Develop Reference

Drawable Layer always top

I don't know whether am wrong or not. I just want to add a box to my EmptyActivity in android studio. I create a resource file and access it from the Activity.xml file. But I found it always layered on top of any ImageView component.
image
Resouce file
page_select_bar.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle" >
<solid android:color="#color/white" />
<corners android:radius="10dp" />
</shape>
ActivityMain.xml
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/page_select_bar"
android:layout_width="409dp"
android:layout_height="70dp"
android:layout_marginTop="777dp"
android:contentDescription="#string/desc"
android:elevation="10dp"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="1.0"
app:srcCompat="#drawable/page_select_bar"
tools:targetApi="lollipop" />
am I missing anything? I'm new to android :)

Try adding
<stroke android:color="#color/Black" android:width="2sp"/>
to your drawable inside <shape>
and use it as background

Can't inflate custom background editText

I'm trying to set background in my EditText.
I found and copy from internet this xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle">
<stroke
android:color="#028b53"
android:width="2.5dp" />
<corners android:radius="10dp" />
<gradient
android:type="linear"
android:angle="270"
android:startColor="#c3c3c3"
android:endColor="#FFFFFF" />
</shape>
and set this in EditText:
<EditText
android:id="#+id/etRandom"
android:layout_width="136dp"
android:layout_height="28dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="168dp"
android:layout_marginStart="168dp"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
android:background="#drawable/edittext"
android:ems="10"
android:inputType="textPersonName"
android:textColorLink="#android:color/black"
android:textSize="8sp"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="#+id/tRandom"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#+id/tRandom"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="#+id/tRandom"
app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.761" />
now after run app I get crash:
drawable/edittext" (7f060054) is not a Drawable (color or path): TypedValue{t=0x1/d=0x7f060054 a=-1 r=0x7f060054}
How to fix that ?

How do I set constraints and programmatically increase image in proportion to text size?

This is perhaps a bit hard to explain, so I included a picture to show you what I mean.
I have three images in Android Studio. They should all be alined to match and the middle part should expand as the text on top of the graphic expands (the middle height should equal the text height I suppose). Have been sitting with this for awhile now but don't get anywhere.
Do I add code in xml? Something like android:layout_height="#id/textView"
Is it better to do relative constraints in xml or constraints in UI?
In xml, how do I do relative constraints to other children? I know code like android:layout_alignParentTop, android:layout_alignChildTop, but how do I set distance to children?

If I read this correctly, you want the centre image and text view to adjust height based on the height of the text. The simplest way of doing that would be using your middle image as a stretchable background to the text view and similarly for the header and footer views, preferably using 9-patch PNG images.
Solution 1: Using 9-patch PNG images
Here is an example XML with 9-patches to show how this works.
N.B. The example contains two layouts, each enclosing a single TextView with header and footer views. The first TextView has a single line of text, the second has two lines.
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="320dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<View
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="10dp"
android:background="#drawable/top" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:textSize="32sp"
android:padding="5dp"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:text="A line of text"
android:background="#drawable/middle" />
<View
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="10dp"
android:background="#drawable/bottom" />
</LinearLayout>
<Space
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="10dp" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="320dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<View
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="10dp"
android:background="#drawable/top" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:textSize="32sp"
android:padding="5dp"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:text="A line of text\nAnother line of text"
android:background="#drawable/middle" />
<View
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="10dp"
android:background="#drawable/bottom" />
</LinearLayout>
Nine-Patches
top.9.png:
middle.9.png:
bottom.9.png:
Example output
Solution 2: All XML
Alternatively, you could do it all in XML using <shape> and <layer-list> drawables instead of the 9-patch PNG images. Here is a modified version of the above to work with XML drawables.
This example shows rounded corners on the border as an added bonus, but beware it can be tricky to draw complex compound shapes using XML as there are only a small number of primitive shapes you can use.
Note also that this version relies on the addition of dimension resources to ensure everything matches up.
res/values/dimens.xml
<resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<dimen name="layout_width">320dp</dimen>
<dimen name="header_height">15dp</dimen>
<dimen name="header_inset_height">5dp</dimen>
<dimen name="inset">5dp</dimen>
<dimen name="inset_width">310dp</dimen>
<dimen name="footer_height">15dp</dimen>
<dimen name="corner_radius">10dp</dimen>
<dimen name="inset_radius">5dp</dimen>
</resources>
res/drawable-nodpi/header.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<item>
<shape android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#ffff00ff" />
<corners
android:radius="#dimen/corner_radius"
android:bottomLeftRadius="0dp"
android:bottomRightRadius="0dp" />
<size
android:width="#dimen/layout_width"
android:height="#dimen/header_height" />
</shape>
</item>
<item
android:top="#dimen/inset"
android:left="#dimen/inset"
android:right="#dimen/inset">
<shape android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#ffffff00" />
<corners
android:radius="#dimen/inset_radius"
android:bottomLeftRadius="0dp"
android:bottomRightRadius="0dp" />
<size
android:width="#dimen/inset_width"
android:height="#dimen/header_inset_height" />
</shape>
</item>
</layer-list>
res/drawable-nodpi/body.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<item>
<shape android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#ffff00ff" />
<size android:width="#dimen/layout_width"/>
</shape>
</item>
<item
android:left="#dimen/inset"
android:right="#dimen/inset">
<shape android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#ffffff00" />
<size android:width="#dimen/inset_width" />
</shape>
</item>
</layer-list>
res/drawable-nodpi/footer.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<item>
<shape android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#ffff00ff" />
<corners
android:radius="#dimen/corner_radius"
android:topLeftRadius="0dp"
android:topRightRadius="0dp" />
<size
android:width="#dimen/layout_width"
android:height="#dimen/footer_height" />
</shape>
</item>
<item
android:bottom="#dimen/inset"
android:left="#dimen/inset"
android:right="#dimen/inset">
<shape android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#ffffff00" />
<corners
android:radius="#dimen/inset_radius"
android:topLeftRadius="0dp"
android:topRightRadius="0dp" />
<size
android:width="#dimen/inset_width"
android:height="#dimen/header_inset_height" />
</shape>
</item>
</layer-list>
res/layout/activity_main.xml:
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
android:orientation="vertical">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="#dimen/layout_width"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<View
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="#dimen/header_height"
android:background="#drawable/header" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:textSize="32sp"
android:padding="5dp"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:text="A line of text"
android:background="#drawable/body" />
<View
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="#dimen/footer_height"
android:background="#drawable/footer" />
</LinearLayout>
<Space
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="10dp" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="#dimen/layout_width"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<View
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="#dimen/header_height"
android:background="#drawable/header" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:textSize="32sp"
android:padding="5dp"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:text="A line of text\nAnother line of text"
android:background="#drawable/body" />
<View
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="#dimen/footer_height"
android:background="#drawable/footer" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
Example output:

