July 2016 - Web and Mobile App Development | Custom Application Development Company

Google I/O 2016: Key Announcements

Posted on July 27, 2016 by os_admin

At I/O this year, Google displayed its vision for a more omnipresent way of interacting with technology. Some of the areas are dominated by a few other companies, but with its superiority in AI Google has clearly put the best foot forward.

Here’s everything announced at Google I/O 2016:

Daydream & VR

Built on top of Android N, Daydream provides users with an ecosystem to play around in. It looks much more powerful than Cardboard & represents a huge step in the push to advance VR out of its infancy.

Google also showed off a reference design for a smartphone-powered VR headset that looks like a smaller, cordless Oculus Rift.

Android N

The latest version of the world’s most used mobile OS is certainly smarter, faster & better. Some of the new features include split-screen multitasking, more control over notification size from different apps & a new picture-in-picture mode.

Android Wear 2.0

Google says, it’s the biggest overhaul to Android Wear since its release way back in 2014. It’s said to be loaded with automatic exercise recognition, better third-party app syncing, swipeable QWERTY keyboard and much more.

Google Assistant

The next-gen Google Assistant feels more like a chat app than the search-based Google Now. It learns what responses to offer based on how you write.

Android Instant Apps

Now you can load parts of Apps even if you haven’t installed them. Yes, it’s possible. Google says it will take developers ‘less than a day of work’ to modularize their apps for the program & that it’ll be rolling out to users later this year.

Allo

A mobile-only messaging app that you sign up for with your phone number & have the option of connecting to your Google account.

Duo:

A video chatting app much like Apple’s FaceTime. It’s only restricted to mobile devices for now.

Google Home

A small speaker with always-listening microphones that integrates into a broad range of services. It’ll answer questions and execute commands relying on Google’s Assistant technology. The clear comparison is with Amazon’s Echo.

Android Auto

The popular traffic-tracking app Waze is now built directly into it, letting drivers see speed limits and accident alerts in real time. It can also connect to cars over Wi-Fi, yes you read it!

Wrapping it up

At the I/O 2016, Google has placed big bets on 3 of the hottest fields in technology: VR, Messaging & Smart Assistants. The teasers look impressive, however I feel there’s a lot to be asked. Guess, we’ll have to wait for a while.

Which are the features/updates you’re most excited about? I would be happy to hear from you.

Andolasoft releases 2nd Open Source tool: WakeUpSales

Posted on July 7, 2016 by os_admin

Finding it tough to organize, track and grow your sales pipeline? The only way out is with an innovative Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool like WakeUpSales.

Developed in Ruby on Rails, WakeUpSales is a simple Open Source CRM tool that helps you in every phase of your Business Life-cycle. Streamline your Sales Activities, create powerful Customer Relationships & nurture them.

Here’s why you’ll love WakeUpSales:

Learn in minutes
Track every interaction
Improve your workflow
More productivity with less work

Building new customer apps or integrating with existing back office systems has never been easier. Just download, and you’ll be up-n-running.

It’s Powerful, Productive & above all, it’s Free!

Why wait? Try WakeUpSales today.

Have anything to share on CRM? Leave your suggestions/feedback below. It’ll only make us better.

Closures In Ruby: Lambdas & Procs

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Jay

Ruby handles Closures in a rather unique way, with Lambdas & Procs being two of the most powerful features.

A Closure basically has the following properties:

Can be passed around like an object
Remembers values of all the variables that were in scope.
Accesses the variables when called, even if they may no longer be in scope.

In Ruby, Closures are supported through Procs and Lambdas.

How Are These Objects Different?

The basic difference is in terms of returning the objects and argument passing. Lambdas check the number of arguments, while Procs don’t.

Here’s the code snippet for Lambdas:

[code language=”html”]
myblock = lambda { |p| puts p }
$> myblock.call(5)
#output: 5
$> myblock.call
#output: ArgumentError: wrong number of arguments (0 for 1)
[/code]

But, in case of Procs:

[code language=”html”]
proc= Proc.new { |p| puts p }
$> proc.call(5)
#output: 5
$> proc.call
#output: returns nil
$> proc.call(5,4,3)
#output: prints out 5 and forgets about the extra arguments
[/code]

Lambdas and procs treat the ‘return’ keyword differently. Here’s an example that uses Lambdas:

[code language=”html”]
def sample_method
lambda { return "Return me from the block here" }.call
return "Returning from the calling method"
end
$> puts sample_method
[/code]

Output: Returning from the calling method

Here’s another example using Proc.new:

[code language=”html”]
def my_method
Proc.new { return "Return me from the block here" }.call
return "Returning from the calling method"
end
$>puts my_method
[/code]

Output: Return me from the block here.

