Develop Reference

Background drawable not applying to Android button

I want to applying drawable to my android button.
But, background drawable is not working.
This is my drawable code.
<?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="#FFEF1D1D" />
</shape>
</item>
</layer-list>
and This is my layout code
<Button
android:id="#+id/booking"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="6.5"
android:text="bokking"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:textColor="#color/white"
android:background="#drawable/booking_btn"
android:layout_marginRight="10dp"/>
Drawable is not applied to Button, but drawable is applied to AppCompatButton. I wonder why too.
When I applied this code, Only backgroundTint applies to buttons.
I spent a week on this issue, but I couldn't solve it.
plz help me

You can't apply the background on the material button.
If you are using Theme.MaterialComponents.*, then the normal button also used as the material button forcefully.
You have two options.
change it to any AppCompat theme.
Still If you need a material theme for some components, then use any material theme with a bridge. like Theme.MaterialComponents.*.Bridge
So, If you will go with option 2, you can use material button as per your need.
use com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton for material button else use your normal button.

Looks like there is a problem with the Theme since Android Studio 4.1, try changing the base Theme from Theme.MaterialComponents.DayNight.DarkActionBar to Theme.AppCompat.DayNight.DarkActionBar, it works for me.

There is only one chance for that.I think you are using material theme.That's why the background property is not applying for button.If you want use that,change the theme to appcompat varaint.

You didn't use the selector in your XML. Use Selector instead of Layer-List

Change text color based on theme in a selector with different states

I try to change the color based on my theme. My TextView is using color-selector with different states for enabled and disabled and I want to use my theme based color in this selector.
I have followed this solution: android themes - defining colours in custom themes
My selector used as android:textColor in my view looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_enabled="true" android:color="#ffffff" />
<item android:state_enabled="false" android:color="?attr/ThemeTest"/>
</selector>
with ThemeTest being my custom attribut which has a color assigned in my themes. If I use this selector as my textColor, the color is actually not what I picked but just a simple plain RED! HOWEVER if I use the custom attribut directly in my view
android:textColor="?ThemeTest"
then it works but I obviously want to do this based on the change of state of my view...
Does anybody understand this behaviour and know how to fix it? Thanks in advance!

Using a theme attribute inside a color selector XML file is only supported in the most recent versions of Android. To overcome this limitation you need to create one color selector file for each theme, and fill them with plain colors. Then create a theme attribute which points to the correct color selector depending on the theme.
source: https://plus.google.com/102404231349657584821/posts/XEeehfwanGy
edit: tested and it works flawlessly!

How to apply shadow color to Android EditText when focused?

I have an EditText control in my application and when it is focused (i.e. I'm ready to enter something) I want to apply shadow color to it. How can I do this?
Thanks,
#nagaraju.

You can use the Selector tag like Follows:
Create a New xml file and place it in your drawable folder and name it as shadow_color.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="false" android:drawable="#drawable/ask_footer"/>
<item android:state_focused="false" android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="#drawable/askfooter_hover" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/ask_footer" />
</selector>
And then go to that xml in which your EditText is declared:
And write one attribute in editText
android:background="#drawable/shadow_color"
and you are done.

Use a selector for your background drawable and create your own nine patches.

does shadow color mean you want a shadow theme background for your view??
then, assuming that you are using xml layout,the GU interface version shown on eclipse allows you to select a particular theme for your view,which i think is what you want.
if you want to put it manually,
you must mention it in the android manifest
eg.
<activity android:name=".activity_name here"android:theme="#android:style/Theme.Dialog">//there are a handful of effects provided by SDK
</activity>
i suggest the graphical user interface method,its easy and you can see the effect as you select the theme

You can also check whether your EditText isFoucsed or not. And if true so change its background image to shadow like image.

Android: Use default highlight colors in a custom button

I want to use a Button in my android app but I want to customize how it looks. However, I want the highlight and selected colors of the button to be the same as the default colors (i.e. the dark and light orange gradients, or whatever the theme color supplies).
Is there anyway to get the default highlight/selected drawables and to use that as the fill for my buttons on the selected and highlighted states?
Thanks!

You are asking for two different things, do you want the drawables or the colorcode?
Anyway, you can find the name of the drawables here: http://androiddrawableexplorer.appspot.com/
I don't know if you can use them directly from your app or if you have to save them to your drawables folder first, but you can find them in your sdk. If you want the colorcodes, use gimp to extract them from the pictures.

It seems that you can use a selector as drawable inside a selector!
(You can or should not use #android:drawable/btn_default_selected, because it is private)
This meens that you can write your own selecter and use the whole default android selector for the items you want the default behavior for.
I used this selector
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<item android:drawable="#android:drawable/btn_default" android:state_pressed="true"/>
</selector>
And added it to as background to a linear layout.
I don't know why, but this messed up the padding/margin as well, thats why i set them to 0.
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/background_linear_layout_button"
android:padding="0dp"
android:layout_margin="0dp"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<!-- YOUR LAYOUT THAT ACTS LIKE A BUTTON -->
</LinearLayout>
The Result is that you have the parent background color in the unpressed state and the android background color for the pressed state.

Selectors are what you're looking for. Google around for tutorials. Here's one.
I Suppose you can find the Default Selector in the Android Source Code.

Fixed: "Android: Detecting focus/pressed color"

I'm trying to detect the focus/pressed color for button and other elements.
This is needed because I'm developing new components and it's important that those look as part of platform.
Those colors are ORANGE on android sdk and GREEN on HTC SenseUI.
If I could detect that color my component will look as part of platform on both version.
Does anyone knows how to do this?
It's possible to create "selector" which uses custom image for default state and platform default for focus/selection.
To do this follow the steps:
1) create xml file with selector in "res/drawable" (e.g. "red_button.xml"):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="true"
android:drawable="#android:drawable/btn_default" >
</item>
<item android:state_focused="true"
android:drawable="#android:drawable/btn_default" >
</item>
<item
android:drawable="#drawable/btn_default_red" >
</item>
</selector>
2) from folder ".../android-sdk-mac/platforms/android-1.5/data/res/drawable/" take picture "btn_default_pressed.9.png" and change color as you like (I needed to change it to red and for this GIMP is enough).
3) place altered picture in "res/drawable" (e.g. with name "btn_default_red.9.png")
4) define button:
<Button
android:id="#+id/info_button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="37dip"
android:layout_marginTop="1dip"
android:background="#drawable/red_button"
android:text="[Info]" />
That's all.
This is result:
alt text http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/1349/custombutton.png

I had this problem too. As already stated, the problem is that the backgrounds aren't simple colors, they're Drawables that could take on all kinds of appearances. However, I found a work-around that may help. If your custom component looks something like an existing one, e.g. a Button or ListView entry, you can just steal their background/selector and set that as the background for your custom component. E.g., in your custom component constructor:
setBackgroundDrawable(new Button(context).getBackground());
or for a background more suitable for list-like components:
setBackgroundDrawable(new ListView(context).getSelector());
You may want to optimise that code somewhat, but you get the idea.

Those aren't colors. They are a few nine-patch images out of a StateListDrawable. I am skeptical that there will be a reliable way for you to determine what the color is, one that will work across all devices and all versions of Android.

This is pretty much a duplicate of: Android ListView Selector Color
Also, why do you need to detect the colours? Just do nothing and your widgets will fit in to the platform's existing look & feel.
Or if you're writing a custom theme, just make yours inherit from android:Theme.