I'm looking for a way to lock the user interface, for example when I select "Lock" from the options menu, the UI will be block from touches. It's sort of adding an overlay with some kind of lock icon over the UI.
Do you guys have any suggestions? Thanks!
To make the entire window of the activity untouchable, call this:
this.getWindow().addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_TOUCHABLE);
to make it touchable again, call
this.getWindow().clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_TOUCHABLE);
Though this may cause an ANR...if you can get around that then this is the easiest method, otherwise what bitbox said may be the apropriate solution
Do you need to do that on multiple activities or just one ?
If it's just one, then add a transparent ViewGroup(MatchParent,Parent) to the top of your view hierarchy. Make it Gone by default.
Then in OnCreate(), add a OnTouchListener that always returns true (meaning that it took into account the touch);
Then when you need it, just make it "Visible".
Explanation : adding it to the top will make it the top-most "layer" in the view hierarchy. So it will be first to receive touch events which you then veto by returning true to the listener's caller.
Related
From Activity lifecycle we know, that in onResume the UI is visible. But if I set a breakpoint on onResume, I still don't see it, only after that. I heard there's some method which can check it, but I can't remind how it calls. We used it to make better animation. So how can I be fully sured that UI is ready?
Add global layout listener on view you want to check. Also please make sure that you remove listener once your work is done else it will keep getting called multiple times.
#onik shared a good link that should solve your problem
This ensures lay-outing. Drawing happens continuously and frame are refreshed according to sys clock.
I recommend watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8m9sHdyXnE
This will give you good idea on android drawing and layouting
I have a floating app which works perfectly.
I am using OnTouchListener to catch events since I need to use the GestureDetector for swipes etc.
My only problem is that sometimes I wish to ignore certain events on the view.
In this case the view is invisible but not "gone" because I need it to accept certain gestures but not others.
I can't seem to be able to do that.
Returning false from "onTouch" simply doesn't work.
I checked that by experiment by disabling the GestureDetector and simply always returning false just to see what would happen. Result was nothing going through.
Is it even possible to pass a click through to a covered app?
Due to security reasons it's not possible to record and pass a click below (essentially allows building a keylogger).
Best you can do is have your floating window small enough to start the touch but not cover too much of the screen below.
Background
There are some nice apps out there that show some layout on top , while the user is making a call or answering one (like "current caller id").
I need to create an app with the ability to show something on top , during a call, and allow it to be interactive.
The problem
Using broadcastReceiver ,foreground service and SYSTEM_ALERT permission, I've succeeded showing something on the screen during calls.
As long as the content being shown is static, I have no problems.
However, I've noticed that when I try to make the content being shown to be interactive , I face some problems:
Everything is jumpy and this includes not only animations, but also setting visibility to visible/gone. I hate to think how it would work like when I need to make things draggable.
Not sure if this is the reason, but using the SlidingDrawer make the entire width belong to the SlidingDrawer and you cannot click through it. This means that if its location is at the bottom, you can't touch the "answer" button when someone calls you.
The question
What is the reason for those problems?
How can I fix them and be able to show things right?
How do other apps handle it right ?
EDIT: about the SlidingDrawer , it seems that it has terrible bugs about its location and size, and the content area, even when it's not shown to the user and the user can see through, it cannot be touched through. Still, I don't know why, and how to fix it, and I also don't know why things are so jumpy compared to normal apps (probably because of over-drawing, but it's really really slow).
Maybe this question should be more general: how to make a floating window like on AirCalc, that can be moved easily yet still be quite fast.
For the dragging functionality, I've tried to get the layoutParams of the root view (which is of type WindowManager.LayoutParams ) that I show, update it and set it again, but for some reason it didn't do anything. Wonder what I'm doing wrong.
EDIT: it seems that i should be using windowManager.updateViewLayout for updating the layoutParams. Using this post , I've made it perfectly draggable.
