Question

I got a Project from my Company without Documentation. Now I have to add some things to this Project like new Add features etc. But I have no clue how this Project is organized and where it starts… Does anyone know how to work with a Project like this? Can I analyse it with a shema?

How can i find the startpoint of this application?

and is there a way to debug from A to Z?

Answer 1

Look in the manifest file for the main activity.

While others may chime in with Android-specific answers, you should think of handling this project as “legacy code” — created by someone else, with poor or no documentation, and little idea (initially) of how things were implemented.

Check out Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Feathers if you’d like a decent book on your problem. Also relevant, but not Android-specific, is advice in the ebook “Rails Rescue” and the “Legacy Code” chapter in Rails Test Prescriptions. Though Rails-related, the advice the authors give is directly applicable to most projects.

In a nutshell:

• get the project under version control if it isn’t already (and if it is, you’re in luck, as you can review the commit history to get a feel for things)
• get the test suite running cleanly. No test suite? Get a simple test stub started
• commit yourself to creating tests for every new feature you implement

Lastly, read the code. You’re going to have to bite the bullet and familiarize yourself with the implementation — there’s no way around that.