Create a News App for Android – Android Studio Step by Step Coding

 Create a News App for Android – Android Studio Step by Step Coding

Creating a news app on Android is easy and a damn cool thing you can use by yourself. Oh, don’t worry, you don’t need to setup a news channel and hire journalist to collect news from all over the world. You can get those informations by using a news api which will let you get news of different news company.
There are many websites you can get by searching on the Google which supply free news Api, but In this tutorial we are going to use a Api provided by NewsApi.org. So let’s start to create a news app.

Android News App – Android Studio

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Steps to Create a News App on Android

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1. First of all create a News API from NewsApi.org.
 2. Create a new project in Android Studio in a normal way.
Open your build.gradle file and add the following lines in your dependencies.

compile 'com.squareup.picasso:picasso:2.5.2'

 3. Open your AndroidManifest.xml file and add internet connect permission. Your manifest file will look like this-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.androstock.newsapp">

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
        <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

        <activity android:name=".DetailsActivity"/>
    </application>

</manifest>

4. Open your activity_main.xml file. Use a RelativeLayout to arrange ListView and Progressbar.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

            <ListView
                android:id="@+id/listNews"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:background="#FFFFFF"
                android:divider="#F5F5F5"
                android:dividerHeight="1dp"
                android:visibility="visible"
                />

    <ProgressBar
        android:id="@+id/loader"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"/>


</RelativeLayout>

5. Now we will design the list item activity Open your list_row.xml file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@android:color/transparent"
    android:descendantFocusability="blocksDescendants"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:layout_weight="7"
    android:padding="8dp">


    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="4dp">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/galleryImage"
            android:layout_width="70dp"
            android:layout_height="50dp"
            />
    </LinearLayout>



                <LinearLayout
                    android:layout_width="0dp"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:orientation="vertical"
                    android:layout_weight="7"
                    >
                    <TextView
                        android:id="@+id/title"
                        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                        android:shadowColor="#000"
                        android:shadowRadius="1.0"
                        android:textColor="#666666"
                        android:textSize="17sp"
                        android:layout_marginBottom="5dp"
                        android:maxLines="2"
                        android:scrollHorizontally="true"
                        android:ellipsize="end"
                        android:text="This is news title"/>

                    <TextView
                        android:id="@+id/sdetails"
                        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                        android:textColor="#777777"
                        android:textSize="16sp"
                        android:maxLines="2"
                        android:minLines="2"
                        android:scrollHorizontally="true"
                        android:ellipsize="end"
                        android:text="This is news description bla bla bla..."/>



                    <LinearLayout
                        android:layout_width="match_parent"
                        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                        android:orientation="horizontal"
                        android:weightSum="1">



                        <LinearLayout
                            android:layout_width="0dp"
                            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                            android:layout_weight="1"
                            android:orientation="horizontal">

                            <TextView
                                android:id="@+id/author"
                                android:textSize="15sp"
                                android:textColor="#42A5F5"
                                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                                android:text="News Author"/>

                        </LinearLayout>


                        <TextView
                            android:id="@+id/time"
                            android:gravity="right"
                            android:textSize="14sp"
                            android:textColor="#42A5F5"
                            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                            android:text="Time"/>
                    </LinearLayout>



                </LinearLayout>



            </LinearLayout>

6. Now we will design the details activity to show the specific news article activity_details.xml.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <WebView
        android:id="@+id/webView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"/>

    <ProgressBar
        android:id="@+id/loader"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"/>

</RelativeLayout>

Finally we are heading towards the Java coding.
7. Now we will create a Java file called Function.java where we will put our important methods like Internet Connection Checker and URL Execute method.

package com.androstock.newsapp;

import android.content.Context;
import android.net.ConnectivityManager;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;

/**
 * Created by SHAJIB on 5/6/2017.
 */

public class Function {

    public static boolean isNetworkAvailable(Context context)
    {
        return ((ConnectivityManager) context.getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE)).getActiveNetworkInfo() != null;
    }



    public static String excuteGet(String targetURL, String urlParameters)
    {
        URL url;
        HttpURLConnection connection = null;
        try {
            //Create connection
            url = new URL(targetURL);
            connection = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
            //connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
            //connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
            connection.setRequestProperty("content-type", "application/json;  charset=utf-8");


            connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Language", "en-US");

            connection.setUseCaches (false);
            connection.setDoInput(true);
            connection.setDoOutput(false);



            InputStream is;

            int status = connection.getResponseCode();

            if (status != HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK)
                is = connection.getErrorStream();
            else
                is = connection.getInputStream();



            BufferedReader rd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
            String line;
            StringBuffer response = new StringBuffer();
            while((line = rd.readLine()) != null) {
                response.append(line);
                response.append('\r');
            }
            rd.close();
            return response.toString();

        } catch (Exception e) {


            return null;

        } finally {

            if(connection != null) {
                connection.disconnect();
            }
        }
    }



}

8. Now lets create the MainActivity.java

package com.androstock.newsapp;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.ProgressBar;
import android.widget.Toast;

import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONException;
import org.json.JSONObject;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    String API_KEY = "8190df9eb51445228e397e4185311a66"; // ### YOUE NEWS API HERE ###
    String NEWS_SOURCE = "bbc-news";
    ListView listNews;
    ProgressBar loader;

    ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> dataList = new ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>();
    static final String KEY_AUTHOR = "author";
    static final String KEY_TITLE = "title";
    static final String KEY_DESCRIPTION = "description";
    static final String KEY_URL = "url";
    static final String KEY_URLTOIMAGE = "urlToImage";
    static final String KEY_PUBLISHEDAT = "publishedAt";
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        listNews = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.listNews);
        loader = (ProgressBar) findViewById(R.id.loader);
        listNews.setEmptyView(loader);



        if(Function.isNetworkAvailable(getApplicationContext()))
        {
            DownloadNews newsTask = new DownloadNews();
            newsTask.execute();
        }else{
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "No Internet Connection", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        }

