Question

I am wondering as a new Android developer (10+ years C# OOP) which would be the better way to create a simple repeating background. The background will be consistent no matter the screen size, density, or orientation. I’ve read the Android Developers Dev Guide about things such as supporting multiple screens, nine patch drawables etc. I have seen tutorials such as this one (http://androidforbeginners.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-tile-background-image-in-android.html) telling you how you can use an image and get it to repeat.

Of course using an image then you have to provide multiple images for multiple densities or risk bitmap scaling and pixelation. For a complex background pattern I can see how this might be the way to go. But my pattern is a simple grid pattern so isn’t there a better way using just xml?

I looked at GridView and TableLayout and both allowed me to set a background color, specify cell width / height, but I did not see a way to specify the grid line color.

For now I am using the slightly older 2.3.3 api as that is the largest version currently in use.
I don’t suspect I’ll need much hand holdong just some good solid advise from those who know better than I.

Thank You
JB

Answer 1

You can create a drawable like this:

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

<bitmap xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:src="AndroidPuzzlesSolver/@drawable/bg_tile"
        android:tileMode="repeat"
        android:dither="true" />

Place the above in a “background.xml” file at the drawable folder. Then you can use it in your layout like this:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="fill_parent"
                android:orientation="vertical"
                android:background="@drawable/background">

You can use a background with all Layouts.

I don’t think there is an out-of-the-box way to do an alternate repeat, e.g. show one image at some places and another one in some others. If you want something like this, then you would probably need to implement your own View and override the onDraw method. You could use a FrameLayout to combine this background View with any other elements.