Develop Reference

Changing Color State on an "ImageToggle" Button

I currently have a set of ToggleButtons, enclosed by a RadioGroup, with each button referring to a selector that changes the color of the button state, and writing code to implement the radio-buttonesque behavior. This works great. (EDIT: I should mention that the selector is what the android:background element of the button is referred to)
The Selector is something like this
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#color/gold"
android:state_checked="true" />
<item android:drawable="#color/white" />
</selector>
Now I want a second set of buttons to have the exact same behavior. The catch is that this time, I want Images on some of them, not text.
There are lots of StackOverflow posts on how to change the Image based on the Button's state but I don't want to change the image based on the state. I want to change the color of the button based on the state (the images have transparent backgrounds).
I'm really trying to avoid modifying the button images themselves.
I believe the solution involves making a selector with a layer-list but this is new territory for me.

Create a xml named colors.xml in res/values folder:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<color name="red">#ff0000</color>
<color name="green">#00ff00</color>
</resources>
In drawable folder, create a xml file my_btn_toggle.xml:
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_checked="false" android:drawable="#color/red" />
<item android:state_checked="true" android:drawable="#color/green" />
</selector>
and in xml section define your toggle button:
<ToggleButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/btntoggle"
android:background="#drawable/my_btn_toggle"/>

I think you are looking for tinting attributes - mentioned here.
In your case, try to set ColoStateList to android:tint attribute. In ColorStateList doc you have example that shows color selector - like drawable selector, but for colors.
(I'm not sure it's already support pre-Lollipop devices or you should do it programatically with PorterDuff filters for older versions.)

What apparently one needs to do is create a layered drawable in the selector like this:
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_checked="true">
<layer-list>
<item android:drawable="#color/gold"
android:gravity="fill"/>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/image"
android:gravity="fill"/>
</layer-list>
</item>
<item android:state_checked="false">
<layer-list>
<item android:drawable="#color/white"
android:gravity="fill"/>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/image"
android:gravity="fill"/>
</layer-list>
</item>
</selector>
The standard approach to variable state button selectors is what Priyank mentions above. Just the graphic must be transparent and declared like above, such that it will be layered with a background color to pull off the color state change

Android replace checkbox style with custom drawable selector

I have tried to make a xml selector with the following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/shuffleon" android:state_checked="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/shuffleoff" android:state_selected="false" />
</selector>
and when I try to set the backgroundDrawable to the checkBox the checkbox doesn't replace the CheckBox style too:
shuffle.setBackground(android.support.v4.content.res.ResourcesCompat.getDrawable(getResources(), R.drawable.shuffle, null));
Following this question: Change icons of checked and unchecked for Checkbox for Android I need to set the button drawable with my xml: android:button="#drawable/checkbox" but I can't do this because I'm creating the CheckBox programmatically.
Is there a way how to achieve this?

Simple way
Create a new layout in drawable folder and name it custom_checkbox (You can rename also)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/Checked_image_name"android:state_checked="true"/>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/Unchecked_image_name" android:state_checked="false"/>
</selector>
Use this in your layout activity
<CheckBox
android:id="#+id/checkbox"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:button="#drawable/custom_checkbox"/>

Use below line of code, i think it will work
yourcheckbox.setButtonDrawable(yourdrawable);

If you use sdk 28 (androidx) and above try to use
androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatCheckBox
instead of
Checkbox

Use This
shuffle.setButtonDrawable(R.drawable.custom_checkbox_selector);
XML code;
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/radiobutton_checked" android:state_checked="true"/>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/radiobutton_unchecked" android:state_checked="false"/>
</selector>

This works for me:
<android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatCheckBox
android:id="#+id/checkbox"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/custom_checkbox"
android:button="#null"/>

drawable/checkbox_custome.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_checked="false"
android:drawable="#drawable/checkbox_empty" />
<item android:state_checked="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/checkbox_check" />
</selector>

Android toggle button custom look

I've been trying to customize the toggle button look but with no success.
Here is how I want it to look like:
Can someone give me a tutorial?

create toggle_selector.xml in res/drawable
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/toggle_on" android:state_checked="true"/>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/toggle_off" android:state_checked="false"/>
</selector>
apply the selector to your toggle button
<ToggleButton
android:id="#+id/chkState"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/toggle_selector"
android:textOff=""
android:textOn=""/>
Note: for removing the text i used following in above code
textOff=""
textOn=""

