(Now I have come across related questions on StackOverflow but unfortunately none of the solutions worked for me which is why I had to ask this separately)
I am a Novice to Android. The problem: I need to have an image that acts as a button. Now I understand that this can be achieved by either using an image on a standard button or by using something called as "ImageButton" (which I guess is highly recommended although I have no idea why).
Requirements: I need detailed guidance for going about this problem. Specifically, I thought the "putting-image-on-standard-button" was easier until I faced two major issues: I was unable to set the image in the center (thanks drawable-top,bottom,left6,right) and once I changed the background color to match that of the Activity screen's back-color, the button effect disappeared. Simply put, I need a moderately easy way of having an image act as a button or a button with an image which has all three effects: focussed, pressed and default. I used ImageButton but then I did not know how to make custom shapes or 9patch images to give it all the desired effects, I am pretty satisfied with the default button that android provided. All I simply need is something like a background hover over the image or something of that sort which indicates the user that the image is being pressed and the event has been generated!
Can someone please help me out with this? I need the UI to look decent and therefore, need the corresponding effects on my image/button. Thanks in Advance :)
This is my icon-image:
I wish to have some sort of hover effect around this that indicates that the image has been pressed just like any normal button.
Use ImageButton and StateList Drawable. You need selector for different button's states. You can assign different drawable for different state to imitate the onFocus or onPressed effect on normal button.
This is selector.xml in drawable folder under res:
<?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/cyan"/> <!-- pressed state -->
<item android:state_focused="true"
android:drawable="#color/cyan"/> <!-- focused state -->
<item android:drawable="#android:color/transparent"/> <!-- default state -->
</selector>
And this is color.xml in values folder under res:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<color name="cyan">#33B5E5</color>
</resources>
Set the ImageButton's src to your image and set the background to selector.xml.
This is the final result:
There is a good tutorial here: Android ImageButton Selector Example
If someone also still has an issue with this.
I've created the selector but referred the drawable to two different image files, and used the XML in the imagebutton as a source. It worked like a charm.
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_add_pressed"
android:state_pressed="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_add"
android:state_focused="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_add" />
</selector>
And the image button looks like this:
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/add_button_selector"
android:background="#null"/>
create xml view
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageview1"
android:background="#drawable/selector_xml_name"
android:layout_width="200dp"
android:layout_height="126dp"/>
create inside draw able folder selector_xml_name.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/numpad_button_bg_selected"android:state_selected="true"></item>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/numpad_button_bg_pressed" android:state_pressed="true"></item>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/numpad_button_bg_normal"></item>
create inside draw able folder numpad_button_bg_selected.xml
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle" android:padding="90dp">
<solid android:color="#color/selected"/>
<padding />
<stroke android:color="#000" android:width="1dp"/>
<corners android:bottomRightRadius="15dp" android:bottomLeftRadius="15dp" android:topLeftRadius="15dp" android:topRightRadius="15dp"/>
Related
I have just begun creating Android apps using Eclipse and the ADT.
I have got the basic functionality working in a demo app, and would like to create a button that looks like a search field (there is no search functionality built in, I just want the user to press it and start a new activity).
My question is: what is the best practice for creating a button like the above (ignoring the 1px dark grey stroke around the outside)?
I have got as far as
Create the button in activity_main.xml
<Button
android:id="#+id/inputSearch"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:hint="#string/hint_search"
android:background="#drawable/input_search"
style="#style/input_search"
android:onClick="findProducts" >
</Button>
Create a few styles
<style name="input_search" parent="#android:style/TextAppearance.Medium">
<item name="android:textColor">#color/light_grey</item>
<item name="android:background">#color/white</item>
</style>
Create the input_search_background.xml which has a light grey stroke, rounded corners
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle">
<stroke
android:width="#dimen/stroke_width" android:color="#color/light_grey" />
<corners
android:radius="#dimen/corner_radius" />
<solid
android:color="#color/white" />
</shape>
Create input_search.xml for the states.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/input_search_background"
android:state_pressed="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/input_search_background"
android:state_focused="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/input_search_background" />
</selector>
I'm not sure how to create the orange block on the right. Should I define a shape which is orange and use a transparent png for the magnifying glass or should the png be the orange block with the magnifying glass all in one?
What tools do you use for creating the assets?
How do I know how big to create them?
I'll appreciate any words of wisdom or links that could help.
Thanks,
Andrew
You can simply use a 9 patch.
You can find a similar one, in your sdk platform graphics:
In Windows (install path may change),
C:\Program Files\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20130522\sdk\platforms\android-8\data\res\drawable-mdpi
You can find this:
With some (very little) work, you can make the perfect image that matches your needs.
Just add it as the background of your Button (I'd use a TextView, but it's a matter of tastes) and enjoy.
You see, no need for a custom style nor an extra xml drawable.
I have an ImageButton with a background image that has some transparency. By default, the button gets a grey background where the transparency pixels are - due to the Holo.Light theme. I tried setting the background color of the button to transparent via the setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT) method. That works just fine and does what I need except now my button no longer has the light blue color when focused/pressed and looks rather flat (no borders around it, so it looks like an image).
I googled and saw that you can assign selectors as explained here but that would mean that I have to specify an image per button state and I don't want to do that. I want to inherit the focuses/pressed colors from the theme but overwrite the normal button background (when not pressed/focused) to transparent instead of grey. How can I achieve that?? Please provide a working example as I have tried many different combinations with no success.
