Develop Reference

Button containing images with different dimensions for down and up states

I have a button where the down and up states are pretty different - the dimensions of the two images differ and one way to make it is to detect touch events and replace the two images as necessary.
My current idea for resolving this is with a FrameLayout like below and using it multiple times:
<FrameLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/btnSettingDown"
android:src="#drawable/button_settings_down"
android:layout_marginTop="647dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="425dp"/>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/btnSetting"
android:src="#drawable/button_settings"
android:layout_marginTop="657dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="432dp"/>
</FrameLayout>
But is it possible to define it as a template or something?
I have more than one button like this and it would be better if this could be made like a custom xml that can have custom attributes and to be more easily reused in other applications too. I need to be able to set src, layout_marginTop and layout_marginLeft for each image of each button.
I am open to other proposals to handle the issue, but making the down and up states the same dimensions is not an option.

android: different textvies and edittexts depending on radiobuttons

I'm starting to learn a bit about android programming and watch plenty of guides/tutorials but there's one question none of the guides answer. I have a radio group of two buttons, simply like this(in the xml):
<RadioButton
android:id="#+id/radioButton1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:checked="true"
android:text="button1" />
<RadioButton
android:id="#+id/radioButton2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="button2" />
</RadioGroup>
The thing is that i want to show different textviews and different edittexts depending on what radio button is clicked, does anybody know where i can find a good example about this or might even wanna make an example yourself?
Thanks

You can simply wrap your textview's of type1 with some parent View like LinearLayout and so on for the other textview's types.
Than simply onCheckedChanged(RadioGroup arg0, int checkedId) show and hide the wrappers views.

The easiest way to do it is to just add everything to your main view. Then, depending on which is clicked, set the visibility of all the items you don't want to see to View.GONE, and those you do to View.INVISIBLE. Or if you have something more complex and the two views don't share a lot of variables, implementing them as fragments may make sense.

Creating such a Button with Android? (Inspired by iOS)

On an iOS App I saw such a Button:
The same I would like to do in Android, how could I achieve this?
What I tried is the following code:
<Button
android:id="#+id/widget41"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="5dp"
android:layout_marginRight="5dp"
android:text="Email1 testmail#gmail.com"
android:textStyle="bold" />
Looks something like that:
Well just a normal (ugly looking) Button. I have no idea, how I could style it like in iOS. Any suggestions or links would be appreciated!

The best solution would be to create your own custom view that behaves like the iOS counterpart (though, as other users have mentioned, Android does have it's own design guidelines, and the view that you are seeing is an iOS implementation that is designed for that platform).
If you look at the iOS image above (a copy of yours with some parts highlighted), I have split it up into sections.
You could use an Android ViewGroup like a LinearLayout to create the overall image, and give the LinearLayout a border or background (which can be a bitmap image of a rounded rectangle for example (See Android Nine Patch for an example of how to make this fit multiple screens).
Firstly, for the mail icon you would need a LeftAligned ImageView
with appropriate dimensions.
Next up we have a Bold TextView containing the text "Email1".
This is followed by another TextView which is blue and uses the
elipsize property (as defined in an Android XML layout) to create
"..." at the end once the text has reached the max width it can
consume. (Use android:ellipsize="end" in the XML)
Finally we have an indicator image, which again can be an ImageView
sized appropriately.
You could also achieve this with a RelativeLayout, which would allow you to RightAlign the indicator image, LeftAlign the mail icon, and allow the text to fill the space in between that it can get hold of.
Example of Nine Patch use for the background here

That is UITableView in iOS(just like ListView in android). It depends on the list item design you do it. There is no such Button Control in Android.

You should design your own button to looks like iOS one.
Android has it own design guidelines:
http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/pure-android.html

Well, as others have clearly mentioned there is no default Button in Android like this, and for your info neither is in iOS. Its all about the design. Anything is possible, in the end it all comes to how far are you willing to go to achieve it.
Below is a simple code, that will be close to your design.
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:layout_margin="5dp"
android:background="#drawable/text_background"
android:drawableLeft="#drawable/envelope"
android:drawablePadding="10dp"
android:drawableRight="#drawable/right_arrow"
android:ellipsize="end"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:text="#string/email" />
There can be other ways also, like that whole view could be a ViewGroup, either a LinearLayout or a RelativeLayout and there could be multiple TextViews and ImageViews inside that.