Ok, I've come up to some conclusions about this, first to answer my original questions:
it's probably because of overdraw and the views i've used. I wanted to try out libraries that could replace the slidingDrawer , but each had a different problem. using simple views proved that the idea in general works.
in the case of visibility changes, it was jumpy because the size of the view wasn't able to fit using the current WindowManager.LayoutParams size.
slidingDrawaer does have issues since it uses the whole size it get when closed or opened.
now to the rest of the issues :
unable to drag ? instead of the regular setLayoutParams , use windowManager.updateViewLayout .
unable to touch outside of the view ? set its minimal size according to your needs. you can also set the window flags so that touch event would go through .
want to listen to calls events ? you can use the broadcastReceiver for triggering the showing of the app, but I suspect that hanging the call might cause the intent be received later sometimes. I think you can use telephonyManager and listen to events there, using the service you run in the foreground (that i've created just to make sure the app won't close in the middle).
if anyone else has questions, i can help.
Already asked a similar question, yet without much luck.
Suppose I have a service and I need a view to pop up above it. In the same time, they both should be intractable, i.e. the user should be able to both click buttons within the view, as well as ones on the service in the background.
Is this in theory possible? If yes, how should I initialize that view?
Thanks!
Yes it's possible, what you need to do is call the WindowManager service and add your view via the same.
WindowManager windowManager=(WindowManager)getSystemService(WINDOW_SERVICE);
LayoutInflater inflater=(LayoutInflater)getSystemService(LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
RelativeLayout layout=(RelativeLayout) inflater.inflate(R.layout.box,null);
You need a WindowManager.LayoutParams object which should contain the parameters for the layout
windowManager.addView(layout,params);
Well, adds the view
What you want is to add a view from your running service instance. This way you can persist the view across all activities - and from anywhere else. See this great example:
http://www.piwai.info/chatheads-basics/
Services most definitely can have a user interface: Input methods are an obvious example. See http://developer.android.com/resources/samples/SoftKeyboard/index.html for an example.
I guess you are misusing the word "Service".
Service is invisible, Activities are visible.
There are no buttons in an Service!
So you have no choice! You should put both views in one Activity, and I would use a RelativeLayout and set the visibility of your chidren to GONE/Visible.
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/RelativeLayout.html
Also using a popup and making the layout under it clickable will disturb the user. You are completely changing User experience. I strongly suggest too make your popup appear at the top/bottom of your initial layout
Services run in the background and do not have an UI. So you can not show something over a Service.
If you need a Service to notify user about something, then use Notification.
Ayou could use a Toast, but I advise against it, as it can confuse users since it can pop-out over another app's activity.
What you want is an Activity instead of a Service and a Dialog instead View. I suggest you read this document by google: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html
However to answer your question about both being interactable. This isn't possible. At any given time 1 and only 1 activity is on the top of the activity stack. The user can only interact with that activity. If you want something like a floating window then will have to create it yourself. Although keep in mind that goes against the android design principles.
I have tried and tried to get a transparent, floating Activity to show up (as an overlay), but allow whatever is behind it to still show AND update. Right now it seems that if the Activity behind mine is closed or a new one opens (could be either in this case), the new underneath Activity does not shine through my Activity to the user.
I have tried every combination of Flags I can come up with, and at this point I'm assuming Flags are not the answer. Can anyone help me find the proper code to do such a thing?
Before anyone asks, I have a valid use case for this type of Activity; no, I don't plan to annoy the user with it.
As far as I know, this is not possible. It should be possible to create an activity using the theme Theme.Dialog or Theme.Translucent (see http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/themes.html) to have whatever activity is beneath it still show at least partially. The problem is, is that the Activity below will be Paused (it's onPause will have fired, but it's onStop will not have) and I don't believe it is possible in any way to have it run any code.
I have not investigated in making a transparent Activity but I don't think it's possible in an Activity way. This seems to be logical since even if you have a transparent Activity it's still relying on the View inside it - the View makes the transparent part, not the Activity. This means you're probably gonna end up with a transparent View instead.
If you have a "front" Activity with a transparent View and then a "back" Activity, the "back" Activity would not be visible to the user - and that's because you're in another Activity.
So, the correct way is to use a transparent View.
It is possible to update the activity below by implementing a Broadcast receiver on it, and sending Broadcasts from whenever you want.