Develop Reference

Android Studio - change background image size

So, i wanted to put an image in background of my screen. My problem is that if i just add the image to "background" it will fill all the screen, and my image gets defaced. I could put as an ImageView, but the problem is that i have an expandableListView in the same screen, and i wanted the image to stay behind, as a background.
Any idea how to do this?
Can have 2 solutions: Put as an imagemView but behind the list. Or add as a background but resize it. How can i do it?
Here is what happened:
He is what happens if i put the image as an imageView:

Yes this is very easy to achieve with relative layouts
<RelativeLayout ... >
<ImageView ...
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:scaleType="centerCrop“ />
<ListView ...
android:layout_alignParentTop="true“ />
</RelativeLayout>
With a relative layout z-index is decided by the order you declare the tags, so stuff towards the bottom of the xml is in front of stuff from closer to the top, when they are in the same position.

Use a FrameLayout (Inside FrameLayout view written on top will appear on top and so on)
<FrameLayout
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<ListView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
></ListView>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="your_width_in_dp"
android:layout_height="your_height_in_dp"
/>
</FrameLayout>
You can also place FrameLayout inside another layout.

Material ripple effect hidden by other view in layout

I added a ripple effect on a ImageButton, however it is hidden by an ImageView used as a background for the parent view RelativeLayout.
Here's the layout file:
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="172dp"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:theme="#style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/drawerBackgroundImageView"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:scaleType="centerCrop"
android:src="#drawable/drawer_background"/>
[...]
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/drawerLogoutButton"
android:layout_width="32dp"
android:layout_height="32dp"
android:layout_alignBottom="#id/drawerEmailTextView"
android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_marginEnd="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:layout_marginRight="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
style="#style/FlatButtonStyle"
android:scaleType="centerInside"
android:src="#drawable/ic_logout_white_24dp"/>
</RelativeLayout>
(there's a bunch of other views but they're irrelevant here)
I'm using an ImageView as the background for the RelativeLayout as I need to set a specific scaleType for the image, so I can't use the basic android:background property.
The ripple effect is hidden as it doesn't have a mask layer (I want it to extend out of the button's bounds) and thus uses the ImageButton's parent view to be displayed. The effect is perfectly visible if I remove the ImageView.
Is there a way to get the ripple effect to be shown above the problematic ImageView?

I had exactly the same issue and solved it using this thread: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=155880
Issue preview:
Before solved:
After solved:
Explanation:
"Borderless buttons draw their content on the closest background. Your button might not be having background between itself and the ImageView, so it draws underneath the ImageView."
Solution:
"Use a transparent background (android:background="#android:color/transparent") on some layout containing the button (beneath the ImageView). This will dictate what the maximum bounds of the ripple effect is."
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
...>
<!-- Your background ImageView -->
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/drawerBackgroundImageView"
android:src="#drawable/drawer_background"
... />
<!-- ... -->
<!-- HERE, you need a container for the button with the transparent
background. Let's say you'll use a FrameLayout -->
<FrameLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#android:color/transparent">
<!-- Maybe more items -->
<!-- Button with borderless ripple effect -->
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/drawerLogoutButton"
android:background="?selectableItemBackgroundBorderless"
... />
</FrameLayout>
</FrameLayout>
Hope it helps.

I am experiencing same issue. Only solution I have found so far is not 100% okay since ripple is masked by view (its not borderless).
The solution (workaround):
surround your ImageButton with other view and set ripple to the foreground instead of the background in your layout like this:
<ImageView ... />
<FrameLayout
...
android:clickable="true"
android:focusable="true"
android:foreground="?attr/selectableItemBackgroundBorderless" >
<ImageButton />
</FrameLayout>
I would be really glad if someone explain why the ripple is drawn behind the image. Also if you look at Google Photos app, in image detail they have transparent icons over image view with ripple. I would like to replicate this, but I am not able to make the ripple to be in foreground. Does anybody know how to put transparent imagebuttons over everything but still have the ripple?
EDIT final solution
here you can find exactly same question link
with great explanation what is happening. the solution is the same but on top of that it solves rectangular mask by adding
android:clipChildren="false"
android:clipToPadding="false"
to your layout. now your ripple should be borderless (it worked for me).
The layout xml could be something like this:
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
...
android:clipChildren="false"
android:clipToPadding="false">
<ImageView ... />
<FrameLayout
...
android:clickable="true"
android:foreground="?attr/selectableItemBackgroundBorderless">
<ImageView ... />
</FrameLayout>
</FrameLayout>

I'm aware this is an old post but I did struggle with this quite a bit today hence I'm posting what I was finally able to figure out and maybe someone else might benefit from it. One key emphasis beforehand, please do always RTFM!
1) The story
I aimed to use the unbounded ripple effect on Tab Items and consequently have it spread all over the AppBarLayout area. I had applied #android:color/transparent to TabLayout as the first wrapping parent and gave AppBarLayout a background color, nevertheless the ripple was still being cut off right at the borders of TabLayout's height.
2) The moral of the story (RTFM)
So I run to the nest of Android knowledge: The Documentation, and spotted this:
?android:attr/selectableItemBackgroundBorderless for a ripple that extends beyond the view. It will be drawn upon, and bounded by, the nearest parent of the view with a non-null background.
3) The course of action
Using Layout Inspector, I realized that #android:color/transparent although transparent (duh!) it actually assigns 0 as the value of the bg attribute of a View, but zero is not null hence the ripple gets bounded at the nearest parent.
4) The conclusion
With that in hand, I went and set the android:background property of my TabLayout to #null rather than transparent, and now I have a fancy little ripple spread onto the area of the AppBarLayout.
5) Outro: **ANDROID & SO FTW!
Props to everyone in this post who shed light on the matter in word. Cheers!

