Making API Requests using Volley Android

Networking in mobile applications has been around since its inception. In the early days, applications made network calls on the main thread. Making network requests on the main thread stopped when Google released the Honeycomb version.

Introduction

This is because network requests proved to be long tasks that required more processing power. Making network calls on the main thread afterwards led to the NetworkOnMainThreadException error in higher SDK levels.

Network requests also can't be done on the UI thread. This is because running a long task on the UI thread can “freeze” a user’s interface, making it not very user friendly.

Different classes and libraries such as AsyncTask, Retrofit, Volley, and others were introduced to carry out networking in mobile applications. Volley is an HTTP library that's used for caching and making a network request in Android applications.

Google developed this library in 2013 due to the absence of an Android SDK that can carry out networking without interfering with the user experience. An API is software that contains data used for communication between two applications. Most applications use APIs to send and receive information.

Classes used in Volley

Request: This class contains the necessary information to make API requests.
Request Queue: A class used to dispatch network requests.

Uses of Volley

Volley can perform the following tasks:

It can manage the caching and processing of network requests.
It helps cache and memory management.
It manages request queuing and prioritization.
It enables customization of the library to fit our needs.

Advantages of Volley

It saves time from writing the same network/cache code over and over.
It can run many concurrent network connections.
It provides tracing and debugging tools.
It enables the automatic scheduling of network connections.
It enables caching.
It supports OkHttp.

Disadvantages of Volley

It's not suitable for streaming and large downloads.
It does not have proper documentation yet.
It's slower compared to Retrofit.
It's has a complex code structure.

Useful Terminology

Volley - an HTTP library that is used for caching and making a network request in Android applications.
API -software that contains data used for communication between two applications.
JSON - (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format.
Permission statements that allow an android application to access different properties that contain a user's sensitive information.

Prerequisites

To follow the tutorial along it would be best to have:

Android Studio installed.
A basic knowledge about APIs and making Requests.
A basic knowledge about REST APIs, JSON, and making Requests.
A basic knowledge and understanding of XML and Java programming language.

Step 1 – Create a New Project

Open Android Studio. Select Start new Android Studio Project -> Empty Activity. We'll name the project CovidTrackerVolley. Click Finish and wait for the project to build.

Name the project

Step 2 – Design a Layout

In this step, we will design the UI for the layout of our application. Our layout has six TextViews. Three are labels and the other three are empty text views that will display the information from the API. Open activity_main.xml and add the following lines of code;

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
 xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
 android:layout_width="match_parent"
 android:layout_height="match_parent"
 tools:context=".MainActivity"
 android:background="@color/white">

 <TextView
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:text="Total Cases in the World"
 android:textSize="22dp"
 android:textStyle="bold"
 android:textColor="@color/black"
 app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.494"
 app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.225" />

 <TextView
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:text="Total Recovered in the World"
 android:textSize="22dp"
 android:textStyle="bold"
 android:textColor="@color/black"
 app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.494"
 app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.39" />

 <TextView
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:text="Total Deaths in the World"
 android:textSize="22dp"
 android:textStyle="bold"
 android:textColor="@color/black"
 app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.518"
 app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.559" />

 <TextView
 android:id="@+id/newCasesWorld"
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:textColor="@color/teal_200"
 android:textSize="22dp"
 android:textStyle="bold"
 app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.498"
 app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.296" />

 <TextView
 android:id="@+id/newDeathsWorld"
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:textColor="@color/teal_200"
 android:textSize="22dp"
 android:textStyle="bold"
 app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.498"
 app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.654" />

 <TextView
 android:id="@+id/newRecoveredWorld"
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:textColor="@color/teal_200"
 android:textSize="22dp"
 android:textStyle="bold"
 app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.498"
 app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.473" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Note: Some of the text views do not contain any content. The information to be displayed on these text views will be obtained from the API. Thus it's important to leave it blank.

Step 3 – Adding Volley to our Application.

Add the following dependency to the app module-level build.gradle file:

dependencies{
 implementation 'com.android.volley:volley:1.1.0'
}

In your AndroidManifest.xml add internet permission:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET />

This permission enables our application to access the internet.

Step 4 – Making the API Requests

In this step, we'll make the API request. We'll be using the NovelCOVID API, that contains live Corona Virus statistics.

In our MainActivity class, create an object for the TextViews in our Resource file.

private TextView totalCasesWorld, totalDeathsWorld, totalRecoveredWorld;

In our onCreate method initialize the TextViews and invoke the getData method.

//Initialize the objects
totalCasesWorld = findViewById(R.id.newCasesWorld);
totalDeathsWorld = findViewById(R.id.newDeathsWorld);
totalRecoveredWorld = findViewById(R.id.newRecoveredWorld);

getData();

Now, let's create a getData method outside the onCreate method. The getData method is the most significant task because it contains the code that will fetch data from the API to be used in our app.

In the getData method, create a StringRequest and assign the NovelCOVID API URL (https://corona.lmao.ninja/v2/all) to a String. We are using the StringRequest because we want to return information in String form.

Note: It's a good practice to test run test requests to ensure the API contains the information required. Platforms such as Postman can be used to do this.

Test Run on Postman

Next, we will create a ResponseListener, that will contain an onResponse method. In the onResponse method, we'll create a JSONObject class. This class will pass the API data and then set the data from API to the respective views.

Note: This should be done within a try block. The parameters inside the getString()should be the same as the name given in the JSON format.

In the onErrorResponse method, we'll show a Toast message in case of an error.

String myUrl = "https://corona.lmao.ninja/v2/all";
StringRequest myRequest = new StringRequest(Request.Method.GET, myUrl,
        response -> {
            try{
                //Create a JSON object containing information from the API.
                JSONObject myJsonObject = new JSONObject(response);
                totalCasesWorld.setText(myJsonObject.getString("cases"));
                totalRecoveredWorld.setText(myJsonObject.getString("recovered"));
                totalDeathsWorld.setText(myJsonObject.getString("deaths"));
            } catch (JSONException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        },
        volleyError -> Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, volleyError.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
);

Lastly, outside the getData method initialize the RequestQueue,

RequestQueue requestQueue = Volley.newRequestQueue(this);
requestQueue.add(myRequest);

We are Done! Let’s run the app.

CovidTrackerVolley

Conclusion

As you can see, Volley makes networking easier in Android development. It provides an easier way to make simple API requests.

Did you know that Volley takes 560ms to carry out one discussion? That is pretty fast.

Instead of making requests using slow and complicated classes such as Async Task, you can use Volley to carry out simple network requests. Go ahead and make different networking calls using Volley.

Making API Requests using Volley Android

Introduction #

Classes used in Volley #

Uses of Volley #

Advantages of Volley #

Disadvantages of Volley #

Useful Terminology #

Prerequisites #

Step 1 – Create a New Project #

Step 2 – Design a Layout #

Step 3 – Adding Volley to our Application. #

Step 4 – Making the API Requests #

Conclusion #

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