Edit
Thank you all for helping. I figured out how to make this work without having to recreate the same image with the focused and pressed states for each button!
Here is my solution:
My button is defined as:
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/ImageButton05"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:background="#drawable/button" />
And my background XML file (titled button.xml) is defined as follows:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="true">
<layer-list>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_default_pressed_holo_light"></item>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/network_wifi"></item>
</layer-list>
</item>
<item android:state_focused="true">
<layer-list>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_default_focused_holo_light"></item>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/network_wifi"></item>
</layer-list>
</item>
<item android:state_hovered="true">
<layer-list>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_default_focused_holo_light"></item>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/network_wifi"></item>
</layer-list>
</item>
<item>
<layer-list>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_default_normal_holo_light"></item>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/network_wifi"></item>
</layer-list>
</item>
</selector>
You can put something into an xml file, for example, custom_button.xml and then set background="#drawable/custom_button" in the button view.
Please refer to this link as there is an xml example: Standard Android Button with a different color
I used it in my code and it worked just the way I wanted.
Reference:
Standard Android Button with a different color
Edited:
If you would rather use
Maybe you should try to set a border.
For example (Reference: Android - border for button ):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle">
<gradient android:startColor="#FFFFFF"
android:endColor="#00FF00"
android:angle="270" />
<corners android:radius="3dp" />
<stroke android:width="5px" android:color="#000000" />
</shape>
OR,
You could try to set the style/theme for the button. (But it would be in a separate file)
The style/theme contains the color attributes for various states of button such as focused / enabled / disabled/ etc.
For setting background color/image and having click highlight effect,
Here is an example (Reference: How to programmatically setting style attribute in a view)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item
android:state_pressed="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/btn_pressed" />
<item
android:state_pressed="false"
android:drawable="#drawable/btn_normal" />
</selector>
You can then apply this selector to a Button by setting the property android:background="#drawable/my_button".
I want to inherit the focuses/pressed colors from the theme but overwrite the normal button background (when not pressed/focused) to transparent instead of grey. How can I achieve that??
AFAIK you can't because the focus/pressed colors are built in to the same image resources that contain the grey background.
If you want to keep the system focus/pressed but remove the background you'll have to grab a copy of the image resources (which can be found in your SDK at /sdkroot/platforms/[version]/data/res/drawable-hdpi replace [version] with whatever api level you are after. And if needbe replace hdpi with another density) and edit out the grey button from them with a photo editor. Then make a selector that references your modified images and set that as the background for your button.
EDIT:
Here are the default holo button images for focused and pressed
You can use ImageView instead of ImageButton to solve your problem. Please set the android:background property of the ImageView to the background color of the parent.
You can write this in your xml file:
android:background="#null"
It worked for me.
if u don't need the default gray background and u need your ImageButton seems like an icon without no backgrounds just use android:background attribute and set it to
#android:color/transparent**
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/ImageButton05"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:background="#drawable/button" />
hope that help anybody
Is it any way to light the borders of a button whilte pressing on it (you can see the effect when you place an ImageView and click on it). Needed to say, that i have a background on the buttone.
You need to have two images and assign each of them to one button state. You should make a state list drawable: just create an xml file "button.xml" and place it in your res/drawable folder. The xml would look like this:
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/buttonwithglow" />
<item android:state_pressed="false"
android:drawable="#drawable/buttonwithoutglow" />
</selector>
Use a StateListDrawable.
By default when button is clicked something like orange color will surround the button for short time, that indicates buttons is clicked. But this feature is not working when button contains background image. This is happening in list view too.why ? Any Ideas? TIA
I used setBackgroundColor(Color.BLUE); But here the color is applied and not gone...
You need to use a selector as your background resource :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="#drawable/button_pressed" />
<item android:state_focused="true" android:drawable="#drawable/button_focus" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/button_normal" />
</selector>
This selector makes use of 3 separate drawables to change the image of the button , you may use the same image for pressed and focuses.
You need to put this XML into your drawables directory and use it as a background for your button.
For another solution refer : Standard Android Button with a different color
i too had the same problem. so instead of setting the background color,i included three images of button in three different colors , so based on state focused,pressed,default the respective image will replace the other. and it looks like change in the color of the button.
**<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/c2"
android:state_pressed="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/c1"
android:state_focused="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/c1" />
</selector>**
above is the content of the xml file,which must be assigned to the background of the respective button
android:background="#drawable/drawable_button
hope this might be helpful for you
I think, e.g. Curved buttons, or a circle button. If I can how?
this is very simple
Select any image as a background of your button. either of circle or curved or any image you want.
For Click Effect see state list diagram on google . its like stting a xml as a background which say what image to choose for pressed , focussed and normal state
It's a bad ideia to round buttons by using a rounded background image. I say it by (bad) experience... when in different resolutions it will appear pixilated.
You should use a drawable, with a shape rounded created by you!
Something like (selector to have effects on press, on selected..):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/greyer_bubble"
android:state_pressed="true" />
<!--When selected, use this -->
<item android:drawable="#drawable/greyer_bubble"
android:state_selected="true" />
<!--When not selected, use that -->
<item android:drawable="#drawable/green_bubble" />
</selector>
Example of one of the rounded buttons defined above.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<solid android:color="#color/green" />
<corners android:radius="12dp" />
</shape>
You can set image as background for button in layout design.