After wrapping ImageButton inside FrameLayout, I was getting rectangular shape on touch. Applied background with oval shape on FrameLayout and got the circular shape on touch.

Had the same issue. Used the solutions described above and worked. Managed to avoid the wrapping FrameLayout by setting foreground as ?attr/actionBarItemBackground and background as #null.
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center|end"
android:background="#null"
android:contentDescription="#string/app_name"
android:foreground="?attr/actionBarItemBackground"
android:padding="#dimen/small_margin"
android:src="#drawable/ic_clear_text_icon" />

Popup/Overlay screen in android honeycomb

I would like to achieve a popup/overlay screen like Places (i`m more interested how can i place that screen for example in the right/left side of the screen ) in the android maps application (image below). I can create an activity and use the Dialog theme, this mostly resolve my problem, but it placed center in the screen. Somebody have any better idea how i can create a popup/overlay screen like the places in a non-map application and place to top/right of the screen ?. My guess they did it with map overlays.

well, here's what I did... I used a FrameLayout to overlay a LinearLayout where I can fill it with a View. Here's an excerpt of my code:
XML:
<FrameLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="1">
<fragment class="com.some.location.to.fragment"
android:id="#+id/fragment"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" />
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/overlay_pane"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:visibility="gone"
android:background="#color/transparent">
</LinearLayout>
</FrameLayout>
Then in my code on some button, I would just add a View (in your case it can just be the dialog's contents) to the overlay_pane LinearLayout.
Java example:
ViewGroup container = findViewById(R.id.overlay_pane);
container.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
container.addView(some_view_you_inflated);
But this inflated view would have the following background: #drawable/dialog_full_holo_light for a nice border effect like the Honeycomb style.
You can find the background drawable in your SDK in the following folder
your_SDK_dir/platforms/android-12/data/res/drawable-hdpi/dialog_full_holo_light.9.png
So just copy that into your drawables.
Note: that you can also use the dialog_full_holo_dark or any custom background for the same effect.
I hope that helps :) Let me know if I was unclear at any point
Note: Instead of using a fragment, you could merely use a LinearLayout with match_parent for both layout_width and layout_height. And then you would fill that LinearLayout with the "background" UI (in the question's example.. that would be the map)

How to wrap content views rather than background drawable?

How can I get a LinearLayout (or any other ViewGroup) to assume the size of it's child views rather than assuming the size of the background image?
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/large_image300x300pix">
<TextView android:id="#+id/TextView01"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Hello world!"/>
</LinearLayout>
The linear layout becomes the same size as the background image.
How can I get my linear layout to assume the same size as the textview?

OK, so this thread is a little old, but I have a solution that someone might someday find useful. I think Android has problems scaling large images down, so the LinearLayout size ends up getting bumped by the background drawable bitmap, and the ImageView ends up forcing up the size of the parent container.
Unless you use a relative layout. You can make the ImageView relative to the position of the LinearLayout, even when the ImageView is behind the layout in the parent. My solution looks something like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<ImageView
android:src="#drawable/activation_popup"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/activation_layout"
android:layout_alignBottom="#id/activation_layout"
android:layout_alignLeft="#id/activation_layout"
android:layout_alignRight="#id/activation_layout"
android:contentDescription="#string/act_code_label" />
<LinearLayout
android:id="#id/activation_layout"
android:clipToPadding="true"
android:padding="25dp"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<!-- LinearLayout wraps a bunch of smallish views here -->
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
I tried this on a top of display sizes and OS versions, seems to work great. Note that the padding in the LinearLayout is a trick to make space for a shadow border in the background image graphic. The LinearLayout doesn't need any relative positioning because top left is assumed.

You can create a FrameLayout and put an ImageView and your LinearLayout there. So you'll be able to configure the layout of your background image.

This happens because the Android view calculates its minimum size based on its background drawable size.
Check my answer here in this another post which covers the same problem which will help you to achieve your layout configuration.

If your image lends itself to being converted to a scalable 9-patch image, then doing that would cause the background to scale around the TextView.

I believe the best solution here is to set android:clipToPadding="true". What this does is excludes the padding for the main layout and wraps your layout to its children.

Centering a background image in Android

I have a background image about 100 x 100 that I want to center in an Android app. Is there a way to do this?
I'm thinking it would greatly help with orientation changes for simple apps.

You can use BitmapDrawable for the case. Create centered.xml in res/drawable folder:
<bitmap xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:src="#drawable/your_image"
android:gravity="center"/>
Then you can use centered drawable as background.

Or if you want to use your mipmap image, you should use item instead of bitmap:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#color/app_bg_color" />
<item android:drawable="#mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
android:gravity="center"/>
</layer-list>

Question is old and answer has one big weakness - we have no possibility to change image size, it means it fully depends from drawable we have.
While using newest Android design libraries the root of activity view will be CoordinatorLayout or DrawerLayout and those layouts has no default view showing hierarchy, it means that first child view will be overshadowed by any next one, and second by third and ... to last one. So to have centered background We need to add as first child LinearLayout with centered image inside it. Some code snippet:
<android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout>
<!-- first child -->
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:gravity="center"
>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="60dp"
android:src="#drawable/some_background"
/>
</LinearLayout>
... next view will be above
We can fully customize size of image which will be centered by LinearLayout gravity option. Important is also to have match_parent on width and height of LinearLayout, thanks that center will be center of parent view also.
The same thing can be done in RelativeLayout or any other layout which enable child views overlapping.

With a ConstraintLayout you can set the background tag directly. To be honest it took me a few hours to work this one out but it's a lot simpler than you might think ;)