Setting Up the Project Files

Now that you've seen what the final project looks like, 0:00 we're going to get the project files set up on your computer. 0:02 If you've watched online coding tutorials before, 0:05 I'm sure you've probably done this kind of setup before. 0:08 I strongly encourage you to stick around for 0:10 this video just to make sure everything is in the right place. 0:12 Having a different setup than the one we follow in the video can cause some 0:15 unnecessary frustration, so we definitely don't want that to happen. 0:18 I promise I'll keep this short, sweet, and to the point. 0:21 Go ahead and 0:25 click the link in the teacher's notes to download the zipped up starter files. 0:25 In them, you'll find six folders in total. 0:29 Each video where we write code will have a before and after state, 0:32 in case you want to try and challenge yourself to perhaps watch a video, and 0:35 then go and implement the changes I make from memory. 0:38 You definitely don't have to do this, and it's simply an option, 0:41 but this kind of set up helps me learn, so I figured I'd share it with you. 0:43 In each video, I will start from the before state and 0:47 end in the after state of the code for that particular video. 0:49 I've also included to do comments in the code where I make changes so 0:52 that can be easily found using Android Studios built in to do window. 0:55 Once you've downloaded the zip of the project files, make sure that the zip 1:00 files in the location on your computer where you'd like them to live. 1:03 Once they're there go ahead and unzip them. 1:06 Within the unzip folders, you will see sub folders corresponding to each 1:11 video where we write code or where want to include it's due comment. 1:14 To start, we'll open Android Studio and then open the folder called 01-exercise. 1:18 Let's have a look around this code. 1:23 In the project, there are two packages. 1:25 One for the login related code and the other for the messages related code. 1:28 Let's take a peak at the login package first. 1:31 Once you open the package, you'll see there are two classes. 1:34 One for the login screen itself, and a utility class for 1:37 determining if a user is logged in. 1:40 In the LoginActivity, if there's a user already logged in, I start the messaging 1:44 activity, close the log in activity, and return so no further code is called. 1:47 Then, I set a listener on the edit text to log in the user when the Enter 1:52 button is pressed. 1:55 I also set a listener on the log in button to do the same thing. 1:57 Next, we'll explore the messages package. 2:00 This is where all the fun FireBase stuff will happen. 2:03 First, I want to show you the Messages class that will represent a message in our 2:05 Firebase. 2:09 There are a couple of key things here I want to call your attention to. 2:11 First, notice that there is a no arguments constructor. 2:14 Firebase requires this in order to deserialize objects. 2:17 You'll also notice the @IgnoreExtraProperties 2:21 annotation on this class. 2:24 There will be an error with that annotation at first, but 2:26 we'll fix this shortly. 2:28 That annotation does exactly what it looks like. 2:30 It ignores properties that don't map the class fields. 2:32 In other words, if there is a method for getting a value that doesn't directly 2:35 correspond to a class field, it's ignored when setting your data to Firebase. 2:39 Next, we'll look at the MessagingActivity. 2:44 We also have simple classes for MessageAdapter and MessageViewHolder. 2:47 But those are simply boiler plate required to populate a recycler view. 2:50 And I will leave it up to you to explore those classes. 2:53 Within the MessagingActivity, I've set the adapter on the recycler view and 2:56 wired up the button to send a message and 3:00 the edit text to send a message when a user clicks the Enter button. 3:01 Currently, the activity will show a toast when we attempt to send a message, but 3:06 we will update that behavior soon. 3:09 There are also methods below for clearing a text of the edit text, 3:12 hiding the keyboard, and scrolling to the most recent message. 3:15 Those methods are all simply for 3:18 a better user experience and certainly aren't required by Firebase. 3:19 Let's run the starter project and see what it looks like. 3:23 I'm going to comment out the Firebase annotation on our Message class since 3:26 I haven't yet included the Firebase library in this project. 3:29 But, again, we'll fix that very soon. 3:32 When you run this project, you'll first see the username entry screen. 3:35 After you provide a username, 3:44 you'll see a screen where a list of messages will eventually be displayed. 3:45 For now, if we type a message and hit send. 3:49 We'll see that the message goes away, but isn't actually sent anywhere. 3:59 In the next video, we'll learn how to create a Firebase project in the Firebase 4:02 console, taking the first step to sending your message to everyone in real time. 4:06