I'm looking for way how to implement specific shadow (like on picture) in my android app Android, with using xml (I can't use 9 patch for this).
This is white rectangle with the same shadow in all directions.
Any idea?
As far as I know, there's no way to create a shadow efficiently with XML without using 9-patch image. You can try playing with shapes and gradients, but the result won't look good.
I also did some tests by adding several shapes with transparent borders, but again the result is not good.
Can you explain your situation (why can't you use 9-patch, which is well supported by android).
Related
So I'm designing an app that uses google aps api, and I want the map to look better by rounding the corners. I found a bunch of tutorials already but all of them only work if the activity background is a solid color, for example black.
However, my application has a multi-color background. Is there a way to make those corners rounded, but transparent so that it doesn't block my background?
Well I guess you have stumbled on this question I asked regarding the same topic:
Is there a way to implement rounded corners to a Mapfragment?
But in this case I needed a solid color corners. I don't see an easy way to perform what you
ask for. There is no way to added rounded corners to the map "out of the box" so you will need to cover those corners with some other texture, typically it would be a 9-patch texture, that could stretch accordingly to the screen size.
You can take a look at this blog post on 9-patchs I wrote and maybe try to create a
semi-transparent texture that will fit you needs:
9-Patch guide
I've spent few days trying to figure it out, it also seems like it is not possible to use MapView separately, so this seems to be impossible which really sucks. I've also tried to extend MapView and override onDraw in order to apply it to another class which would extend MapFragment, but it is all seems to be waste of time. Maps layouts really suck in Android...
Hello fellow Android designers,
I am struggling right now to create xml tooltip that would look like the one on this picture:
Unfortunately it seems like a hell of a work. Till now I was only able to create a simple rounded rectangle like that:
Is it actually possible to create such a shape I have presented on the first photo using xml styling or should I try to create it programatically (which will probably take huge amount of time and creating border would be really hard)? Or maybe the simplest solution is the best and I should use partially transparent png image with the shape of my choosing?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
You can draw it using stretchable 9-patch drawable.
You can specify there which parts are fixed (the little knob on the left and corners) and which are stretchable (all other parts)
I have quite a few buttons in my application, they vary in sizes based on the text inside. I want to customize the buttons but I am not sure if I should use
A) Ninepatch pngs
B) Android xml created
C) Photoshop pngs
I want the buttons to scale nicely and therefore not look distorted based on screen size. What are the positives and negatives of the above methods? Is there an ideal way to go about this?
It depends on what they should look like. Rounded corners? Complicated images? Drop shadows? Plain colors?
If you want simple buttons that are monotone in color, xml drawables are the best solution. You can do rounded corners through xml, so if plain is what you are looking for this is the best option.
If you are working with an image, then a 9 patch is the way to go. Play around with the draw9patch tool that comes with the sdk to get the hang of it. You also don't necessarily only need to leave the corners in tack, sometimes you may want to break up the resizable area depending on the image.
PNGs are the last resort as they are the least flexible of the 3 options.
By the way, you should also consider using a state list for all of your buttons, regardless of how you implement the drawable that the button uses. See the link below:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/drawable-resource.html#StateList
One of the applications in my mobile has this glossy and transparent look(refer the snapshot below), which is quite beautiful. Just want to know how I can achieve this.
I am developing an application for myself and want to implement similar kind of GUI. Although I can create a layout, I am still not good in creating beautiful icons like the one shown above. Any information (or) a link to icon development related tutorials should also be quite helpful. Thanks everyone in advance.
Those are just PNG images with transparency and glossy effect... it almost has nothing to do with programming. Just find a good designer and tell him/her to do a 9patch image like that.
By the way... background buttons, in that case should have the border only. The icon and text can be then added easily.
You have to combine multiple techniques. You can use Button where the background will be defined with a nine-patch image, with rounded corners. Then you can use android:drawableLeft parameter of the Button, to define the icon it will have.
As also Cristian suggests, this is not hard to implement. You need a good designer and get to know the basic techniques like 9patch png images, transparency and basic layout definitions. Good luck
I've created a custom toolbar using a gradient inside a shape. It looks very nice, but since we only have the option for 3 colors (startColor, centerColor, endColor) it looks very round. I would like to do a glass effect, which requires a sharp change in color in the middle. Basically I need 4 colors (startColor, justabovecenterColor, justbelowcenterColor, endColor). Now I could have two shapes sitting on top of each other to get this effect, but I don't want to do this. I'm getting into some tricky UI customization here and that would be very difficult to manage on different sized screens.
Does anyone know how I can create a glass effect?
Have you considered using a NinePatch ? This would be a quick and easy way to make a good looking, scalable set of shapes...