How does Android Play Store list Applications?

Question

I am trying to list some items in a way very similar to Play Store, currently I am using a Webview and managed to do something similar looking, but performance wise it is very slow.

I'm wondering if Play Store also uses a Webview and gets data from a mobile website like I did, or Play Store uses some sort of widget/view/component to achieve this task, possibly natively. It seems on slow or zero internet connection, the application frames+names are still displayed, and only the images do a lazy load, possibly contributing to much smoother application performance while still capable of listing lots of apps on scrooldown. Here is the Play Store page I'm trying to emulate on my application:

enter image description here

use `apktool` and find out what it uses – DevZer0 Aug 16 '13 at 10:05 — DevZer0, Aug 16 '13 at 10:05
Its probably a custom GridView! – Pavlos Aug 16 '13 at 10:12 — Pavlos, Aug 16 '13 at 10:12

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

2

Easiest to implement this kind of screen with a GridView Tutorials for using it (there are tons of others too):

There is also a GridLayout in Android. The difference between the two components is explained clearly in this post: GridView VS GridLayout in Android Apps

edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

Community

1
1

answered Aug 16 '13 at 10:13

allprog

16,540
9
56
97

I will look into this, I've done further research based on Benito's answer and you're right. May I know how do these cards get updated from online resources dynamically? – Munir Basheer Aug 20 '13 at 02:50

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 16 '13 at 10:38

2

There is a video that explains the theory behind the new Google Play design. No code though. But it is very interesting.

Basically they are using Cards as their main building blocks.

Card

Cards are organized into clusters.

Clusters

And everythings rests on top of a Canvas.

Canvas

You can check out the presentation slides here.

answered Aug 16 '13 at 10:38

Benito Bertoli

25,285
12
54
61

May I ask, how are Cards updated based on online resources dynamically? – Munir Basheer Aug 20 '13 at 02:51
1

New slides from this year's AnDevCon can be found here (they also include some code) https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KjveCvv1ffr0GyUAMRE-zd5Hg3vqSHzDAZJmAmecxYA/edit – mariusgreve Nov 14 '13 at 16:18
Which language they are using? – Chris Harris Apr 11 '17 at 16:56

How does Android Play Store list Applications?

2 Answers2