Develop Reference

Android Studio: Images behind other images

What I am trying to do seems very basic in theory, but cannot find any information on this on the web. I have a series of clickable imagebuttons, containing images. I would like it so that when a user clicks on one of these imagebuttons, it becomes highlighted with a simple border.
To achieve this, I have created a basic solid-colour 62x62 pixel image and wish to place it -behind- my original 60x60 imagebutton. This will create the illusion of a border. My plan is to set it to non-visible by default and then have the code set it to visible on click. Sounds straight-forward.
However, in my layout, the solid-colour image always sits on top of the original image, and I cannot find any way of sending it behind. I would rather not do this in code, I am sure this is a layout issue (but will set it in code if I absolutely must).
Relevant section of layout, where the ImageView needs to sit behind the player 1 ImageButton:
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingLeft="20dp"
android:paddingRight="20dp"
android:paddingTop="20dp"
android:paddingBottom="20dp" tools:context=".MainActivity"
android:id="#+id/Form_PlayerSelection"
android:background="#drawable/dark_wood">
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/btnPlayer1"
android:layout_width="60dp"
android:layout_height="60dp"
android:src="#drawable/player_blank"
android:adjustViewBounds="false"
android:clickable="true"
android:cropToPadding="false"
android:padding="0dp"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
android:layout_marginLeft="15dp"
android:layout_marginTop="50dp" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/p1border"
android:layout_width="62dp"
android:layout_height="62dp"
android:src="#drawable/selectborder"
android:clickable="false"
android:cropToPadding="false"
android:padding="0dp"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
android:layout_marginLeft="13dp"
android:layout_marginTop="48dp"/>
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/btnPlayer2"
android:layout_width="60dp"
android:layout_height="60dp"
android:src="#drawable/player_blank"
android:adjustViewBounds="false"
android:clickable="true"
android:cropToPadding="false"
android:padding="1dp"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
android:layout_marginLeft="85dp"
android:layout_marginTop="50dp" />
</RelativeLayout>

Each child is added in order and to the top of the ViewGroup. So, the bottom element should be your first child.

How to build a layout like this?

I want to build an activity with the following design. Up until now I just used relative and linear layouts.
Is it possible to make the following design with this group views or should I be useing something else?
I want to put some animations on the shapes no.2 and no.3 but not the "text1" and "text2".
What should I do? Is it possible to design this only in my xml file or should I be doing some work in my java code?
* just the colored part is the layout , the numbers and the arrows are not part of it.

This is what I did, I used 3 invisible views to help me put my imageviews where I want them.
As for the sizes, I will use "dimens.xml" and different values for different screen sizes.
<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:background="#color/background" >
<View
android:id="#+id/center"
android:layout_width="60dp"
android:layout_height="60dp"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:visibility="invisible" />
<view
android:id="#+id/up"
android:layout_width="1dp"
android:layout_height="1dp"
android:layout_above="#id/center"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/center"/>
<view
android:id="#+id/down"
android:layout_width="1dp"
android:layout_height="1dp"
android:layout_below="#id/center"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/center"/>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/p_button"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="150dp"
android:layout_above="#id/down"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/up"
android:src="#drawable/p"
tools:ignore="ContentDescription" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/s_button"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="150dp"
android:layout_below="#id/up"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/down"
android:src="#drawable/s"
tools:ignore="ContentDescription" />

How do you layer imageViews in an android application?

I'm trying to create my first real Android app, the code seems easy enough, but the layout is giving me problems.
My app will be a drag and drop application, very simple, just drag shapes to the correct place in the "puzzle". Here's an example of how it looks right now:
What I have currently is 4 ImageViews, one for the "empty puzzle" at the top, then 1 for each of the shapes below. I think the correct way to do this is to have each of the empty spots in the puzzle be an ImageView (what the arrow is pointing to, for example, should be an ImageView)
If I am correct on this, I need to "layer" ImageViews, put 3 "empty shape" image views over the "puzzle" image view at the top. The problem is I can't find any examples or suggestions for this anywhere online. So my questions are:
Does it make sense to have 3 ImageViews sitting on top of a "background" ImageView, or is there a more correct way to do this?
If I'm heading in the right direction, could someone explain/examplify how one builds ImageView layers?
XML for my current screen:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/emptyPuz"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/EmptyPuzzle" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizantal" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:adjustViewBounds="false"
android:src="#drawable/Circle" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView2"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:adjustViewBounds="false"
android:src="#drawable/Square" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView3"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:adjustViewBounds="false"
android:src="#drawable/Triangle" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

