Develop Reference

Android windowBackground in theme not working - Splashscreen

I'm trying to add splash-screen to my Android app.
I've been following instructions from here. It's the standard way as I get it, and it seems logical.
So it's really simple right? Create drawable resource, use it in a theme as windowBackground, use the theme? Well it doesn't work for me...
manifest:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="euroicc.sicc">
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="#drawable/app_icon"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:roundIcon="#mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
android:supportsRtl="true"
android:theme="#style/AppTheme.Splashscreen">
<activity android:name="euroicc.sicc.ui.MainActivity"
android:theme="#style/AppTheme.Splashscreen">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
styles:
<resources>
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
<item name="android:spinnerDropDownItemStyle">#style/mySpinnerItemStyle</item>
<item name="android:itemBackground">#color/main_background</item>
<item name="android:textColor">#color/text_default</item>
<!--<item name="android:popupMenuStyle">#style/MyAlertDialog</item>-->
</style>
<style name="AppTheme.Splashscreen" parent="AppTheme">
<item name="android:windowTranslucentStatus">true</item>
<item name="android:windowTranslucentNavigation">true</item>
<item name="android:windowBackground">#drawable/splashscreen_drawable</item>
</style>
</resources>
splashscreen_drawable:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item>
<shape android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#android:color/holo_green_light"></solid>
</shape>
</item>
<item>
<bitmap android:src="#drawable/splashschreen_eicc"
android:gravity="center"></bitmap>
</item>
</layer-list>
I've tried other codes from other sites, but nothing seems to work.
Only white background is displayed for less then a second (approximately), and then the app starts running. I'm setting the theme AppTheme in onCreate method of main activity so it uses it's default theme always except on start.
I'm also overriding onPause and onResume, but I call their supers, so that shouldn't be a problem.
I'm testing on v7.0.0, but that shouldn't be a problem also?
I have more styles but I removed them from the example code, because they are used for dialogs and elements inside xml files, not for activities.
So what is the problem and how do I solve it? When I first read about splashscreens I thought setting windowBackground would've been enough

You don't set your background in styles.xml, rather inside your splashcreen layout xml file. Here is my layout example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
tools:ignore="ContentDescription"
android:background="#drawable/green" ==============================> HERE!
tools:context=".activity_splash_screen">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/logo"
android:layout_width="#dimen/_150sdp"
android:layout_height="#dimen/_150sdp"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="#dimen/_100sdp"
android:src="#drawable/white_logo"
/>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/title"
android:layout_width="#dimen/_240sdp"
android:layout_height="#dimen/_150sdp"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginBottom="#dimen/_100sdp"
android:src="#drawable/title"
/>
If you need help with the entire code, I can help you!

I've had this problem. I created the splash screen as a layer-list drawable, and in the theme as windowBackground as it is recommended everywhere, yet it wouldn't work on some devices (like my and my friend's Motorolas, a few other phones) - a black screen would be shown. For me the solution was to wrap my splash activity code in a Handler's postDelayed runnable with some small delay:
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
Handler(Looper.getMainLooper()).postDelayed( { //this is a trick so the splash screen - in window bg theme - is displayed on all devices, instead of black screen. E.g. moto g6
val startMainActivityIntent = ...
startActivity(startMainActivityIntent)
finish()
}, 100)
}
I am not particularly fond of delaying UI, if I knew a better way that worked, I would not do this. But it’s better than black screen.

Duplicating items with android:

Trying to setup my app to use Material design:
<style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Material.Light.DarkActionBar">
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
<item name="android:colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="android:colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
If items with android: are removed - the colors are not getting applied.
If items without android: are removed - app crashes:
Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.foo.bar/com.foo.bar.MainActivity}: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #9: Error inflating class android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
Questions:
Why do I have to duplicate those?
Should I duplicate all styles like that?
EDIT:
The Manifest file is:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.foo.bar">
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="#mipmap/ic_launcher"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:supportsRtl="true"
android:theme="#style/AppTheme">
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:screenOrientation="portrait">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
</intent-filter>
EDIT2
activity_main.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:id="#+id/activity_main"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">
<android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
android:id="#+id/tl_periods"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:tabMinWidth="100dp"
app:tabMode="scrollable"/>

The theme of your application is not a descendant of AppCompat theme, whereas your TabLayout is from support packages.
You either have to stick with AppCompat theme and views, or entirely be support packages independent, otherwise such nasty issues will rise.

tool bar not removed?