    }


    class DownloadNews extends AsyncTask<String, Void, String> {
        @Override
        protected void onPreExecute() {
            super.onPreExecute();

        }
        protected String doInBackground(String... args) {
            String xml = "";

            String urlParameters = "";
            xml = Function.excuteGet("https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source="+NEWS_SOURCE+"&sortBy=top&apiKey="+API_KEY, urlParameters);
            return  xml;
        }
        @Override
        protected void onPostExecute(String xml) {

                if(xml.length()>10){ // Just checking if not empty

                    try {
                        JSONObject jsonResponse = new JSONObject(xml);
                        JSONArray jsonArray = jsonResponse.optJSONArray("articles");

                        for (int i = 0; i < jsonArray.length(); i++) {
                            JSONObject jsonObject = jsonArray.getJSONObject(i);
                            HashMap<String, String> map = new HashMap<String, String>();
                            map.put(KEY_AUTHOR, jsonObject.optString(KEY_AUTHOR).toString());
                            map.put(KEY_TITLE, jsonObject.optString(KEY_TITLE).toString());
                            map.put(KEY_DESCRIPTION, jsonObject.optString(KEY_DESCRIPTION).toString());
                            map.put(KEY_URL, jsonObject.optString(KEY_URL).toString());
                            map.put(KEY_URLTOIMAGE, jsonObject.optString(KEY_URLTOIMAGE).toString());
                            map.put(KEY_PUBLISHEDAT, jsonObject.optString(KEY_PUBLISHEDAT).toString());
                            dataList.add(map);
                        }
                    } catch (JSONException e) {
                        Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Unexpected error", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                    }

                    ListNewsAdapter adapter = new ListNewsAdapter(MainActivity.this, dataList);
                    listNews.setAdapter(adapter);

                    listNews.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
                        public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view,
                                                int position, long id) {
                            Intent i = new Intent(MainActivity.this, DetailsActivity.class);
                            i.putExtra("url", dataList.get(+position).get(KEY_URL));
                            startActivity(i);
                        }
                    });

                }else{
                    Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "No news found", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                }
        }



    }



}

9. Now lets create the adapter class ListNewsAdapter.java to populate the listview list item using list_row.xml

package com.androstock.newsapp;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

import com.squareup.picasso.Picasso;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;

/**
 * Created by SHAJIB-PC on 10/23/2017.
 */

class ListNewsAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
    private Activity activity;
    private ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> data;

    public ListNewsAdapter(Activity a, ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> d) {
        activity = a;
        data=d;
    }
    public int getCount() {
        return data.size();
    }
    public Object getItem(int position) {
        return position;
    }
    public long getItemId(int position) {
        return position;
    }
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        ListNewsViewHolder holder = null;
        if (convertView == null) {
            holder = new ListNewsViewHolder();
            convertView = LayoutInflater.from(activity).inflate(
                    R.layout.list_row, parent, false);
            holder.galleryImage = (ImageView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.galleryImage);
            holder.author = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.author);
            holder.title = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.title);
            holder.sdetails = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.sdetails);
            holder.time = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.time);
            convertView.setTag(holder);
        } else {
            holder = (ListNewsViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
        }
        holder.galleryImage.setId(position);
        holder.author.setId(position);
        holder.title.setId(position);
        holder.sdetails.setId(position);
        holder.time.setId(position);

        HashMap<String, String> song = new HashMap<String, String>();
        song = data.get(position);

        try{
            holder.author.setText(song.get(MainActivity.KEY_AUTHOR));
            holder.title.setText(song.get(MainActivity.KEY_TITLE));
            holder.time.setText(song.get(MainActivity.KEY_PUBLISHEDAT));
            holder.sdetails.setText(song.get(MainActivity.KEY_DESCRIPTION));

            if(song.get(MainActivity.KEY_URLTOIMAGE).toString().length() < 5)
            {
                holder.galleryImage.setVisibility(View.GONE);
            }else{
                Picasso.with(activity)
                        .load(song.get(MainActivity.KEY_URLTOIMAGE).toString())
                        .resize(300, 200)
                        .into(holder.galleryImage);
            }
        }catch(Exception e) {}
        return convertView;
    }
}

class ListNewsViewHolder {
    ImageView galleryImage;
    TextView author, title, sdetails, time;
}

From MainActivity.java we will open the DetailsActivity.java on news item click. There we will display the article page into WebView.
10. Now lets create the DetailsActivity.java

package com.androstock.newsapp;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.view.View;
import android.webkit.WebChromeClient;
import android.webkit.WebView;
import android.widget.ProgressBar;

/**
 * Created by SHAJIB-PC on 10/23/2017.
 */

public class DetailsActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    WebView webView;
    ProgressBar loader;
    String url = "";
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_details);

        Intent intent = getIntent();
        url = intent.getStringExtra("url");
        loader = (ProgressBar) findViewById(R.id.loader);
        webView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webView);
        webView.getSettings().setBuiltInZoomControls(true);
        webView.getSettings().setDisplayZoomControls(false);
        webView.loadUrl(url);


        webView.setWebChromeClient(new WebChromeClient() {
            public void onProgressChanged(WebView view, int progress) {
                if (progress == 100) {
                    loader.setVisibility(View.GONE);
                } else {
                    loader.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
                }
            }
        });

    }
}

You are done. Now run and test the app. You can add your custom designs and also other features now. It was really easy. Isn’t it?

September 17, 2018