I’m working on an Android app that needs to display info from a Google Sheets spreadsheet. The spreadsheet has two sheets, and I want to show each sheet’s data in separate activities. I’m not sure how to go about this. Does anyone have experience with pulling data from Google Sheets into an Android app? What steps should I take to make this work? I came across a library called jxl.jar, but I’m not sure if that’s the best option. Are there other libraries or methods that would be better suited for this task? Any advice or code examples would be really helpful. I’m new to working with external data sources in Android, so I’m a bit lost on where to start. Thanks in advance for any guidance!
For accessing Google Sheets data in an Android app, I’d recommend using the Google Sheets API v4. It’s more robust and up-to-date compared to older libraries. You’ll need to set up a Google Cloud project, enable the Sheets API, and configure OAuth 2.0 credentials. Then, use the Google API Client Library for Java to make API calls.
In your app, implement AsyncTask or Coroutines to handle network operations on background threads. Parse the JSON responses to extract your data. For displaying in separate activities, you can pass the parsed data using Intents.
Remember to handle potential network issues and implement caching if real-time updates aren’t crucial. The learning curve might be steep, but it’s worth it for a reliable solution.
hey emcarter, i’ve tackled this before! Google Sheets API is ur best bet. skip jxl.jar, it’s outdated. u’ll need to set up OAuth2 authentication, then use the API to fetch data. it’s a bit tricky at first but way more reliable. check out Google’s official Android quickstart guide, it’ll get u goin in no time!
I’ve been down this road before, and I can tell you that using the Google Sheets API is definitely the way to go. It’s robust and well-documented, which makes it easier to work with in the long run.
First, you’ll need to set up a Google Cloud project and enable the Sheets API. Then, implement OAuth 2.0 for authentication. It might seem daunting at first, but Google’s documentation is pretty helpful.
For the actual implementation, I’d suggest using Retrofit along with GSON for making API calls and parsing the JSON responses. It streamlines the process quite a bit.
One tip from my experience: implement caching. It’ll make your app more responsive and reduce API calls. Also, consider using a ViewModel to manage the data and survive configuration changes.
Don’t forget to handle potential network issues gracefully. Users will appreciate an app that doesn’t crash when their connection drops.
It’s a bit of work upfront, but once you get it set up, it’s pretty smooth sailing from there. Good luck with your project!