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Before we start changing anything, let’s take a brief tour of our tools so we can get familiar with what’s on the screen and where we write code or make changes.
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[MUSIC]
0:00
Before we start changing anything, let's
take a brief tour of our tools so we can
0:04
get familiar with what's on the screen and
where we write code or make changes.
0:08
The very first thing we want
to do is start our emulator.
0:13
You may already have it up and
running from the previous stage.
0:17
But if you don't, it's a good idea
to start it ahead of time, so
0:20
it'll be ready when you need it.
0:22
Up here in the tool bar
are a few Android buttons.
0:24
This one with the phone is our
Android Virtual Device Manager.
0:27
And here just select the virtual
device you want to run, and
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then click on the Start button.
0:35
Once the emulator window appears, we can
safely close our Virtual Device Manager.
0:38
We don't need to leave it
open to use the emulator.
0:44
All right, while that's loading,
let's take a look at Android Studio.
0:47
On the left-hand side, there should
be a view for the project structure.
0:51
If it's missing or you accidentally
close it, what you can do with
0:56
this button right here,
you can reopen it with this same button.
0:58
Or you can either go up to
View > Tool Windows > Project.
1:03
Or you can go down to the bottom, and
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as we saw before, you can select
Project or other windows from here.
1:11
Also, remember that clicking
this icon toggles whether or
1:18
not we can see the Tool Window
shortcuts around the screen.
1:21
The project view is where we
can see all the files and
1:24
folders that make up our project.
1:27
By default, Android Studio displays our
project files in the Android Project View.
1:29
The Android Project View shows
a trimmed down version of your project
1:34
that provides quick access to the most
important files for Android development.
1:38
Let's click here and
switch to the Project View.
1:42
This view shows our entire project.
1:47
Here we can see our
FunFacts folder at the top.
1:49
Let's expand that.
1:52
Also, notice that our FunFacts folder is
in our Android Studio Projects folder that
1:55
we used when we first created the project.
2:00
In fact, if we switch to Finder or
Windows Explorer,
2:03
we can navigate to our project,
And sure enough,
2:06
we see that these files and folders
match up with what we see over here.
2:12
The most important folder in
our project is the app folder.
2:16
It contains all the resources and
raw materials that make up our app.
2:20
Let's take a look inside
to see how it's structured.
2:24
At the top is a build directory which
contains all the files that are built for
2:28
us by Android Studio.
2:32
We shouldn't ever need to change
anything in the build directory.
2:34
The next one is Libs which is short for
Libraries.
2:37
It contains any optional libraries of
code we might need in our project.
2:41
This will be empty for this project but
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we'll show more on how to use
libraries in later courses.
2:47
Next up is SRC.
2:50
This is the important directory and
it's short for source.
2:51
I know source isn't that long of a word,
but programmers love abbreviations.
2:55
If we expand source,
we can see three more folders.
3:00
The Android test and test folders
are used for different kinds of testing.
3:04
But let's save those for later.
3:08
We are more concerned
with the main folder.
3:10
Inside main are all the files
we'll be working with.
3:13
Java files are placed here in Java folder,
3:16
and then below, we have res,
which is short for resources.
3:19
Resources are everything that we see or
hear in an app.
3:23
So in addition to images and sounds,
it also contains the layout files for
3:27
how our screens will be laid out.
3:31
If we keep going further, then inside res,
we find the layout folder.
3:33
And in here is one file named
activity_fun_facts.xml.
3:39
This is the file that is
already opened over here.
3:43
That's enough about project structure.
3:47
Let's change back to the Android view so
3:50
we don't have to do as much
digging to find the files we want.
3:51
So click up here, and then pick Android.
3:55
Great, now over here, this is
the main section for writing code, or
3:59
designing screen layouts.
4:02
We're currently looking at the Design view
for the activity_fun_facts layout file.
4:04
The Design view is a drag and
4:09
drop editor that lets us visually
manipulate the screen layout.
4:11
In the middle is a preview of how
it should look on a device, and
4:14
it looks just like what we saw a few
minutes ago when we ran the app.
4:18
Next to the preview is a blueprint view,
4:21
which shows us a little more detail
about how all our views are positioned.
4:24
When designing screen layouts,
4:27
sometimes we want to modify the code
directly instead of using the design view.
4:29
To modify the XML code, we can just click
on the Text tab here at the bottom.
4:33
Also, if you've clicked on the Text tab
and you're not seeing a preview over here,
4:38
you can show and hide the preview
by clicking on thisPreview button.
4:42
All right,
that should be enough to get us started.
4:47
In the next video,
we'll start making some changes.
4:50
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