1. Android UG - #15 Agenda: Android news from the last month
Introduction to Data Binding in Android

2. Android happenings in Feb/Mar
Android N – Early release
New Hangouts launched
RetroFit 2.0 is released
Destinations on Google launched

3. Android N OTA distribution
Only for modern Nexus devices currently (Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Nexus 9, and Pixel C devices + emulator with N SDK)
Split screen function
Bundled and direct reply notifications
More memory/efficiency improvements via Doze
Improved Java 8 support via Android’s Jack compiler– giving us access to lambdas etc
Join up here : g.co/androidbeta

4. Data Binding and what we do now
What is Data Binding?
In its simplest form Data Binding provides a mechanism to connect UI elements directly with their datasource – generally cutting out the middlemen (Activities) that are used currently to set values on the elements
How do we code now?
Standard Android way is to lookup views with findViewById(int)
There are libraries that can help roboguice / dagger / butterknife
Pros
Well used and recognised patterns
Explicit – easier to see where you are setting data and where events are coming from
Cons
Verbose your Activity becomes swollen with simple calls

5. Data Binding – what we do now
findViewById is not the fastest call … and not great when you have lots of UI elements
Using Data Binding …
Helps clarify the role of Activity in MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) pattern? Far less UI manipulation code in the Activity

6. Data Binding – Getting started
Support Lib installed – download through the SDK manager (v23.2 currently)
Gradle alpha1
Android Studio ( I used 2.0 beta 6.0)
Add the below to your build.gradle:
android {
....
dataBinding {
enabled = true }

7. Data Binding – basic example
Change your layout root
Introduce a <data> element
Connect your widgets to the data
Connect the binding in the Activity

8. Data Binding – More Reading
RecyclerView examples
Simple:
More Complex lists:
Two way data