Android: underline text in your app

January 21, 2016January 21, 2016 Catzie Leave a comment

When I need to underline text in an app that I’m developing, I like doing it programmatically. The code is in the Java file, not in the XML. Maybe we should make a function for this where we pass the ID of the TextView whose content we’d like to underline.

        TextView myTextView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.myTextViewID);
        String htmlString = "<u>" + myTextView.getText() + "</u>";
        myTextView.setText(Html.fromHtml(htmlString));

TextView myTextView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.myTextViewID);

String htmlString = "<u>" + myTextView.getText() + "</u>";

myTextView.setText(Html.fromHtml(htmlString));

Disadvantages in this method: […]

Android: dimensions cheat sheets for graphic designers AND developers

January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 Catzie Leave a comment

Just sharing the link to a “cheat sheet” that I found: Android Cheatsheet for Graphic Designers I think that this resource should have been said to be for developers too, because developers need to know about dimensions of graphics in the Android apps they develop.

Android transparent overlay without View

January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 Catzie Leave a comment

We’re not going to use ViewOverlay here. We’ll use Dialog instead. The overlay does not show on button click. What I did was let the overlay appear when the activity is loaded. First, create the XML file for the contents of that dialog overlay. \app\src\main\res\layout\popup_content.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:background="#78000000"
android:padding="@dimen/activity_margin"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<TextView
android:textColor="#ffffff"
android:text="This is your dialog with transparent background."
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/btn_close_overlay"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
android:textColor="#ffffff"
android:text="Dismiss"/>
</LinearLayout>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

android:orientation="vertical"

android:background="#78000000"

android:padding="@dimen/activity_margin"

android:layout_width="match_parent"

android:layout_height="match_parent">

<TextView

android:textColor="#ffffff"

android:text="This is your dialog with transparent background."

android:layout_width="wrap_content"

android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

<Button

android:id="@+id/btn_close_overlay"

android:layout_width="wrap_content"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:background="@color/colorPrimary"

android:textColor="#ffffff"

android:text="Dismiss"/>

</LinearLayout>

Then add the following code into your activity’s Java […]

Android app dev: background image sizes for different screen sizes

January 19, 2016 Catzie Leave a comment

Here are the recommended background image sizes in pixels for Android app development: xxxhdpi: 1280×1920 px xxhdpi: 960×1600 px xhdpi: 640×960 px hdpi: 480×800 px mdpi: 320×480 px ldpi: 240×320 px …as suggested in this StackOverflow page: Android: Background Image Size (in Pixel) which Support All Devices

Get started: Android Studio app development on Windows 7 (Tested on LG G3 phone)

January 5, 2016January 5, 2016 Catzie Leave a comment

You can still follow this tutorial if you’re using another version of Windows or if you’re using another Android device. You don’t strictly have to use a Windows 7 computer and an LG G3 phone. 🙂 Being a web developer and a frequent user of Android devices, I’ve always been curious about Android app development. […]

Android: 2-dimensional List String (List of List)

December 14, 2015 Catzie Leave a comment

For a web developer who used mostly PHP and JavaScript for several years, plunging into Java can be challenging especially when it comes to data types. PHP and JavaScript are loosely typed languages, while Java is strict about types. I was told that in Android, List<String> is very commonly used, even more than arrays. And […]

Android confirm dialog box with OK and Cancel button

November 25, 2015 Catzie Leave a comment

This will probably be one of the Android code snippets that I will need to go back to from time to time. I’m sharing the codes we need to show an Android confirm dialog to prompt the user to click “yes” or “no”, or in my case, “OK” or “Cancel”. The following code for Android […]

Android Studio dark theme (change into Darcula theme)

November 17, 2015November 16, 2015 Catzie Leave a comment

You might feel more comfortable with a dark theme in Android Studio, but the default theme is light in color. I’m one of the developers who always code in dark screens since it’s less tiring to the eyes. If you’re like me who prefers dark themes while coding, then I’ll show you how to change […]

Google Maps get coordinates on click or drag and drop

October 12, 2015November 9, 2015 Catzie 1 Comment

With this tutorial you’ll see how we can place a Google map with search box on your web page, and then get coordinates (i.e. latitude and longitude) based on where you click or where you drag and drop the marker into. The JavaScript API of Google Maps will help us achieve this. This kind of […]

Log the date & time each time you turn on your Windows computer

September 22, 2015November 9, 2015 Catzie Leave a comment

In the morning, I sometimes forget the time I log into the time-tracking system in my workplace so I stay a bit longer to make sure I don’t get an “undertime”. I thought that my computer at work could help me with this issue somehow. I hoped there was a Windows program that can record […]