Capstone Stage 2 Rubric

Common Project Requirements

• App conforms to common standards found in the Android Nanodegree General Project Guidelines
• App is written solely in the Java Programming Language
• App utilizes stable release versions of all libraries, Gradle, and Android Studio.

Core Platform Development

• App integrates a third-party library.
• App validates all input from servers and users. If data does not exist or is in the wrong format, the app logs this fact and does not crash.
• App includes support for accessibility. That includes content descriptions, navigation using a D-pad, and, if applicable, non-audio versions of audio cues.
• App keeps all strings in a strings.xml file and enables RTL layout switching on all layouts.
• App provides a widget to provide relevant information to the user on the home screen.

Google Play Services

• App integrates two or more Google services. Google service integrations can be a part of Google Play Services or Firebase.
• Each service imported in the build.gradle is used in the app.
• If Location is used, the app customizes the user’s experience by using the device's location.
• If Admob is used, the app displays test ads. If Admob was not used, student meets specifications.
• If Analytics is used, the app creates only one analytics instance. If Analytics was not used, student meets specifications.
• If Maps is used, the map provides relevant information to the user. If Maps was not used, student meets specifications.
• If Identity is used, the user’s identity influences some portion of the app. If Identity was not used, student meets specifications.

Material Design

• App theme extends AppCompat.
• App uses an app bar and associated toolbars.
• App uses standard and simple transitions between activities.

Building

• App builds from a clean repository checkout with no additional configuration.
• App builds and deploys using the installRelease Gradle task.
• App is equipped with a signing configuration, and the keystore and passwords are included in the repository. Keystore is referred to by a relative path.
• All app dependencies are managed by Gradle.

Data Persistence

• App stores data locally either by implementing a ContentProvider OR using Firebase Realtime Database OR using Room. No third party frameworks nor Persistence Libraries may be used.

• Must implement at least one of the three:

  • If it regularly pulls or sends data to/from a web service or API, app updates data in its cache at regular intervals using a SyncAdapter or JobDispatcher. OR
  • If it needs to pull or send data to/from a web service or API only once, or on a per request basis (such as a search application), app uses an IntentService to do so. OR
  • It it performs short duration, on-demand requests(such as search), app uses an AsyncTask.

• If Content provider is used, the app uses a Loader to move its data to its views.

• If Room is used then LiveData and ViewModel are used when required and no unnecessary calls to the database are made.

Suggestions to Make Your Project Stand Out!

• Make your app more delightful with material design patterns such as shared element transitions across activities and parallax scrolling where two or more items must scroll in the same activity.
• Implement notifications in your app. Remember the following when implementing notifications:
  • Notifications should not contain advertising or content unrelated to the core function of the app.
  • Notifications should be persistent only if related to ongoing events (such as music playback or a phone call).
  • Multiple notifications are stacked into a single notification object, where possible.
  • Use notifications only to indicate a context change relating to the user personally (such as an incoming message).
  • Use notifications only to expose information/controls relating to an ongoing event (such as music playback or a phone call).
• Implement sharing functionality in your app, making use of intent extras to share rich content (i.e. a paragraph of content-specific text, a link and description, an image, etc).
• Create and use a custom view in your app that could not be achieved with the standard widgets provided by the core views on Android.