Develop Reference

Android: Creating a splashscreen on app start WITHOUT timer?

Currently I have a very low-res splashscreen I made by setting the applications theme to a drawable image. This would work PERFECTLY if it wasn't for this. Now I'm looking for an alternative.
The one thing I will not do is create a timed splashscreen, which there are plenty of guidelines on how to make one, the one thing I want to know is how do I create a splashscreen that will load first thing, then finish once MainActivity has finished loading?
The one thing I love about my current splashscreen is that it loads instantly when the app starts, but it will cause major delays when clicking buttons if it's high-res (more than 300x300pixels).
Here's my current code for the flawed, laggy splashscreen that loads and stops based on MainActivity's loaded state:
in styles.xml:
<style name="splashscreenTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="android:windowBackground">#drawable/splashscreen</item>
</style>
in manifest:
in AndroidManifest.xml:
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="#drawable/logo"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:fullBackupContent="false"
android:theme="#style/AppTheme">
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:screenOrientation="portrait"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:theme="#style/splashscreenTheme">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>

Check for possible issues with overdraw. It seems that the background (the splash image) is still there. see http://www.curious-creature.org/2012/12/01/android-performance-case-study/ if it applies to your case.
Removing the window background: the background defined in your theme is used by the system to create preview windows when launching your application. Never set it to null unless your application is transparent. Instead, set it to the color/image you want or get rid of from onCreate() by calling getWindow().setBackgroundDrawable(null).

Splashscreen like google apps

Most of google applications (e.g Google Maps, Google sheets, etc...) have a pretty nice splashscreen, that pops up very quickly.
It doesn't look like a "classic" Android splashscreen made of an Activity launching another one after xx secs.
It makes me think of the iOS equivalent (Launch images).
Is it a new UI element that we can use ? Does somebody have an hint about that ?

You have to use a theme for your SplashActivity instead of directly setting the image in the layout.For eg:
<style name="Theme.Splash" parent="AppTheme">
<item name="android:windowBackground">#drawable/ic_splash</item>
</style>
Then apply this theme to your splash activity in Manifest.for eg:
<activity
android:name=".controller.activities.SplashActivity"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:screenOrientation="portrait"
android:theme="#style/Theme.Splash"
>
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>

super.onCreate crashes after defining custom splash screen style to Activity?

I wanted to add a SplashScreen to my app and did a little research on the matter. Some tutorials said that you could create an activity and with some timers show it for a few seconds. I couldn't get them working, and then in this page How do I make a splash screen? the second top voted answer said that instead of showing an activity (and because of that wouldn't substitute the white/black launch loading screen but instead add more delays) you should instead create a custom style and assign it to your activity in the Manifest file. I did that, created a new Style like this:
<style name="splashScreenTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">
<item name="android:windowBackground">#drawable/launchscreen</item>
</style>
in the styles.xml and changed my Manifest to this:
<application
android:name=".EFBApp"
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:theme="#style/AppTheme" >
<activity
android:name=".MainActivityDrawer"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:screenOrientation="portrait"
android:theme="#style/splashScreenTheme">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
When I run my app I can see the launch screen perfectly but then it crashes. By breakpoints I discovered that when the MainActivityDrawer (my main class) gets to the super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); line it then crashes (it goes to the ZygoteInit.java class and after that it crashes while breakpoint debugging). If I take away the android:theme lines in the Manifest it works fine but shows the horrible plain white screen while launching. Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks a lot.

Ok, so I managed to make it not crash, instead of assigning the parent as Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar, I used just AppTheme and it works now. I hope this helps anyone.

how to fix activities' orientation in tabhost

I have meet a problem, there is a tabhost in my app.which have 4 tabs,each tab have more than one activiy.I just want to fix some of activities in portrait mode while other's can change orientation mode,any suggestions?
<activity android:name=".MyTabHost"
android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustPan|stateVisible"
android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation"
></activity>
<!-- android:screenOrientation="portrait" -->
<activity android:name=".Products_Images"
android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation"
></activity>
<activity android:name=".Products_Upload"
android:screenOrientation="portrait"></activity>
<activity android:name=".Products_Description"
android:screenOrientation="portrait"></activity>
in products_images.java,i just want to show larger image while orientation changed,however in products_upload.java and products_description.java,i just want to fix orientation in portrait mode, all three class just in one tab.but it doesnt work!!

use this in activity tag in manifest file:
android:screenOrientation="portrait"

no orientation notification when translucent set

Using phones that have android 2.1 & 2.2 installed, using the simplest case of a hello world app and add android:theme="#android:style/Theme.Translucent" to the activity in the android manifest to have the app be transparent, the app sticks as portrait only and won't rotate to landscape when the phone is rotated.
Take the line out and the app rotates ok. This is verified by adding the override of onConfigurationChanged and putting a breakpoint in that routine. Brk hits when translucent isn't applied, doesn't when you add translucency.
However, using a samsung galaxy tab using andr 2.2, rotation works ok even with translucent applied. Anyone have any ideas on this?

I had a same problem. Just add android:screenOrientation="sensor" in the manifest file after you specify theme:
<activity
android:name=".SplashActivity"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:theme="#android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar"
android:screenOrientation="sensor">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
So far I tested it on android 2.2 and 4.1 - works as expected.

I have a same problem... but in my case I used Translucent because I solve redrawn warning (this warning appear when set color on android:background)
I solved the warning creating a Theme with parent Theme.Lignt and rewrite two attributes
Something like this
<style name="MyTheme" parent="android:Theme.Light">
<item name="android:windowBackground">#color/my_background</item>
<item name="android:colorBackground">#color/my_background</item>
</style>
If you need use Translucent in ApiDemos has a sample when an activity have a translucent theme and orientation service works well