Develop Reference

Using Image in a Android Button with effects

(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"/>

Holo theme and custom background for my button

I have some problems to add the blue color over the button when the user press it. It works if there is no drawable in background for this button but in my case, i have to add a custom background and i want the blue color when the user clicks on the button.
Here is my code
<Button
android:id="#+id/create_profile"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/info_account"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:background="#drawable/btn_create_profile" />

Blue color is not something that platform draws for you. Standard buttons have a selector drawable as their background, which involves a set of images for a view. So for button for example it is a standard button image, pressed button image (with blue overlay drawn above), disabled (half transparent), etc.
Button knows it's current state and displays appropriate image.
So what you want to do is to draw a pressed button yourself and create a selector drawable like this:
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="#drawable/your_pressed_button/>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/your_normal_button/>
</selector>
I believe it's worth reading about Drawable Resources. You can also find examples of button states generated here.

You should make custom drawable :
For this you have to simply create a xml file in your drawable folder and write :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<item android:state_pressed="false"
android:drawable="#drawable/ic_back" />
<item android:state_pressed="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/ic_back_pressed" />
<item android:state_focused="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/ic_back_pressed" />
</selector>
and now set this drawable in background of your button.
Here, in normal state background id ic_back
and pressed and focus state background is ic_back_pressed
For creating solid drawable shapes (for example, if you want solid color backround as drawable you can go here.. )

How to have two different backgrounds for a linear layout

I have a linear layout and there is an onClickListener implemented on it.
Now I want that when it is clicked its background color to white is changed and remains that way until something else is clicked. When something else is clicked I want it to have transparent background
How to achieve this?
Thanks in advance

Create two drawable images in your drawable folder. And when it is clicked, you can change the background of the layout.
Following code changes the background:
LinearLayout layout=(LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.linearlayout);
layout.setBackgroundResource(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.drawable_name));

I think you could also just use a selector as background. You can probably take advantage of the 'selected' or 'focused' states to toggle the background between transparent and white. It'll look something like:
<LinearLayout
...
android:background="#drawable/bg_list_selector"
...
</LinearLayout>
And then bg_list_selector.xml in your drawable folder:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_focused="true" android:drawable="#android:color/transparent" />
<!-- or -->
<item android:state_selected="true" android:drawable="#android:color/transparent" />
<item android:drawable="#android:color/white" />
</selector>
Have a play with the StateListDrawable's different options, I'd say.

How can I give a series of buttons with background colors a focus?

I made a layout that is just simply a textview that says "What do you want?", followed by a series of buttons underneath it.
All of the buttons can be clicked/touched, but when I scroll with the trackball, none of them become highlighted. I noticed, however, then when I disable the background colors on the buttons, I can see the orange box that shows that button's focus.
Is there any way I can visibly see the focus while still being able to have a background color on the buttons?
EDIT: Found the solution! This helped A LOT. Standard Android Button with a different color

Create a "selector" resource in your res/drawable. It can look something like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item
android:state_selected="false"
android:state_pressed="false"
android:drawable="#color/white" />
<item
android:state_pressed="true"
android:drawable="#color/orange" />
<item
android:state_selected="true"
android:state_pressed="false"
android:drawable="#color/blue" />
</selector>
Then set the background of your button to be:
android:background="#drawable/your_selector"

Rather than applying a simple background color to buttons, try applying a ColorStateList instead.
To do so, define a new XML file at
/res/color/buttonstate.xml
and use code such as the following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:color="# FOCUSED COLOR HERE"
android:state_focused="true" />
<item android:drawable="# DEFAULT COLOR HERE" />
</selector>
Notes:
You can definitely add more colors for more states, such as pressed, enabled, and certain other factors.
In the layout or code just reference R.color.buttonstate or #color/buttonstate (the XML's filename).
Make sure the default color is last. This is because it goes down the list and finds the first item that has all of the states the same as it. If you don't provide android:state_focused="false" for the default item and put it first, it will always display.
You can do a similar thing with drawables and
nine-patch drawables to make your own custom button styles.

Rather than just change the background color, consider using a 9-patch style. This is more work to begin, but you'll have much more control over your app's appearance.
Modify your Button layout to look something like this (the style line is the kicker):
<Button
style="#style/PushButton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
Your styles.xml resource file then should contain a style similar to this:
<style name="PushButton">
<item name="android:background">#drawable/btn</item>
</style>
Then the btn.xml (put in in res/drawable) contents should look something like this:
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_pressed"
android:state_pressed="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_focused"
android:state_pressed="false"
android:state_focused="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/btn_default"
android:state_focused="false"
android:state_pressed="false" />
You would then use some image editor to create files named btn_pressed.9.png, btn_focused.9.png, and btn_default.9.png. Drop these files in your res/drawable.
A good starting point is the Google IO app (I lifted the code examples from it). Just grab the png files and modify them to match your desired style.
Keep in mind you can put all sorts of stuff in the style now, like text size, height and width.

how to change button color when it is clicked in android

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