Develop Reference

How do you animate the background of a TextView that has been defined in xml?

For example I have the following as the background of a TextView:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="oval"
android:id="#+id/pulsator">
<stroke android:width="4dp" android:color="#77FF00" />
<corners
android:topLeftRadius="10dp"
android:topRightRadius="10dp"
android:bottomLeftRadius="10dp"
android:bottomRightRadius="10dp"
/>
<size
android:height="8dp"
android:width="8dp"/>
</shape>
In the main activity I have:
txtMessageData = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.txtMessageData);
The background is set in xml as:
<TextView
.
.
android:background="#drawable/pulsator />
Animating the TextView itself is easy but I actually only want to animate the background. Essentially I'm aiming to have rings pulsating concentrically away from the TextView too show that it is actively updating.
I would think maybe a property animation could be used but I have not found a way to do it.
I have the following animation set defined in xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<set xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<alpha
android:duration="1500"
android:fromAlpha="1.0"
android:interpolator="#android:anim/linear_interpolator"
android:toAlpha="0.0"
/>
<scale
android:duration="1500"
android:fromXScale="1.0"
android:toXScale="2.5"
android:fromYScale="1.0"
android:toYScale="2.5"
/>
</set>
Can this animation data be applied to the background of my TextView?

I think you can use a LinearLayout and put into it your text view then animate this linearLayout... try it.

How do I make a shape scale up and stay that size in android?

I have some knowledge of drawables and animations in android. I created a drawable rectangle along with an animation scale. Here is my scale.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<set xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<scale
android:duration="200"
android:fromXScale="1.0"
android:fromYScale="1.0"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="100%"
android:toXScale="1.0"
android:toYScale="2.0" />
</set>
Here is my rectangle.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item>
<shape android:shape="rectangle">
<gradient
android:startColor="#5a5a5a88"
android:endColor="#14141488"
android:angle="270" android:centerX="0.25"/>
</shape>
</item>
</layer-list>
When I launch the app and click on the rectangle, it just grows and then goes back to it's regular scale. I want it to grow and stay that scale. How do i do that?

You have to use
android:fillAfter="true"
to make your view stable at the end of the animation. See here.

Animation defined in XML doesn't start

I found the pngs for the standard progress spinner in Android. However, when I try to animate them in a similar way to how android does it with the following code nothing happens. They just appear to be a static icons.
The button
<Button
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="100dp"
android:background="#anim/anim"
android:drawableRight="#anim/anim" >
</Button>
The animation
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item>
<rotate
android:drawable="#drawable/spinner_76_outer_holo"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="50%"
android:fromDegrees="0"
android:toDegrees="1080" />
</item>
<item>
<rotate
android:drawable="#drawable/spinner_76_inner_holo"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="50%"
android:fromDegrees="720"
android:toDegrees="0" />
</item>
</layer-list>
Is it even possible to start animations automatically that is defined in XML only or do they have to be started with java?

You can use animated-rotate but that will only work on API 11+. If you use rotate, then you'll have to start them in Java, and animate them by animating the level (drawable.setLevel()) between 0 and 10000 (sounds weird? It is, but it's how it's done).

rotate and repeat image using xml

I want to set background image with rotation and repeating the background image.
For repeating
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<bitmap xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:src="#drawable/border"
android:tileMode="repeat" />
For rotation
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:fromDegrees="90"
android:toDegrees="90"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="50%"
android:drawable="#drawable/border">
Now I want to combine this code in one drawable and want to use as background
I'm trying like this but not working
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<bitmap xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:tileMode="repeat" >
<rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:fromDegrees="90"
android:toDegrees="90"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="50%"
android:drawable="#drawable/border">
</rotate>
</bitmap>

I would suggest you to use a custom view. I also tried that for my animated background. Just use thread, handler and canvas.scale() method for rotating the view background. And one thing i wanna ask. Whats the need of setting as background? You can set the rotating drawable as a background view and do the other things on the view above with transparent background.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:fromDegrees="-45"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="50%">
<bitmap
android:alpha=".5"
android:src="#drawable/image"
android:tileMode="repeat" />
</rotate>

How to decrease the speed of custom ProgressBar

I have implemented a custom progress bar and I am displaying it while getting data from an URL, it is working fine as progress bar is spinning, but my problem is that I am not able to find a proper way to decrease its revolving speed, currently it is spinning very fast.
please help me with your suggestions and reply.
xml layout for progress bar:-
<ProgressBar
android:id="#+id/showProgress"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:indeterminateDrawable="#drawable/my_progress_indeterminate" />
Also here's "my_progress_indeterminate" which is used to rotate my custom progressbar :-
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<animated-rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:drawable="#drawable/image_loading"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="50%" />
please share some example if possible to decrease the speed of rotation.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.

add in code to progress.xml
android:fromDegrees="0"
android:toDegrees="1080" <!-- Add in code to progress custumize xml to speed up -->

Try this. It will help you.
Create progressbar_custom.xml
/res/drawable/progressbar_custom.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:duration="3000"
android:fromDegrees="0"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="50%"
android:toDegrees="360" >
<shape
android:innerRadius="18dp"
android:shape="ring"
android:thickness="5dp"
android:useLevel="false" >
<size
android:height="48dp"
android:width="48dp" />
<gradient
android:centerColor="#802A67AD"
android:centerY="0.5"
android:endColor="#ff2A67AD"
android:startColor="#002A67AD"
android:type="sweep"
android:useLevel="false" />
</shape>
</rotate>
Add Progressbar in XML files
<ProgressBar
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:indeterminateDrawable="#drawable/progressbar_custom" />

Use "rotate" instead of "animated-rotate" and changing android:toDegrees or android:toDegress should make it go slower.
<rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:drawable="#drawable/image_loading"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="50%"
android:toDegrees="360" />