Android - How to start creating a launcher app?

Question

I am going to start my new app which is going to be a Home Replacement. I have been through the example provided by google. but i am still little bit confused.

like Where should i start? Should i create a normal activity by extending an Activity class then just set the background image(wallpaper) and use a grid view to show all applications?

How to make Android to treat my app as a launcher process?

so many question running in my mind and please don't advise me to go through Android Launcher because it has almost more than 100 classes and what i need is just a simple start after that i know what i want from my app.

Answer 1

I would start by looking at the source for the launcher that ships with Android to get an idea of how it works and how the code is structured:

https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/apps/Launcher2

Answer 2

Found an amazing article related to the question: http://arnab.ch/blog/2013/08/how-to-write-custom-launcher-app-in-android/

Answer 3

I was in the same position as you a little while back. I took a look at the official Launcher2 code, which is way too frikin complicated to be an example to start off with. The Home example included in the SDK itself is (in my honest opinion) too complicated for it's intended purpose, i.e. helping guys like you and me learn how to build a custom launcher...what the heck Google.

Anyways, I put together a quick super simple launcher (called SimpleLauncher, surprise) that is no more than 2 classes and < 200 lines of code to help me understand the basics of a custom Android app launcher. It's only intended to be an easy reference for the basics and is kind of buggy, but take a look. I think it's much easier to understand than Google's examples.

Answer 4

I'm not sure if I understood your question correctly, but are you looking for a startup animation of some sort? If so, check this out.

How to implement application startup animation in android