How to Develop a Widget for Android Platform

We all know that android app development includes a lot of essential things that form the overall business. However, we are living in a world that works with widgets that not only are user-friendly but also make the business thrive. This can be in terms of the apps like Gmail, Google Chrome, LinkedIn, and Spotify that have their own widgets making them convenient and easy to use.

Accessing apps via a home screen is the ideal form to opt for if the motive is to attract the audience. This can be done easily with the right widget. So, before moving forward, let us know the widgets that one usually opts for. 

  • Collection Widgets – In this widget, the users can easily see necessary information on the widget such as pictures, emails, articles, etc. 
  • Information Widgets – This is a user-specific widget that focuses upon the type senor showing information once it is clicked. 
  • Hybrid Widgets – This is the widget that includes information, collection, and control widgets all at the same time. 
  • Control Widgets – This widget is the one that includes the control functions that are used for Play Music and different apps. 

The mobile app development company has a better idea and a great achievement for the combined elements and probability of the widgets with the size limitations and gestures. 

How to Design & Development the Widget for the Android App?

The design of the android app works differently that includes different factors for design and development. Let us go for the design tips first.

  • Resizing – The several versions and resize of the widgets come in different shapes or sizes. The width and height of the screens should be kept in mind while designing an app within the constraints. 
  • Navigation Elements – The navigation button speaks a lot about Android apps that can be to update the necessary information for settings or the home screen.
  • Display information – The widgets display information that can be the front-page story or emails glimpse, etc. that makes it easy for users to access it.
  • Configuration – The users can work on the maximum customization that must be included in the widgets for displaying configurations. 
  • Pin Widgets – Now Android allows users to pin the specific widget to the homepage as the application shortcut. This is a vital feature that developers need to keep in mind as well. This is simple to implement and work amazingly well for specific tasks.

With designing a bit cleared, now how to develop the Android widgets?

The thing is that it is easy to develop a custom widget that can easily display information or show whatever is necessary. The widget also contains the framework that one can implement directly for the development. 

  • Manifest File is declared by the developers in the android app that works as the source code in application development. Once declared the functions are called directly that creates the widget form. 
  • The configuration file is the next aspect that needs to be included in the code for the app quality. The Android or on demand app development company can easily work with the update intervals, size of widgets, preview images, resizing, and type of widgets.
  • After that, the developers need to implement a configuration activity that is used to place the widget on the home screen for the users. It includes the pictures, font, and even the elements to make the responsive widgets.
  • The WidgetProvider class includes the logic for the widget that can be used to create easily for the redefining process. It includes the onUpdate process that can help in creating the widgets. 
  • Then the developers need to include the user interface that is used to develop widgets easily. It can include UI elements like RelativeLayout, LinearLayout, FrameLayout, AnalogClock, GridLayout, Button, ImageView, ImageButton, Chronometer, ViewFlipper, TextView, ProgressBar, StackView, GridView, ViewFlipper, AdapterViewFlipper, etc.
  • And at last, the widget will be all set to go. The total time to develop the widget is only around 8 hours that can be used in so many ways. The motive is to grow and thrive with the latest trends in the market. 

The fact is that widgets are extremely growing with the time that offers interactive components. The Android home screen is growing with time now and is now thriving to perform actions for the users. The motive of including widgets in an application is that it is used to update the information about the emails or other aspects. 

Widgets are the growing market that is now included in every mobile application. It is a process that can easily create the user interface that preserves the application permission and make the app more reliable. This helps in defining the Widget for the user interface that can be done easily for the home screen offering up the object type to define the application. 

Leave a Reply