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The course focuses on the MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) architecture in Android development using Kotlin. The MVVM is widely recommended due to its robustness, scalability, and ease of maintenance. It is a valuable skill to have for building high-performance Android applications.

Firstly, you will learn the basics of MVVM architecture and its advantages over other approaches to Android development. Then, you'll start from scratch and create layouts for a news application. Next, you'll use the Retrofit and OkHttp networking libraries and get to familiarize yourself with APIs. You'll get hands-on experience in storing data locally via the Room library. Finally, you'll be introduced to both the repository and ViewModel patterns, as well as how to work with the Paging library and deliver data to our fragments.

By the time you’re done with the course, you’ll be able to use MVVM in your Android projects, interact with APIs, store data locally, and implement pagination.

Mastering MVVM Architecture in Android Development using Kotlin

## API key

An **API** key is a long and unwieldy string that allows API servers to identify an application as an authentication token and grant it access to data. It’s usually generated by backend systems that unlock some security features.

### API authentication tokens

API keys are mostly used to authorize and identify applications or projects rather than users. This allows the servers to distinguish between different client applications that are making request calls to the backend. They’re also used for verification and authorization to figure out whether an application has been granted access to the API or not. If not, the system’s authorization fails, and access is blocked.

### Securing API keys in Android

API keys shouldn’t be made publicly available to everyone because this could compromise usage.This can result in unexpected charges to one’s account if the API isn’t free or depletes the maximum number of requests due to different applications using the same API key to make requests. As the developer, we’ll have no choice but to revoke the key and generate another one.
In our project, we’ll hide the API key in the `gradle.properties` file. But before that, we’ll apply for an API key from the NewsAPI website.

### Getting an API key

Register for an API key at the NewsAPI website by clicking the “GET API Key” button, and the API key will be generated.

### Reading the API documentation

The more we understand the API we’re dealing with, the easier it will be to integrate it into our application without running into a 404 error status while testing requests and responses.
To look at the documentation, click the “Documentation” tab at the top center of the website.


# API key

An **API** key is a long and unwieldy string that allows API servers to identify an application as an authentication token and grant it access to data. It’s usually generated by backend systems that unlock some security features.

## API authentication tokens

API keys are mostly used to authorize and identify applications or projects rather than users. This allows the servers to distinguish between different client applications that are making request calls to the backend. They’re also used for verification and authorization to figure out whether an application has been granted access to the API or not. If not, the system’s authorization fails, and access is blocked.

## Securing API keys in Android

API keys shouldn’t be made publicly available to everyone because this could compromise usage.This can result in unexpected charges to one’s account if the API isn’t free or depletes the maximum number of requests due to different applications using the same API key to make requests. As the developer, we’ll have no choice but to revoke the key and generate another one.
In our project, we’ll hide the API key in the `gradle.properties` file. But before that, we’ll apply for an API key from the NewsAPI website.

## Getting an API key

Register for an API key at the NewsAPI website by clicking the “GET API Key” button, and the API key will be generated.

## Reading the API documentation

The more we understand the API we’re dealing with, the easier it will be to integrate it into our application without running into a 404 error status while testing requests and responses.
To look at the documentation, click the “Documentation” tab at the top center of the website.


Learn how to manage API keys in  android.

Introduction

MVVM Architecture

Layouts

Layout Design Assessment

API

Android Web Services Assessment

Utility Classes

Repository Pattern

ViewModel Pattern

Android Business Logic Assessment

Views

Conclusion

Appendix

Managing API Keys

API key

API authentication tokens

Securing API keys in Android

Getting an API key

Reading the API documentation