StandOut Shares Library to Help Devs Create Floating Apps

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One of the newer and more impressive developments on Android is the ability to code floating applications. For users who are unfamiliar with with floating applications, these are apps that remain above any running application. A good example of this is the Android application AirCalc, which keeps a calculator on-screen, regardless of what apps you have running in the foreground. While this functionality may not be brand new, it’s usage in the Android world is, and for developers looking to make some floating applications, it just got a little bit easier.

StandOut is an application that assists developers in the creation of floating applications. XDA Senior Member pingpongboss created the application to assist developers in the creation of more floating applications using the libraries of StandOut. It’s features include:

Provide your own view. Very easy to integrate

Window decorators (titlebar, minimize/close buttons, border, resize handle)

Windows are moveable and resizable. You can bring-to-front, minimize, and close

Minimized windows can be restored (the example APK demos this using the notification panel)

Create multiple types of windows, and multiple windows of each type

Continuously being developed. More coming.

Not only does this sound really cool, but it could bring a whole new method of multitasking to Android, using windows-based multitasking like on a standard computer. StandOut is also completely free and completely open source. That’s a win-win and users are already expressing their excitement. In the words of XDA Forum Member rangerelf:

I for one welcome our new floating-window overlords.

For more information, links to the source code, and a nice little presentation video, head on over to the original thread.