Develop Reference

Styling an Android edit text so as to look like a drop down / spinner picker

I have two EditText views on a layout containing a date and a time. On being clicked these open up my custom DatePickerFragment and a TimePickerFragments. I would like to style the EditTexts with a picker drop corner as the following image shows.
however I have not been able to do this, my text fields look like this:
The pickers all work and are hooked up and return values to the EditTexts, I just want to do the styling correctly. I am happy to change the class of the containers from EditText if they should be something else to get the desired behaviour. I think this should be possible as the first image comes from Google's own design documentation. Looking through the EditText and TextView class documentation and xml attibute documentation. Is there a way to do this?
I am using Xamarin to compile this down but that should make no difference to the answer.

set the Style attribute to the following:
<EditText
style="?android:attr/spinnerStyle"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
/>

use following image as background of your edittext
make it 9 patch with whatever colour you want.

find an original image and Create a nine patch image like below..
Note : Black Lines are patches
And then add image to background of EditText like below..
<EditText
android:id="#+id/edittext"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/box_edittext"
android:padding="10dp" />
OR
You can use this simple way...
Define style="?android:attr/spinnerStyle" to EditText..
<EditText
style="?android:attr/spinnerStyle"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
/>

Android: Adding text below an image

I am trying to have an image be fitted, and have a layout below it with some black background and whit text. My problem is that the layout ends up leaving space between the image and the text itself, and I don't understand why:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/image"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:scaleType="fitStart" />
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="15dp"
android:layout_below="#+id/image" >
<TextView
style="#style/text_overlay"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" />
<!-- Couple more elements -->
</RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
I would want this second RelativeLayout of 15dp touch the bottom of the image, but unless I change the image height to something small, it leaves some space. This layout specifies how to display an image + some text below it, but I have a total of 4 images that use this layout to get loaded on the screen, in a 2x2 display. (Each image takes 25% of the screen).
Any idea how to make the RelativeLayout align exactly with the bottom of the image please?

I do not fully understand your question though I think you might have a look at the launcher layout for my Newspaper Puzzles app...
http://code.google.com/p/newspaper-puzzles/source/browse/np/res/layout/launcher_layout.xml
or perhaps from the Open Sudoku Game look at the number pad layout found here:
http://code.google.com/p/newspaper-puzzles/source/browse/np/res/layout/s_im_numpad.xml
Use the ADT tools to get the right layout is probably best if possible but I know sometimes it is difficult to use to get specific results I still recommend using the xml tools included in the Android Development Tools.
http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adt.html#graphical-editor

I would recomend using a compound drawable if you're trying to put text directly below an ImageView.
See the following question for more details: How do I use a compound drawable instead of a LinearLayout that contains an ImageView and a TextView

Set Image on Left side of EditText in Android

I am having one contact form in which I would like to add some icons to my edit text for a better look. I want to create EditText something like below.
I have EditText like below. And I got the result something like. I want the image to be absolutely on the left side as it is in the above image. I know that internally EditText is using Nine Patch image and i think that is why the result is some what different. Can anyone know how to resolve this?
<EditText
android:id="#+id/name"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="51dip"
android:hint="#string/name"
android:inputType="text"
android:drawableLeft="#drawable/name_icon_edittext" />

Instead of using android:drawableLeft="#drawable/name_icon_edittext", create separateImageView for the name_icon.
This way you have more control on placing it on the layout
Note: I am assuming your layout is RelativeLayout

if you want to add some space between you text and image then use'drawablePadding' property in xml
android:drawablePadding="10dp"
here is complete example how to use in edittext in xml file
<EditText
android:id="#+id/edittext"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:drawableLeft="#drawable/ic_left"
android:drawablePadding="10dp" />

You can use android:drawablePadding="10dp" property in the xml file.
There's no need to create separate imagview for the icon.

A bit old, but for future reference maybe:
I would do a 9-patch image myself with the appearance you want, keeping the proportions and all but the icon, so you can add it yourself (and reuse the background) with drawableLeft property of EditText. That way only the middle part of the image will be stretched but the rest will stay the same.

Set ImageButton text from the code?

In examples found on the net I saw that the text is set from XML file only. I need to attach the text from another View, and I tried to find any setter that I can use to set text to ImageButton. I didn't succeed. I even tried using this
<ImageButton
android:background="#ffffff"
android:text="setText()"
/>
hoping that I can use setText() in the code, but it did not work as well.
How can I set the text for ImageButton programmatically?
Thanks
PS. This is a custom ImageView which inherits ImageView.

ImageButtons can't have text (or, at least, android:text isn't listed in its attributes). It looks like you need to use Button (and look at drawableTop or setCompoundDrawablesWithIntrinsicBounds(int,int,int,int)).

You cannot set text to ImageButton because it has no method as setText() or android:text property.
Here is workaround, using a Button and android:drawableTop / Left / Right or Bottom like this :
<Button android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/icon" android:text="Button"
android:layout_weight="1" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:textSize="11sp"
android:layout_margin="1sp" />

How can I make button text extend outside 9 patch content area?

I have a row of buttons with custom 9 patch images, and variable length text. I would like the buttons to be the same height. When the text is long enough to wrap, it expands the button size, making the button with wrapped text bigger than the others. I'm laying these buttons out in code in linear layouts. I can fix the size of the button, but then it just cuts off the bottom. How can I make the text take up more of the padding space of the button, so that the text butts up against the top line of the button?

9patch content area is just used to set a padding. If you change the button's padding you will override the one set by the 9patch.
edit
try something like this:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<Button android:text="ButtonButton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingTop="0dp"
android:paddingBottom="10dp"/>
<Button android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:text="Button"
android:layout_height="match_parent"/>
<Button android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:text="Button"
android:layout_height="match_parent"/>
</LinearLayout>
this way the button will be as high as the others. Sadly, I don't know if it depends on the original button's 9patch that might have asymmetrical paddings, but I can't make the text align with that from other buttons (I think gravity is by default set to center). Maybe with your 9patch it works though. (EDIT: oh, but if you'll have two lines of text who cares about alignment)

Ultimately I was unable to find a nice way of doing this without creating a custom view class.