Android Runtime Layout Tutorial

Question

Does anyone know how to perform or have a good reference for doing an activity layout at runtime in android?

Here is the code for my activity. I\'m sure I\'m just ne

Answer 1

You forgot to set your contentView. You should add

setContentView(layout);

At the end of the onCreate method

Answer 2

You can check out this URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/cache/7705/1.html . It has both library widgets and custom widgets.

EDIT:

setBackgroundColor requires input in proper ARGB format: 0xAARRGGBB. Each AA, RR, GG and BB range from 00 (minimum) to ff (maximum).

The bare minimum example goes here and it works flawlessly. Here are the screenshot and code (modified a bit):

http://picturepush.com/public/3313522 (old)

package us.simpleit;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class SimpleGUI extends Activity {
    TextView tv;
    EditText et;
    LinearLayout ll;

    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        //LinearLayout ll = new LinearLayout(this);
        ll = new LinearLayout(this);
        ll.setOrientation(android.widget.LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
        ll.setLayoutParams(new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(-1,-1));
        // ARGB: Opaque Red
        ll.setBackgroundColor(0x88ff0000);

        tv = new TextView(this);
        tv.setLayoutParams(new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(-1,-2));
        tv.setText("sample text goes here");
        // ARGB: Opaque Green
        tv.setBackgroundColor(0x5500ff00);
        ll.addView(tv);

        et = new EditText(this);
        et.setLayoutParams(new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(-1,-2));
        et.setText("edit me please");
        // ARGB: Solid Blue
        et.setBackgroundColor(0xff0000ff);
        ll.addView(et);

        Button btn = new Button(this);
        btn.setText("Go!");
        btn.setOnClickListener(new Button.OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(View v) {
                tv.setText(et.getText().toString());
            }
        });

        ll.addView(btn);
        setContentView(ll);

        //setContentView(R.layout.main);
    }
}

Answer 3

I'm not sure if this question has been answered or not, but I just overcame this same issue today. Viet touched on the issue above but did not explicitly point out to check your color values. If you're coming from J2ME background like myself, you might be defining your color int values as 0xRRGGBB, so for full red J2ME would define it as 0xFF0000. However, doing so on Android will result in an int value of 0x00FF0000. Because Android uses the format of 0xAARRGGBB, a value of 0xFF0000 (J2ME) is actually (0x00FF0000) in Android this is full Red color that is COMPLETLY TRANSPARENT, so it's not seen on screen.

I Noticed above in your code you're using question.setTextColor(R.color.green); This statement will assign the id value created in the R file, so it's probably a high number with some value as 0x7f050000 where the Alpha is set lower than FULL OPAQUE. Try your example with:

question.setTextColor( getResources().getColor( R.color.green ) );

This should set the text color to the value in R.color.green not the ID of R.color.green.

Answer 4

The following demonstrates how to create views and layouts programmatically without using the layout xml files. It also creates a rounded rectangle layout object that draws a rounded rectangle around any child objects that are placed in it.

package android.example;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.DisplayMetrics;
import android.util.TypedValue;
import android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class MessageScreen extends Activity {
 /** Called when the activity is first created. */
 @Override
 public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  int mainBackgroundColor = Color.parseColor("#2E8B57");
  int labelTextColor = Color.parseColor("#FF4500");
  int messageBackgroundColor = Color.parseColor("#3300FF");
  int messageTextColor = Color.parseColor("#FFFF00");

  DisplayMetrics metrics = new DisplayMetrics();
  getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(metrics);
  float density = metrics.density;
  int minMarginSize = Math.round(density * 8);
  int paddingSize = minMarginSize * 2;
  int maxMarginSize = minMarginSize * 4;

  TextView label = new TextView(this);
  /*
   * The LayoutParams are instructions to the Layout that will contain the
   * View for laying out the View, so you need to use the LayoutParams of
   * the Layout that will contain the View.
   */
  LinearLayout.LayoutParams labelLayoutParams = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
    LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
  label.setLayoutParams(labelLayoutParams);
  label.setTextSize(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_SP, 18);
  label.setPadding(paddingSize, paddingSize, paddingSize, paddingSize);
  label.setText(R.string.title);
  label.setTextColor(labelTextColor);

