Android change look of custom keyboard - android

I have successfully made a very basic custom keyboard for Android based off of this tutorial. The problem is, this keyboard looks very odd and outdated for Android lollipop:
Image of the current keyboard:
I have been looking at other keyboards such as the default OS keyboard and this one:
And they look much better for Android.
How can I modify the color scheme and style of my keyboard to look better?
It is also worth noting I am making a keyboard that is very similar to the second example (it will just have a few extra buttons).

If you want a lot of control and be able to do things dynamically, I suggest you ditch the xml layout and KeyboardView class and make your own custom keyboard view

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Material Design TextInputLayout With An Attached Dropdown?

Is there a Material component that will easily let me set the left of a TextInputEditText to be a dropdown like this image below? If not, I can create something, but wanted to see if anyone knew more about Material components before I start doing too much custom work. Looks custom to me, though.
With material component, Google has removed spinner from its UI Elements.
Preferred way to do it is TextInputLayout along with AutoCompleteTextView just like Ashu has mentioned in the comment section.
Here is a more thorough article, which can help you in implementing AutoCompleteTextView.
https://blog.usejournal.com/there-is-no-material-design-spinner-for-android-3261b7c77da8
So far, both answers say to use AutoCompleteTextView. However, that doesn't answer my question. As you can see in the image I posted with the question, only the left side is a drop down. The right side is just a normal text input that isn't affected by the drop down.
However, I think it is safe to assume there isn't a component that will do this for me easily and that it would indeed be custom work to make these two components appear to be one single component.

Android Custom Keyboard Layout as a Vector Asset

I am attempting to create a custom keyboard where a vector image is the keyboard itself. Rather than having a custom xml file in the directory res/xml and defining a Keyboard tag, I want to have solely the image as the keyboard. I wanted to know if this is even possible to do because all of the examples I have seen thus far regarding how to create a custom keyboard is just defining an xml file for the layout of the keys and placing it inside of a KeyboardView. Any help would be appreciated!
No, it's not possible. To create a cusotm keyboard you need KeyboardView and Keyboard classes.
Also, I don't understand why would you need it. Do you want a background/theme for your keyboard? If yes, you can do it like this : mKeyboardView.setBackground(drawable/color) Also, there are other ways to set theme(including key border/background/color etc) for a keyboard, but since you are only concern to learn if it's possible to create a custom keyboard via vector asset. So, the answer is no.

Android Text Selection Listener

I'm trying to create a graceful, distraction-free text editor.
One of the features I really would like to implement is a pop-up with simple text formatting commands, such as bold, italic, underline, font color, and font face.
To give you an idea, here is a picture of the popup in iOS(Obviously, this is just the idea. I want to create a custom design for the popup):
I have a few questions:
1) Is there such thing as a text selection listener, or some equivalent?
2) Will I need to override the default android action for text selection?
3) How would I display/create this popup? (Vague question, I know...)
I am just starting out in Java and Android development, but I have already created a few apps and have gotten the hang of it.
The key term you're looking for here, to help you with your research, is ActionMode, provided that your target is honeycomb or newer.
The API docs (scroll down to "using the contextual action mode) do an ok job of explaining things, once you find what you're looking for, which is the biggest barrier to their use, but basically what you're going to need to do is this:
set your EditText to be selectable (android:textIsSelectable="true" or setTextIsSelectable(true);
Implement the ActionMode.Callback interface and provide your own menu items.
NOTE: as mentioned above, this only works for API level 11+. If you're targeting earlier platforms, getting the events for text selection is much more complicated.

Android Dropdown List (iPhone style)

Could anyone tell me either what this widget is or how it could be recreated? I'm having to port over a iPhone app, and my boss wants me to make it look as similar as possible, but while using android controls. Here is a picture of it in Android:
http://cdn3.staztic.com/screenshots/android-swim-32-2.jpg
Thanks!
It is not a standard thing, but for this purpose, there is a: QuickAction dialog.
this can be done with a PopupWindow (it can also be shown as dropdown) where the background is a custom nine-patch file and the content is a listview (or any other view that fits your needs).
I'm sure that GreenDroid Library can do this but I don't know the name of the class to use

Is creating a non-rectangular keyboard possible?

I want to create a custom Android keyboard that is in a arc like shape, but I don't know if it is at all possible or how to do it. So I'd appreciate being pointed in the right direction
Yes, its possible to create a non-rectangular keyboard. Check the android softkeyboard implementation and change the layouts to what you want. AFAIK, its using a custom view which handles the buttons addition/removal, you need to change this to achieve this.

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