The solution I ended up using was to add a new LinearLayout with the background set to a "puzzle base" image and added three new images with "empty puzzle" pieces on it. Ie: I broke up each of the 3 "empty" puzzle slots into individual images like in this example:
Then used them as backgrounds to a new layout, so where I had this code before:
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/emptyPuz"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/EmptyPuzzle" />
I now have:
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#drawable/emptypuzzle"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/dropsquare"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:tag="square"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:adjustViewBounds="false"
android:src="#drawable/emptysquare" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/droptriangle"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:tag="triangle"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:adjustViewBounds="false"
android:src="#drawable/emptytriangle" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/dropcircle"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:tag="circle"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:adjustViewBounds="false"
android:src="#drawable/emptycircle" />
</LinearLayout>
Ending with a resultant drag and drop game looking like:
It's not pretty, but my toddler likes it. :)

How to achieve this kind of layout in Android

I'm new to Android development and I'm trying to achieve a layout for my app that is capable of handling different screen resolutions/ratios.
I've been reading a lot of the documentation and questions on this site to try to understand the basics and concepts.
First I went through:
developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
And questions like:
stackoverflow.com/questions/6403619/how-to-support-all-the-different-resolutions-of-android-products
I've got a pretty basic idea on how to handle things out. But still, its pretty difficult for a starter to get going, and I found myself stucked trying to achieve the solution I came up with.
I designed my app to a target resolution of 480x800, and set it up to always show in portrait mode.
This is how it looks like and how I understand it should work (I used Waldo for the sake of example haha):
(sorry for the link, I need 10 rep to post images)
http://i.imgur.com/KXTAXir.jpg
My root Layout is a LinearLayout, wich contains 3 other Layouts being A and C set up to a weight of 0.8 while B is at 8.4. This is all fine, but the contents of B are set up to DP units at the moment just to be able to test.
B consists of a frame Layout who has 3 other Layouts inside, where 2 of them are working fine, and shown only when needed. The problem is that I need B to be able to adapt based on the contents of it first child: a LinearLayout wich contains 2 ImageView and 1 ProgressBar. I need that those ImageView always keep their ratio.
Here is an example of how it should work:
http://i.imgur.com/cH7fUze.jpg
Imagine those 4 are real screens, wich vary in ratio and size. So my app should only adapt B (from my first image) to keep the images original ratio.
Here is the layout code:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#color/darkgray"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="0.8"
android:background="#666666" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/level_text_name"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="LEVEL"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/level_text_score"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="SCORE"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/level_text_clock"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="01:59"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />
</RelativeLayout>
<FrameLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="8.4" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:adjustViewBounds="true" />
<ProgressBar
android:id="#+id/progressBar1"
style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleHorizontal"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:max="1000"
android:progress="0" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView2"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:adjustViewBounds="true" />
</LinearLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/pauseMask"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#000000"
android:visibility="gone" >
</RelativeLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/gameoverMask"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#FFFFFF"
android:visibility="gone" >
</RelativeLayout>
</FrameLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="0.8"
android:background="#666666" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/level_text_status"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="0/0"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="Button"
android:onClick="useHint" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/button1"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="Button"
android:onClick="toggleSound" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button3"
style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/button2"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="Button"
android:onClick="togglePause" />
</RelativeLayout>
The last thing that stays unclear to me is how to handle the text and button sizes. Should I set them in DPs? How do I get them to scale accordingly like it can be seen on the bottom of my second picture.
Thank you for your help, I also want this to serve as an example to others that are having trouble to understand how to handle this kind of scenarios.

I'm not sure, if I got your question right.
However, you can specify different layouts for different screen sizes and orientations, as described here: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
Just give the respective suffix in the name of your layout XML file.

I ended up creating a custom View for my images. The view calculates the space thats left on its parent, scales the images manually and then resizes itself to the same size of the resulting image.
To resize the progress bar to have the same width as the images, I used a custom listener that gets triggered when my custom views get resized. Then I resize the progressbar to match their width.
With this I achieved what I wanted, a layout that will work perfectly in all screen sizes.

I want to apply 3 images on a layout one at left,one at right and one at center...is it possible??? if yes then how?

Android:How to set more than one image on single layout
I want to apply 3 images on a single layout one at left,one at right and one at center...is it possible??? if yes then how??

Spilling the beans here for you. Next time post anything you have tried, keeps people from downvoting your question. Assuming they are separate images:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#id/img1"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true
/>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#id/img2"
android:layout_centerInParent="true
/>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#id/img3"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true
/>
</RelativeLayout>
If you want to have them all in one ImageView merge them in the same graphic using gimp/panit/photoshop.

for example
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:scaleType="centerInside"
android:layoutWeight="1"
android:src="#drawable/image_1"/>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:scaleType="centerInside"
android:layoutWeight="1"
android:src="#drawable/image_2"/>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:scaleType="centerInside"
android:layoutWeight="1"
android:src="#drawable/image_3"/>
</LinearLayout>
but this is just a poor example, it depends on what You want. Usualy you have to define multiple layouts for multiple screen support.....