  TextView message = new TextView(this);
  RoundedRectangle.LayoutParams messageLayoutParams = new RoundedRectangle.LayoutParams(
 LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
  /*
   * This is one of the calls must made to force a ViewGroup to call its
   * draw method instead of just calling the draw method of its children.
   * This tells the RoundedRectangle to put some extra space around the
   * View.
   */
  messageLayoutParams.setMargins(minMarginSize, paddingSize,
    minMarginSize, maxMarginSize);
  message.setLayoutParams(messageLayoutParams);
  message.setTextSize(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_SP, paddingSize);
  message.setText(R.string.message);
  message.setTextColor(messageTextColor);
  message.setBackgroundColor(messageBackgroundColor);

  RoundedRectangle messageContainer = new RoundedRectangle(this);
  LinearLayout.LayoutParams messageContainerLayoutParams = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
    LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
  messageContainerLayoutParams.setMargins(paddingSize, 0, paddingSize, 0);
  messageContainer.setLayoutParams(messageContainerLayoutParams);
  messageContainer.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
  /*
   * This is one of the calls must made to force a ViewGroup to call its
   * draw method instead of just calling the draw method of its children.
   * This tells the RoundedRectangle to color the the exta space that was
   * put around the View as well as the View. This is exterior color of
   * the RoundedRectangle.
   */
  messageContainer.setBackgroundColor(mainBackgroundColor);
  /*
   * This is one of the calls must made to force a ViewGroup to call its
   * draw method instead of just calling the draw method of its children.
   * This is the interior color of the RoundedRectangle. It must be
   * different than the exterior color of the RoundedRectangle or the
   * RoundedRectangle will not call its draw method.
   */
  messageContainer.setInteriorColor(messageBackgroundColor);
  // Add the message to the RoundedRectangle.
  messageContainer.addView(message);

  //
  LinearLayout main = new LinearLayout(this);
  LinearLayout.LayoutParams mainLayoutParams = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
    LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
  main.setLayoutParams(mainLayoutParams);
  main.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
  main.setBackgroundColor(mainBackgroundColor);
  main.addView(label);
  main.addView(messageContainer);

  setContentView(main);
 }
}

The class for RoundedRectangle layout object is as defined here:

/**
 *  A LinearLayout that draws a rounded rectangle around the child View that was added to it.
 */
package android.example;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.graphics.Paint;
import android.graphics.Rect;
import android.graphics.RectF;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.util.DisplayMetrics;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;

/**
 * A LinearLayout that has rounded corners instead of square corners.
 * 
 * @author Danny Remington
 * 
 * @see LinearLayout
 * 
 */
public class RoundedRectangle extends LinearLayout {
 private int mInteriorColor;

 public RoundedRectangle(Context p_context) {
  super(p_context);
 }

 public RoundedRectangle(Context p_context, AttributeSet attributeSet) {
  super(p_context, attributeSet);
 }

 // Listener for the onDraw event that occurs when the Layout is drawn.
 protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {
  Rect rect = new Rect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());
  RectF rectF = new RectF(rect);
  DisplayMetrics metrics = new DisplayMetrics();
  Activity activity = (Activity) getContext();
  activity.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(metrics);
  float density = metrics.density;
  int arcSize = Math.round(density * 10);

  Paint paint = new Paint();
  paint.setColor(mInteriorColor);

  canvas.drawRoundRect(rectF, arcSize, arcSize, paint);
 }

 /**
  * Set the background color to use inside the RoundedRectangle.
  * 
  * @param Primitive int - The color inside the rounded rectangle.
  */
 public void setInteriorColor(int interiorColor) {
  mInteriorColor = interiorColor;
 }

 /**
  * Get the background color used inside the RoundedRectangle.
  * 
  * @return Primitive int - The color inside the rounded rectangle.
  */
 public int getInteriorColor() {
  return mInteriorColor;
 }

}