Putting border around a spinner

I'm looking into putting a border around my spinner. I've set up an XML file for it but it doesn't seem to work. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, I'm sure it's something simple as usual.
Activity_main.xml
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/layout_spinner"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingLeft="0dp"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/activity_main_time_iv"
android:layout_width="35dp"
android:layout_height="35dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:src="#drawable/ic_time_48dp" />
<com.jaredrummler.materialspinner.MaterialSpinner
android:id="#+id/activity_main_time_spinner"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="#dimen/activity_horizontal_padding"
android:background="#drawable/dropdown_border"
android:layout_marginTop="-5dp"
android:layout_marginBottom="-5dp"
android:spinnerMode="dialog"
app:ms_text_color="#android:color/white"
app:ms_background_color="#android:color/background_dark"
app:ms_dropdown_height="300dp"
/>
dropdown_border.xml
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#color/white" />
<corners android:radius="6dip" />
<stroke
android:color="#color/white"
android:width="#dimen/one_dp" />

dropdown_border.xml
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#FFFFFF" />
<corners android:radius="6dip" />
<stroke
android:color="#000000"
android:width="1dp" />
</shape>

Why does button look weird?

I am trying to make a button like this:
That is how it shows up in my XML layout editor, and I want it to show like that in my emulator also. However, it looks like this in my actual emulator and test devices:
Why is it not rounded? How can I make it more rounded? Here is my button:
android:onClick = "messageButton"
android:text="Make Custom Message"
android:textColor="#FFFFFF"
android:textSize="15sp"
android:layout_width="230dp"
android:layout_height="63dp"
android:background="#drawable/messagebutton"
android:shadowColor="#A8A8A8"
android:shadowDx="0"
android:shadowDy="0"
android:shadowRadius="5"
android:layout_above="#+id/helpbutton2"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />
And here is the drawable:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle" >
<corners
android:topLeftRadius="100dp"
android:topRightRadius="100dp"
android:bottomLeftRadius="100dp"
android:bottomRightRadius="100dp"
/>
<gradient
android:angle="45"
android:centerX="35%"
android:centerColor="#A871A6"
android:startColor="#E8E8E8"
android:endColor="#33FF8B"
android:type="linear"
/>
<padding
android:left="0dp"
android:top="0dp"
android:right="0dp"
android:bottom="0dp"
/>
<size
android:width="250dp"
android:height="83dp"
/>
<stroke
android:width="3dp"
android:color="#878787"
/>
</shape>
Thanks,
Ruchir

Rounded rectangle radius is considered like below image. What you need is to set radius to half of your button height which is 63/2=~32dp