Here is a tutorial for creating stylized android buttons. You can round the corners and change the background colors to look like the buttons in ios.
Here is a similar question.
Hope this helps.

How to make a checkbox look better in android

This is my XML for my check box:
<CheckBox
android:id="#+id/atm_checkbox"
android:layout_width="20dp"
android:layout_height="20dp"
android:background="#color/input_color" />
And it looks like this:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/528/47342915.png/
This is what i found on internet:
<CheckBox
android:id="#+id/chkAndroid"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/chk_android"
android:checked="true" />
which looks like this
how to change my checkbox to look like the one i found on internet.
As my rep is <10 i cant upload image of my checkbox, or can anyone help me how to style checkbox to make it look better
I think both the xmls have similar code, but why are they looking so different?

If you want custom the look of checkbox see this tutorial and find everything.
By the way, the checkbox from your link is for Android3.0 and above.

CheckBox derive from Button class, so you can set a background image like button. See this link, may be it is what you are looking for.

If you want a clean design without codes, use:
<CheckBox
android:id="#+id/checkBox1"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:drawableLeft="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawablePadding="10dp"
android:text="CheckBox"/>
The trick is to set colour to transparent for android:drawableLeft and assign a value for android:drawablePadding. Also, transparency allows you to use this technique on any background colour without the side effect - like colour mismatch.

Best solution to merge/include an xml layout file multiple times in an activity layout

I'm building a flashcards app as a college project, and wanted a horizontally scrolling display of the cards. I've built an xml file for the flashcard design itself:
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/relativeLayout1"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:background="#drawable/whitenote" android:padding="3dp">
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/imageButtonPins"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" android:background="#color/transparent" android:src="#drawable/pinselector"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textViewWord"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/imageButton1"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text="Word" android:textColor="#color/black" android:paddingTop="30dp" android:textSize="20dp"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textViewMeaning"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/textViewWord"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text="Meaning" android:textColor="#color/black"/>
</RelativeLayout>
I've also created the Class file.
In the activity layout, I have a few more elements and as such a linearlayout at the root level is necessary. I've been able to display a single flashcard for test purposes using and using layout inflater.
Question
In both the ways, in and layout inflater I've been unable to get the ImageButton working. My question is how do I get the button to work.
Update: Managed to get the ImageButton working using . Realised that I have to handle the onclick event in the activity, and not the Custom Adapter class. This should allow me to obtain the words too, as long as I can keep track of the "current" flashcard on display
Also, whats the best way to handle the scrolling for a flashcard app? My current plans so far is to use a HorizontalScrollView and customise it a bit, because I need (a) a swipe should make the flashcard move only to the next one (b) I need to focus on the "current" flashcard since I need some data from its children views (ie, the word).

Are you considering Fragments?
You can get some help with the ViewPager here.This is supported in Android 3.0 or above or Android 1.6 with the compatibility package.
http://geekyouup.blogspot.com/2011/07/viewpager-example-from-paug.html
If you do not wish to use the fragments, you can simply use the Gallery. This way, you can achieve the horizontal scrolling. (like in the Amazon app) without complex ViewPager.

For the second part of your question, take a look at the ViewPager.

A HorizontalScrollView or a Gallery are probably the most direct way of implementing this. I don't use Gallery-- but it is good to at least know it exists.
If you want a much more robust implementation, I agree with dcanh121 and think you should check out a Fragment based ViewPager. This will allow more options than just a View , but might be overkill depending on the goal. A fragment is basically the bizarre offspring of an Activity and a View, but don't quote me on that.
Also,
Inflating layouts is costly, so try to only inflate the XML into a View once, and reuse that View object. Try not to re-inflate the XML every time a new flashcard is drawn.