128 CHAPTER 4: Introduction to XML: Defining an Android App, Its Design, and Constants
For instance, if you want to see every permission you can ask the Android OS to give your
application, such as permission to use the camera, which is afforded by the android.permission.
CAMERA constant, you can spend some time perusing the drop-down menu next to the
Permission field, as it contains hundreds of Android OS permission constants.
All of the other drop-down menus in this section of the Manifest Application visual editor feature
either a “true” or “false” value selection, so to learn what these do, you’d want to consult the
developer.android.com web site.
Before we finish this XML chapter, I want to give you an overview of how XML and Java interface
together, which is accomplished using a process that the Android OS calls “inflation.” Inflation
is simply a fancy term for “turning XML-compatible data structures into Java-compatible data
structures,” which is of course necessary due to the fact that your application programming logic is
written using the Java programming language.
Let’s take a look at XML inflation next, and after that we will summarize in greater detail how Android
applications work on a more global level, by revisiting and refining the visual that I used back in
Figure 3-1 in Chapter 3. After we do this, you will be ready to get into the even more complicated
subject of the Java SE programming language and all of its various programming logic and data
storage constructs.
Figure 4-21. View the