Did I miss anything out? Please share your thoughts at info@andolasoft.com.

I would also appreciate it, if you leave your suggestions/feedback below.

How to Manage Projects using Orangescrum

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Jay

As a Project Owner, or an investor you want your investment to be secured & the project to be delivered on time. With the #1 Open Source Project Management & Collaboration tool OrangeScrum, it’s piece of cake whether it comes to Enhance Collaboration, Productivity or Manage business activities.

Counting down 12 amazing features that Orangescrum existing users have valued and I am sure you can’t wait to try out!

Manage multiple tasks across projects v/s teams at one place irrespective of their geo location.

Prioritize, schedule or track the progress of all the tasks in no time.

Actively involve project members in the project planning, controlling progress & effective communication, ensuring proper collaboration.

Save time on sending multiple mails for tasks. We know the pain of managing projects via e-mails.

Keep track of hours spent, weekly usage & resource utilization.

Track who’s doing what without asking, with daily progress reports delivered to every stakeholder via email.

Get a visual overview of your workflow based on the type of tasks: What’s going on & What’s next.

Take a sneak-peak on to the progress of every task, with thoughtfully color-assigned stages such as New, In Progress, Resolved or Closed.

Keep an eye on the time taken by each resources w.r.t the tasks.

Many of the features are driven by people just like you, from what you actually need. So why wait? Take a Demo. You’ll be amazed by what you can do with Orangescrum.

Share your pain-points of Project Management on info@andolasoft.com. This will help us in coming with an even better product for you.

Also, it would be nice if you leave your suggestions/feedback below.

How to Use Stack View in Android

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Jay

What is Stack View?
It’s a simple class that allows you to layout views in either a column or a row. What makes it powerful is that it applies Auto Layout to the views without you having to add the constraints. The attached layout of all sub views are managed based on developer defined properties such as axis, distribution, alignment and spacing.

In Android development, designing engaging and dynamic user interfaces is key to creating successful applications. One of the lesser-known yet powerful UI components available in Android is the Stack View.

Stack View provides an intuitive way to display a stack of views, allowing users to interact with them through gestures like swiping. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to effectively use Stack View in your Android applications

1. Syntax of Stack View

[code language=”html”]
<RelativeLayout
android:width=""
android:height="" >
<StackView
android:id="@+id/"
animateLayoutChanges="true" or “false”
width=""
height="" >
</StackView>
</RelativeLayout>
[/code]

2. How to Create one

This functionality depends upon Last in-First out or First in-Last out data structure activities, which means if we open the 1st, 2nd & 3rd views respectively, the 3rd one will be in front and other two will run in the background.

A click on the back button destroys the 3rd view & 2nd one resumes. Similarly, another click on the back button destroys the 2nd view and 1st one comes into play. It’s known as “Back Stack” operation in the world of Android.

Steps to Create a Sample App for Stack View:

Copy some images to the drawable folder.
Create a model class where we can manipulate the values.
This view has a Default property named ‘animationLayoutChanges’; If true, we can put animation in the layout.
Interface the design for StackItem.
Adapter class is required to return the view for each item.

Have you used Stack View in Android before? Share your experiences at “info@andolasoft.com“.

I would also appreciate it if you leave your feedback/suggestions below.

Additional Customization

You can further customize the appearance and behavior of Stack View by modifying attributes such as animation duration, stack alignment, and transition effects.

Refer to the official Android documentation for a complete list of available attributes and methods.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we’ve explored how to use Stack View in Android to create interactive and visually appealing user interfaces.

By leveraging Stack View’s capabilities, you can enhance the user experience of your applications and implement engaging features such as image galleries, tutorials, or slideshows.

Experiment with different layouts, animations, and gestures to unleash the full potential of Stack View in your Android projects. Happy coding!