So im trying to remove my tool bar on android design page but can't for some reason.
XML code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="match_parent">
</LinearLayout>

Did you set the theme of your Activity in your Manifest without an ActionBar?
In styles.xml:
<style name="AppTheme.NoActionBar">
<item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
<item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
</style>
And in your AndroidManifest.xml:
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:theme="#style/AppTheme.NoActionBar" />
Then in your design page, you'll need to select the theme you just created in the dialog.

Add this in manifest file
<application
...
android:theme="#android:style/Theme.Holo.NoActionBar.Fullscreen" >
...
</application>

android action bar overlay issue

all, I tired to make a action bar overlay the layout of my activity. I am also use support library to support android 2.1 and above, the layout of my activity is as follows:
<!-- activity_display_message.xml in layout folder -->
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="#dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="?attr/actionBarSize"
tools:context=".DisplayMessageActivity" >
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</RelativeLayout>
The manifest.xml is like:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.example.myfirstapp"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0" >
<uses-sdk
android:minSdkVersion="7"
android:targetSdkVersion="19" />
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher">
android:theme="#style/CustomActionBarTheme" >
<!-- some code for main activity -->
<activity
android:name="com.example.myfirstapp.DisplayMessageActivity"
android:label="#string/title_activity_display_message"
android:parentActivityName="com.example.myfirstapp.MainActivity" >
<meta-data
android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
android:value="com.example.myfirstapp.MainActivity" />
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
The styles.xml which defines CustomActionBarTheme is as follows:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<!-- the theme applied to the application or activity -->
<!-- Support library compatibility -->
<!-- Setting values in the default namespace affects API levels 7-13 -->
<style name="CustomActionBarTheme"
parent="#style/Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
<item name="actionBarTabTextStyle">#style/MyActionBarTabText</item>
<item name="actionMenuTextColor">#color/actionbar_text</item>
<item name="windowActionBarOverlay">true</item>
</style>
<!-- ActionBar styles -->
<style name="MyActionBar"
parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="background">#color/orange</item>
<item name="titleTextStyle">#style/MyActionBarTitleText</item>
</style>
<!-- ActionBar title text -->
<style name="MyActionBarTitleText"
parent="#style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Title">
<item name="android:textColor">#color/actionbar_text</item>
<!-- The textColor property is backward compatible with the Support Library -->
</style>
<!-- ActionBar tabs text -->
<style name="MyActionBarTabText"
parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.ActionBar.TabText">
<item name="android:textColor">#color/actionbar_text</item>
<!-- The textColor property is backward compatible with the Support Library -->
</style>
</resources>
Now the problem when applied CustomActionBarTheme is that the text (passed from main activity) which supposed to be displayed in the TextView of display_message_activity disappeared, so I am guessing if it is due to the overlay action bar that covers the text message, and so anyone has any idea how to solve the issue?
cheers

I think that's the cause that doesn't show your text and to solve your problem you should set margin top for TextView with the value: ?attr/actionBarSize
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="?attr/actionBarSize" />
I hope you have solved your problem and this is a correct answer :)

Setting background image to an application which already has a theme

Hi i want to set background image to my application which already has a theme.
<application android:theme="#android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar" />
Now i have changed the code to this
<style name="BackgroundImage" parent="#android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar">
<item name="android:background">#drawable/background</item>
</style>
the manifest file looks like this
<application android:theme="#style/BackgroundImage" />
Now the background image is set but my previous theme i.e. Theme.NoTitleBar is not working.
Ideal behavior expected is both background image and Theme.NoTitleBar should be working. What should i do?

I have changed the style as follows by doing this i am overriding the Theme.NoTitlteBar
<style name="Background" parent="#android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar">
<item name="android:windowBackground">#android:color/black</item>
<item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
</style>
Now manifest file looks like this.
<application android:theme="#style/Background"/>

you need to do it in the xml file, and not your manifest.
you just have to do somerhing like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#drawable/yourimage" > //your drawable image here
hope i helped you