How can I make my button look more like the Floating Action Button from Android JellyBean (v21)?

Question

How do I make my button look more like the Floating Action Button?

My button so far looks close but as yet, doesn\'t look the same. What other changes would you suggest?

Answer 1

I have been using the following library for my app (I'm not the author). It seems to work very well, looks just like a FAB and even can be easily attached to a listview to autohide when you scroll down. The library is easy to add through gradle too. The image/animation on the github page makes the button look low quality but it isn't in real life and looks exactly like the google versions.

https://github.com/makovkastar/FloatingActionButton

Answer 2

Result:

---

Button in a layout:

<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">
    ...

    <RelativeLayout
        xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:gravity="bottom|end">
        <Button
            android:id="@+id/add_button"
            android:layout_width="50dp"
            android:layout_height="50dp"
            android:layout_margin="10dp"
            android:background="@drawable/add_button_selector"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:stateListAnimator="@null"
            android:text="+"
            android:textSize="25sp"
            android:elevation="3dp"
            android:fontFamily="sans-serif-light"
            android:textColor="#FFF"
            tools:ignore="HardcodedText,UnusedAttribute"/>
    </RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Explanation:

• RelativeLayout, overlays everything and places the button at the bottom-right corner.
• margin provides some space for the elevation
• gravity centers the background drawable and the text
• stateListAnimator set to null so it doesn't mess with elevation (it can be animated via this)

---

res/drawables-v21/add_button_selector.xml

<ripple
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:color="#b0372c">
    <item>
        <shape android:shape="oval">
            <solid android:color="#da4336" />
        </shape>
    </item>
</ripple>

res/drawables/add_button_selector.xml:

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:state_selected="true" android:drawable="@drawable/add_button_selected"/>
    <item android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="@drawable/add_button_selected"/>
    <item android:drawable="@drawable/add_button"/>
</selector>

res/drawables/add_button.xml:

<shape
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="oval">
    <solid android:color="#da4336" />
</shape>

res/drawables/add_button_selected.xml:

<shape
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="oval">
    <solid android:color="#b0372c" />
</shape>

Explanation:

• Since API 21 you can use the ripple effect:
  
• However for older versions you'll have to stick with the good old color selector

---

Notes

• There may be a user-made ripple library for lower APIs, that might be worth checking out
• Lower APIs may need to use shadow and/or a custom drawable instead of elevation, haven't tested that since I don't have a proper device

Answer 3

I build this kind of button in my app using this code

Code in Fragment.xml

<Button
    android:id="@+id/contact_list_add_button"
    android:layout_width="65dip"
    android:layout_height="65dip"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:layout_marginBottom="20dip"
    android:layout_marginEnd="20dip"
    android:layout_marginRight="20dip"
    android:background="@drawable/round_button_shape"
    android:text="@string/action_plus"
    android:textColor="@android:color/white"
    android:textSize="35sp" />

Code for drawable (round_button_shape)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item>
        <shape android:shape="oval">
            <solid android:color="@android:color/transparent"/>
            <stroke android:width="2dip" android:color="#44aaaaaa"/>
            <padding 
                android:left="2dip"
                android:right="2dip"
                android:top="2dip"
                android:bottom="2dip"
                />            
        </shape>
    </item>
    <item>
        <shape android:shape="oval">
            <solid android:color="@android:color/transparent"/>
            <stroke android:width="2dip" android:color="#90aaaaaa"/>
            <padding 
                android:left="2dip"
                android:right="2dip"
                android:top="2dip"
                android:bottom="2dip"
                />                        
        </shape>
    </item>
    <item>
        <shape android:shape="oval">
            <solid android:color="@android:color/transparent"/>
            <stroke android:width="2dip" android:color="#ffaaaaaa"/>
            <padding 
                android:left="1dip"
                android:right="1dip"
                android:top="1dip"
                android:bottom="1dip"
                />                        
        </shape>
    </item>
   <item android:drawable="@drawable/round_shape" android:left="1dip"         
    android:top="1dip" android:right="1dip" android:bottom="1dip"/>  
</layer-list>

Code for round shape Drawable

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="oval" >

    <solid android:color="@color/red_dark"/>
</shape>

Additionaly i would recommend to use this code within a selector to provide feedback if the user interact with the button