instant messages android application [closed]

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I don't know how much specific is that question, but I'll take the risk.

Currently I am learning Java and Android and I got curious about how to make an instant messaging application.
I guess there is a connection to servers. But I do not know anything beyond that.

My question is what kind of technologies/programming languages/subjects do I need to know to create one on my own? (application with functionality that similar to whatsapp. I Thought that php but I have no idea).

I'll really appreciate an extensive answer that will explain it to me that I'll understand well enough what I got to do & learn & know to make one. Thanks!

Answer 1

Simple Android Instant Messaging Application Simple because it is not a kind of application for end users.

This is a simple IM application runs on Android, application makes http request to a server, implemented in php and mysql, to authenticate, to register and to get the other friends' status and data, then it communicates with other applications in other devices by socket interface.

Features User registration User authentication Adding a new friend by username Approving a friend Messaging with a friend in list (Of course) Shows online and offline users Runs a background service in order to get messages even when the application is closed. Uses notification area when a new message is received. Quiting the application(kills the background service) How to make it run There is a folder whose name is Server, copy all files under Server folder to a folder in your web server directory, for instance android_im that can be accessed by http://192.168.7.5/android_im/ (192.168.7.5 is the IP address of computer which runs apache and mysql, use local network IP address instead of using localhost or 127.0.0.1) Open the index.php and enter database connectivity parameters such as host, username, password etc. write error_reporting(0) in top of index.php Create the tables in mysql database

CREATE TABLE  `friends` (
  `Id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `providerId` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
  `requestId` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
  `status` binary(1) NOT NULL default '0',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`Id`),
  UNIQUE KEY `Index_3` (`providerId`,`requestId`),
  KEY `Index_2` (`providerId`,`requestId`,`status`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 COMMENT='providerId is the Id of the users who wish to be friend with';

CREATE TABLE  `users` (
  `Id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `username` varchar(45) NOT NULL default '',
  `password` varchar(32) NOT NULL default '',
  `email` varchar(45) NOT NULL default '',
  `date` datetime NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
  `status` tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
  `authenticationTime` datetime NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
  `userKey` varchar(32) NOT NULL default '',
  `IP` varchar(45) NOT NULL default '',
  `port` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`Id`),
  UNIQUE KEY `Index_2` (`username`),
  KEY `Index_3` (`authenticationTime`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

set AUTHENTICATION_SERVER_ADDRESS in socketOperator, it must be the address where server folder are located, for our example it is http://192.168.7.5/android_im/ (don't use localhost)

Then run your application in Eclipse with ADT plugin.

it can be learned how to install Android SDK and ADT plugin

Every application opens a random port(more than 10000) to listen, port forwarding is needed to communicate applications. It can be learned what the port numbers are that applications open in "users" table.

if it is wanted to run applications on same computer, remove the slashes at the line of //IP=10.0.2.2 in sendmessage function in imService . Then you need to port forwarding. let me give me an example for instance user1 logins the emulator-5554 with port number 12345 and user2 logins the emulator-5556 with port number 54321

then issue these commands

adb -s emulator-5554 forward tcp:12345 tcp:12345

adb -s emulator-5556 forward tcp:54321 tcp:54321