Introduction
With the advanced development in the field of technology, the growth of developing technology is at a rapid speed. Consequently, there is some library that has been launched this year for Android application development.
Android libraries are well-integrated with elements and components that are a high requirement of android app developers, for instance, source codes to advantage record. Moreover, it highly relies on the user’s request for Android libraries and tools. Before we start talking about the android libraries that can enhance app development, let’s understand the topic deeply:
What do App Development Libraries do?
Libraries are highly advantageous in the entire app development procedure and independent platform. The advanced android libraries, makes the developers perform tasks quickly, and successfully, with less-written codes.
Libraries make programmers’ life by offering built-in codes integrated by development experts. If you are searching for advanced hacks for android app development, then these libraries will help you out.
Basically, the libraries help in building advanced applications and their archive way assuming any. When you arrange, these libraries will be downloaded.
How about we read about some of the best Android libraries that help programmers in building an enhanced mobile application for Android users.
Dependency Injector Library
Before we start reading about the top-notch Android libraries 2021 for Dependency Injector, we should understand what Dependency Injector is?
- Dagger 2
One of the key features of Dagger 2 is that it hugely depends on utilizing Java annotation systems simultaneously with compile-time to evaluate dependencies. On the other hand, Java dependency injection libraries have some disadvantages such as huge dependency on XML, including performance charges during startup or facing troubles while checking dependency at run-time.
Another perk of Dagger 2 is that it easies the accessibilities to shared examples. For instance, once you announce in Dagger the instances like My Twitter API Client, you can easily find fields with a simple @inject annotation:
Networking
Some of the android tools help to build network communication within the Android application.
- Retrofit
Retrofit is REST client-side for android and java, integrated with advanced mapping API into the client interface with the assistance of annotations. If you want to add a network request, you need to integrate an Async task class with HTTP URL Connection in order to collect data, something that wasn’t good in dealing with API including data files. This is how it gets resolved by Retrofit.
One can easily manage the headers and endpoints, make changes in the body and query parameters, and select different methods – along with different annotations in Retrofit. Additionally, the Android library can analyze the POJOs by utilizing the converters.
Image Loading
Image loading libraries help reduce the time of loading multiple images at the same time in the android applications. Let’s look at some of the best Android image loading libraries that have been launched this year 2021.
- Picasso
Powered by Square, Picasso is one of the most popular Android image libraries. Picasso is the easy-to-use image loading library of Android applications- often comes with a single line of code.
Some of the negative points that Picasso needs to focus on: include Image View recycling, complexities of image transformation using cache files, minimal memory, and automatic memory.
One of the key features of Picasso which makes the library developers’ favorite one: it can easily transform image layout and sizes to reduce the size of the image, to add some amazing effect, one can make a customized transformation.
- Glide
Glide is also one of the advanced image loader and one of the top-notch Android libraries for developers, launched by Bumptech. This is the only library that is supported by Google.
Glide not only supports GIFs, along with handling image loading time but also helps in collecting the data, decoding the video calls, images. It also integrates APIs which enables programmers to make the network stable, as it defaults network HTTP URL CONNECTION.
The prominent library motive to include the images smoothly in the android application. Additionally, it can effectively integrate, fetch, resize or showcase images.
Scanning
In order to amalgamate scanning features into the custom Android apps and enhances the functionalities level, programmers prefer these libraries because of the below-mention libraries.
- Zxing
ZXing is a barcode image-processing Android library that is executed in Java, with the support of multiple programming languages. The library support 2D barcode, 1D products.
Google also promotes ZXing in order to promote the use of barcodes on the internet. Barcodes make the search option easy in the application that’s the reason Google backs this library.
- CAMView
This is one of the best alternative options to the ZXing barcode scanner. It integrates an Android camera with an embedded QR scanner which is designed on ZXing.
CamView library includes components like layout files, which enables developers to take prompt like-
- Scan barcodes with ZXing built-in decoding system.
- Live preview from camera recording.
- To perform camera data processing.
View Binding
The requirement for binding libraries first introduced when the need to reduce the boilerplate codes increased. In fact, there is a number of libraries but only one or two are worth mentioning.
- ButterKnife
Created by Jake Wharton, ButterKnife is a remarkable library helping in integrating ids to the graphical views efficiently. Hence, removes the requirement of findViewById. The statement that the library showcase that view binding is a kind of dependency injection. The only difference is that in ButterKnife annotations are used to produce boilerplate code.
The written codes display that ButterKnife reduces the requirement of things like on Touch and on Click while replacing them with automated codes.
- Android Databinding
Powered by Android Support Library, the Android Databinding library needs the Android Studio Version 1.3 in order to perform. While on the other hand, we know that ButterKnife doesn’t use annotations. Android Databinding enables to compile of UI components in a set pattern layout within the application which helps set the format of programming languages.
Debugging
Debugging is a crucial step in the mobile application development process, it needs to be performed before the release. For this, let’s take a look at some of the libraries.
- Stetho
Stetho is considered as a debug bridge for Android application development. The utilization of this library isn’t really for Network inspection, JavaScript Console, and Database inspection, but most expert programmers use it for accessibility to Google Chrome Developer Tools integrated on the Chrome Browser desktop. Additionally, programmers can select the tools which let them opt for a command-line interface within the application.
Reactive Programming
In Reactive Programming, data is shared from one component to another component known as Subscriber, which helps in assisting asynchronous tasks efficiently. In short, these library helps in data transmission from source to the subscriber. Some of these libraries are-
- RxJava2
If you are searching for a library that assists in implementing reactive programming language, then this is a great choice. It is considered as a library that composes event-based programs in a set pattern
According to the android app developers, the app is unbeatable because it performs the task of chain async operations, unlocks a clearer face to perform the development, it highlights the error quickly compared to other libraries.
UI Components
User Interface is a noticeable and with no chance of error aspect of Android app development. New innovations and advances have made their own spaces in the UI domain, one of which is Gravity View.
- Gravity View
This library is specially used for image titling using sensors. Gravity View Library’s goal is to integrate the motion sensors in the Android devices, enable users to perform functions by screen rotating their devices.
Fynd is the foremost android application in which this library has been used and is still the favorite of many people. You require to operate Android 3.0 in order to work on this library. Additionally, if you need to use non-gyroscope devices, you can integrate an Accelerometer sensor in the application without any assistance.
Testing
Testing your project before launching it is an indispensable step. It let you check the efficacy of your mobile application. Below mentioned are a few libraries which help you in checking the performance of mobile applications.
- Espresso
Espresso is a library that helps developers in performing the user interface test for android mobile applications. It showcases the error that real users will feel while using the application on both real devices as well as emulators.
In order to use this library, one needs to add dependencies in the app module. Once you do that you can set the instrumentation runner and connect the Gradle files, keep an eye on it by making a rest file.
Conclusion
These libraries are recommended by expert Android developers. Their features, functionalities, and performance achieve in their area of the expert.
Author Bio
Rahul Mathur is the founder & Managing Director of Arka Softwares. Graduated from Harvard Business School, he is a driven leader and technology enthusiast who takes pleasure in helping modern startups and enterprises to grow with the help of future-ready IT solutions such as, next-gen mobile apps, web and marketing solutions, IoT, full stack development, Cloud, ewallet app development solutions, etc.
