Unlock the Power of Glide: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Photo App
What is Glide?
Glide is an Android image loading and caching library designed to simplify the process of loading images from servers or the internet. With just one line of code, you can effortlessly load images from the server, eliminating the need for manual handling of image loading and caching.
Setting Up a New Project in Android Studio
To get started, launch Android Studio and create a new project. Choose the “Empty Activity” option and select your application name and minimum SDK version according to your needs.
Adding Required Dependencies
Open your build.gradle file (module level) and add the following dependencies:
- Glide library
- Unsplash Image API for fetching image links
- Networking library for making API calls
Creating a Layout for Images
Create a grid layout to display image thumbnails using RecyclerView. Right-click the layout folder, select “New,” and then “Layout Resource File.” Create a RecyclerView item layout file and use CardView to create a visually appealing design.
Storing Image URLs
Create a data class to store image URLs. Right-click your package folder, select “New,” and then “Kotlin Class/File.” Create a data class with two string variables: one for the thumbnail URL and another for the full image URL.
Implementing RecyclerView and Adapter
Add RecyclerView to your main activity layout and create an Adapter class. Implement the Adapter methods, including onCreateViewHolder, onBindViewHolder, and getItemCount. Use Glide to load images from URLs and display them in the image view.
Attaching Adapter to RecyclerView
Fetch image URLs from the Unsplash API using the Fast Android Networking library. Attach the Adapter to RecyclerView with the image links data. Set the layout manager to GridLayoutManager to display the images in a grid.
Displaying Full-Screen Images
Create a new activity to display full-screen images. Open the layout file and add an ImageView to cover the entire screen. In the class file, use Glide to load the full image URL and display it in the image view.
The Finished App
Congratulations! You have now built a fully functional photo app using Glide. Run the app to see the list of images, and click on any image to open it in full screen.
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