networking sites, and if he/she is leaking company information to your rival businesses, and so on.

Monitor Your Kid’s Mobile Phone Usage

Today’s kids, particularly teenagers have a big danger with the availability of internet facility at their fingertips. You can find various child monitoring apps in the market to monitor your child’s computer activities. But, with the adverse usage of smartphones, now it is your responsibility to monitor your child’s smartphone too. So, you can take help of Mobile Spy to monitor each and every cell phone activity of your child, including browsing history and GPS tracking. You can take necessary steps if you find that your child is misusing his cell phone privileges.

Track Your Own Lost Phone

Most people use a cell phone to its fullest potential. With its increased usage arises the necessity to remove the older messages. At the same time, it is quite common that many people either forget their mobile phones somewhere or misplace them. Previously, it was not possible to take back up of SMSs or calls, and other data from a cell phone. Mobile Spy software lets you do all this without having to do it physically. You just have to install the Mobile Spy onto your phone. It starts automatically whenever you turn on your mobile phone, and records the logs and updates them to your online account time to time. This is a great way to keep track of important conversations and communications, to view them online whenever you want to. This is helpful especially when you need a proof of action.

Build Your Own Remote Spyphone

Why should you spend huge amount to purchase a Spyphone when you can get all the benefits of a spyphone with the help of Mobile Spy, which comes at a very reasonable price. As long as the target smartphone is compatible with Mobile Spy, you can build your own Spyphone and start monitoring the activities of the target person.

Mobile Spy Support

MobileSpy is developed to help its users throughout their monitoring needs. Whenever you have any queries on Mobile Spy, you can raise a support ticket at the app’s official websites, and send the question to the support team. You will receive the response within 24 hours of time. However, most queries are answered sooner than that.

You also have an option of contacting the technical support through a toll free number, which is available from 9am to 5 pm EST, 365 days a year. Mobile Spy also offers other support options, such as Searchable Knowledge Base, Product User Guide, Locate a Previous Order, and Recover Your Download.

Conclusion

To conclude, Mobile Spy is an advanced monitoring app that can fulfill all your monitoring requirements without needing your physical intervention with the smartphone. Besides its invisible functioning, Mobile Spy’s LIVE Control Panel and its support options make the app stand on the top of all the other monitoring apps available in the market. 

 

Blackberry Spy Software

Blackberry Spy software is the latest entrant in the field of mobile spying specially devised to monitor blackberry devices. It won’t be an overstatement if it is labeled as ‘the king of invisible spies’. There is hardly any activity on the Blackberry mobile that can befool the monitoring ability of this wonderful software. People are always worried about the safety of their mobile phones and also of the family members using them. This software is a silent observer and records the activities of the mobile you are interested in, live as well as in historic mode that too in complete secrecy. The mobile number being monitored will not have even an iota of clue that there is any monitoring activity going on.

Features of Blackberry Spy software

Some of the lovable features of this exceptional software application are:

1. Optional facility of Live Control Panel: This facility is the most innovative feature of this spy software. If the curiosity or concern level is too high to get satisfied with mere text data, one can opt for this facility to get the location of the mobile phone and its user in the form of a map. The minute-to-minute recording of the activities of the mobile and their real time display on the Live Control Panel imparts more tangibility to the whole recorded material.

2. Call and SMS tracking: All the calls made from the Blackberry phone and received can be tracked using this software.

3. GPS and Cell ID locations: This is the kind of tracking which is of utmost use when the areas visited by the Blackberry mobile user are under suspicion. The real time recording of GPS location allows the software user to confirm the live location of the mobile user and these can be used as evidence against lies or breaking of certain rules like use of mobile phone while driving.

4. Email/Contacts/Website tracking: Since Blackberry user can perform a number of internet activities on the mobile phone it helps the tracker to monitor the internet activities of the target user. The concerned parents can easily find out if their children are in touch with safe people and can prevent them from falling into the bad company.

Apart from these features, tasks, memos and calendar notes stored and the applications installed on the Blackberry mobile can also be traced categorically with the use of this software. Such kind of tracking is beneficial for office environments. In addition to keeping track of the suspicious activities of dishonest employees, if the software is installed on the software purchaser’s mobile, it can act as a powerful backup for the data stored in the mobile phone.

Blackberry Spy Software from Mobile Spy

The security providing aspect of this cell phone spy is well assured with the help of services like SIM change notification, cell tower change notification and so on. This helps the mobile owner to trace the lost mobile in a matter of few minutes. Blackberry Spy software introduced by Mobile Spy is one of the most dependable software available in the market. These are very easy to install and work secretly on the target mobile phone. All you have to do after purchasing is registering an account. After which a hidden tracking application needs to be installed onto the Blackberry phone that has to be monitored. This application uploads all the activities of the Blackberry to your unique member account which can be viewed by you periodically to monitor the activities.

As the software works entirely in a stealth mode and is independent, it does not rely on the targeted phone calls and database of messages to monitor and record the activities. This is exactly the reason why you can derive the data and retain it even if the child, employee or whoever you are targeting tries to delete the usage history.

So go ahead and monitor the Blackberry mobiles of your kids, employees or spouse or anyone that is inhibiting you from having a good night sleep.

Windows Mobile Spy Software

Cell phone spy software programs are boon to track people whom one suspects of any misdemeanor.  The windows mobile spy software is excellent software and the users of the same are on a constant rise.  This spy software is of great use to parents who are anxious about their children and their activities.

Installation of Windows spy softwareis very simple. One has to go to the concerned spy software website and get registered. Once registered an exclusive account will be provided and the software can be downloaded. The downloaded software needs to be installed in the targeted phone and after this it can control the whole operation remotely without any issues.

Mobile Spy is a leading spy software developer that provides mobile monitoring solutions for concerned parents, employees, spouses and so on. The software is compatible with various mobile platforms like iPhone, Blackberry, Android Phones, Windows Phone and many others. The features of mobile spy software for Windows phones are noteworthy.

Features and Advantages of Window Spy Software from Mobile Spy

• Discreet nature of the spy software is the main advantage of this technologically advanced product.  The software stays in the smart phone discreetly and the person whose phone is targeted would have no clue that the phone is being tracked. The technology adopted by the software is amazing which is why the secrecy is maintained. This feature is the main reason why this software is the most opted alternative to spy a smart phone. This software maintains the privacy and also gives complete and accurate information about the happenings in the targeted phone. 
• Geo Tracker is another attractive feature of the spy software. The GPS application in the phone along with the tracker in the spy software enables to track the location of the phone. This tactful software gives constant alerts either via a mail or message about the whereabouts of the person using the targeted phone.
• Comprehensive Tracking is possible with the help of windows mobile spy software. Users can get complete details of the

1. Dialed calls, received calls, time of the call and duration of the call. The details would be alerted even if it is deleted from the phone.  
2. Sent as well as received messages along with numbers and content. Names of the person would be displayed in case numbers are assigned with names.
3. Other online activities like mails, messages sent through chat and messengers Users also get complete access to the sites viewed and the social networks used.
4. All data that is stored in the smart phone and all files like images, videos and music stored or shared by the targeted phone.

Cheaper and simpler alternative: It is a simpler and cheaper alternative in comparison to private detectives. Anxious parents used to hire private detectives to know what their children were up to. The windows mobile spy software has made it simple for those parents who are worried about the security of their children. The spy software is a lot more simple and cheaper than the private investigator. Also there can be some error in the information that is provided by the private investigator but there can be no error in the first hand information that is provided by the spy software.

Care should be taken while choosing this advantageous spy software. Windows spy software that is compatible should be chosen else the whole purpose of spying would be ruined.