I don't know if this is the best solution but it worked fine for me:
1.- Decide how big do you want the toggle button. In my case width 56dp and height 76dp.
2.- Create the icon set 56px-76px for mdpi, 84px-113px hdpi, same for xhdpi and xxhdpi
3.- Move the icons in the corresponding drawable folder. In my case 20 icons 5 in each folder, named ic_name1_on, ic_name1_off [...] ic_name5_off
4.- Create the following xml files in a new folder called drawable (if it does not exist yet):
ic_name1_toggle.xml
ic_name1_toggle_bg.xml
ic_name2_toggle.xml
(...)
ic_name5_toggle_bg.xml
5.- In ic_name1_toggle.xml the code must be:
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item
android:state_checked="false"
android:drawable="#drawable/ic_name1_off" />
<item
android:state_checked="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/ic_name1_on" />
</selector>
6.- In ic_name1_toggle_bg.xml the code must be:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:id="#+android:id/background"
android:drawable="#android:color/transparent" />
<item android:id="#+android:id/toggle"
android:drawable="#drawable/ic_name1_toggle" />
</layer-list>
7.- Finally in your layout.xml:
<ToggleButton
android:id="#+id/toggleButton1"
android:layout_width="56dp"
android:layout_height="76dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:button="#drawable/ic_name1_toggle_bg"
android:textOff=""
android:textOn="" />

I think you need to define a custom background for your button.
Take a look at the Developer Guide on customizing a Button's background.
However, in step Three, Create a new XML file in the res/drawable/ directory Use this Xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/button_da"
android:state_checked="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/button_nu" />
</selector>
The element android:state_checked="true" is what defines that state as the checked background.
Let me know if this works for you.

Create selector
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_da" android:state_checked="true"/>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_nu"/>
</selector>
and use it as background for your ToggleButton.

Making a button look pressed in

I'm using Eclipse to write the android application. I've added some standard buttons from the Form Widgets tab and successfully got them opening new windows which display additional buttons.
I would like the button that was pressed, to change appearance and continue to look pressed in after it is selected.

create xml file using the button image like this
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item
android:state_pressed="true"
android:drawable="#color/transparent" />
<item
android:drawable="#drawable/closebutton" />
</selector>
add the color folder in values
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<color name="transparent">#00000000</color>
</resources>

can use selector
<?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/button_settings" />
<item android:state_focused="true"
android:state_pressed="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/button_settings" />
<item android:state_focused="false"
android:state_pressed="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/button_settings_selected" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/button_settings" />
</selector>
now set this drawable on background property of button in XML, now in coding take a boolean flag when button is pressed set the flag and set the bacground of the button(selected image) and on again click reset flag value and change the imageBackground to the selector again, thats it!!!

Use ImageButton and change the background of the button.
you can use this kind of images depends of you need. Like this https://web.archive.org/web/20160429124711/http://www.devahead.com/blog/2011/08/creating-a-custom-android-button-with-a-resizable-skin/

how to change font color in selected/focused ListView items?

I am struggling with this which apparently is a very simple effect but incredibly haven't found any intutitive way for doing it in Android.
I have a ListView and I managed to customize the background images so the selected item gets highlighted by getting a new background drawable. This I do creating a new style where I set the android:listSelector attribute to point a StateListDrawable where I have specified which drawables to use for every state.
However each ListView item is a LinearLayout where i have two TextViews. My goal is to be able to change the text color of these child views whenever the parent is selected or pressed, at the same time as the background drawable does. I know there is a ColorStateList but haven't been succesful setting that up.
Has anybody succeed getting something like this to work?
Thanks.

Neither of these are possible answers when your ListView is compromised of a layout that has multiple views. You need to set your child views to:
android:duplicateParentState="true"
Now you can use the methods others have described above to declare your TextViews' colors using a selector such as:
android:textColor="#drawable/my_row_selector"
and I'm sure you're aware, but the selector can be as simple as:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="true" android:color="#color/white" />
<item android:color="#color/black" />
</selector>
As you can see, #color values are allowed. Hope this helps.
Also - android:state_pressed is used in conjunction with the AdapterView.OnItemClickListener.

in your textview propeties
android:textColor="#color/text_selector"
in res/color
text_selector.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="true" android:color="YOUR_CUSTOM_COLOR" />
<item android:state_selected="true" android:color="YOUR_CUSTOM_COLOR" />
<item android:color="YOUR_CUSTOM_COLOR" />
</selector>

In order to make it work on selection use the following code:
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="true" android:color="#fff"/>
<item android:state_activated="true" android:color="#fff"/>
<item android:color="#000" />
</selector>
Apparently the key is state_activated="true" state.

When you are deploying the app for Android 11+ (HoneyComb+), you should use
android:state_activated="true"
for selected list state.
For the earlier versions use the combination of:
android:state_checked="true"
android:state_activated="true"
Of course don't forget to include the
android:duplicateParentState="true"
so the view can get the activated/checked state from a parent list view item

Also you may create a res/color folder and add a file "text_selector.xml" with the following lines:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_activated="true" android:color="#f0f"/>
<item android:state_pressed="true" android:color="#f0f"/>
<item android:color="#000"/>
</selector>
After that assign in TextView:
android:textColor="#color/text_selector"