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White Label Android Application Installation and Customization Guide

Background

Background

§  Application built for civic agencies to bring voting information to the public

§  Code written to make deployment easy, without extensive Android development experience

Background

https://developers.google.com/civic-information/

Background

This is your data that Google is serving!

Background - API

Background - API

Response includes: §  Contest and Referendum §  Candidate information §  Polling locations §  State and local election official contact info

Background – White Label

§  App not in the Play Store, but ready to deploy

§  Customizable text and images §  Feature complete and ready to go

Background – Open Source

§  BSD 3-Clause License §  https://github.com/votinginfoproject/ android-white-label-app

Basic Requirements

§  Recent Windows, Macintosh, or Linux computer §  Java SDK §  GitHub (use desktop app, or command line) §  Android Studio §  Device drivers for your Android device §  Technical proficiency

Setup – before you start

First, get your API keys: §  Google Civic Information API Key §  Google Maps Android SDK API Key §  Google Directions API Key §  Google Analytics Tracking ID

Setup – before you start

Google makes this really easy: https://console.developers.google.com

Setup – before you start

Google makes this really easy: https://console.developers.google.com

(There are a lot of APIs when you first get to this page, but they’re listed alphabetically)

Setup – before you start

Google makes this really easy: https://console.developers.google.com

Create these two keys

Setup – before you start

Setup – before you start

Google makes this really easy: https://www.google.com/analytics/web

Setup – Dependencies

Java SDK http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1880260.html

Details at: https://github.com/votinginfoproject/android-white-label-app

Setup – Dependencies

Android Studio – required for Android development: https://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/studio.html

Details at: https://github.com/votinginfoproject/android-white-label-app

Setup – Dependencies

GitHub https://windows.github.com/

Details at: https://github.com/votinginfoproject/android-white-label-app

Setup – get the code

Go to https://github.com/votinginfoproject/android-white-label-app

If you have the desktop app installed, click “Clone in Desktop”

Setup – get the code

Open Android Studio and import the project

To pull updates from GitHub, go to VCS -> Git -> Repository -> Pull Or use the GitHub app or command line

Setup – install dependencies

Go to Tools -> Android -> SDK Manager

Setup – install dependencies

Install dependencies listed at https://github.com/votinginfoproject/android-white-label-app

Setup – Settings Copy xmltemplates/api_keys.xml.template to app/src/main/res/values/api_keys.xml

Setup – Settings

Open the api_keys.xml file…

it should look like this…

Setup – Settings

Get your API keys together and update the api_keys.xml file. You can also do this with a plain text editor. Update the Android and Browser keys, and the Analytics Tracking ID

The official only and test election options can be set here, too

Setup – Settings Copy xmltemplates/app_tracker.xml.template to app/src/main/res/xml/app_tracker.xml Update the Analytics Tracking ID

Setup – Settings Also, update the “Brand Name” text with what you want the app to be called. This text will be at the top of the home page – and can be edited on line 36 of app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml

Setup – Settings The Google Maps API key requires some information about your specific build of the project. Detailed instructions are in the repository’s README file.

Setup – Settings There is also a way to do this in Android Studio from “Build -> Generate Signed APK”

More info can be found at http://developer.android.com/tools/publishing/app-signing.html

Setup – Settings Copy the APK fingerprint you generate and paste it in the API key in the Google Developer Console

Setup – Emulator and Devices The Android Emulator does not support Google Play Services, which are required for the Google Maps SDK to function properly. We recommend using an actual Android device for testing. Get documentation about using devices: http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html And drivers for your device: http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html

Setup – Build the project

Click the “Run” button in the Run menu…

Run – Build the project

And the app should load on your device

Run – Additional Configurations

There are a few more things to consider before packaging the app for submittal to the Play Store §  About, Terms, and Privacy Policy content §  Customized images §  Additional language support

Run – Additional Configurations

About, Terms, and Privacy Policy content are in app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml

Run – Additional Configurations

Edit, save, and rebuild You can change any of the text in Android Studio or a plain text editor that supports UTF-16 character encoding.

Run – Additional Configurations

Translations are also in app/src/main/res/ Each translation gets its own “values” directory

Spanish translations are not available yet, but are in progress

Run – Additional Configurations

Customize the app’s images by updating files in the app/src/main/res/drawable-{size} directories

Tips: §  Use the same name §  Keep the same pixel dimensions §  There are different sets of images to support

different screen sizes §  More detail at: http://developer.android.com/design/style/iconography.html

Run – Additional Configurations

Customize the AppIcons (app_icon.png), an Background (bg_home.png) images for a complete visual rebranding. You don’t need to change these, though.

Publish

That’s everything for setup and configuration! The next step is to package the app and submit it to the Play Store. Google has lots of documentation on this process. http://developer.android.com/distribute/googleplay/

Publish

The publishing process requires completing several steps. http://developer.android.com/distribute/tools/launch-checklist.html

Publish

Set up a developer account to get started…

Publish

The process takes some time to work through, but isn’t particularly difficult. Many of the issues you may encounter are not new, and resolutions can likely be found with a quick Google search. If additional technical support is needed, contact: Jen Tolentino at jtolentino@pewtrusts.org

Good luck!

White Label Android Application Installation and Customization Guide