Question

I have a LinearLayout and I want to see when a user has touched it, and has released their finger. I thought I could do this by adding a onTouch listener and checking the event. This linearLayout holds a bunch of buttons.

My problem isn’t the listener not working, it just isn’t doing what I thought it would do. The listener only gets activated if ONLY the layout has been touched, which makes sense, but isn’t what I want. If the user touches a button inside of the layout the layout listener isn’t called, and I want it to be called.

Here is my code:

java code:

    ll = (LinearLayout)findViewById(R.id.CategorySelect_lLayout_noID);
    ll.setOnTouchListener(new OnTouchListener() {

        public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event) {

            if(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN){
                Toast.makeText(CategorySelect.this, "action DOWN called", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                return true;
            } 
            if(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP){
                Toast.makeText(CategorySelect.this, "action Up called", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                return true;
            }
            return false;
        }
    });

my xml:

  <ScrollView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="400dp"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginBottom="40dp"
android:scrollbars="none"
 >

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_lLayout_noID"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        >

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_1"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_1"
        />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_2"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_2" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_3"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_3" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_4"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_4" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_5"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_5" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_6"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_6" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_7"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_7" />
    </LinearLayout>

</ScrollView>

Thanks for reading.

UPDATED CODE FOR COMMENTS:

My main xml file that is inflated from my activity:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="@drawable/categoryselect_background"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
 >

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_tv_chooseacat"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="70dp"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:text="@string/CategorySelect_tv_chooseacat"
    android:textColor="#FF5500"
    android:textSize="34dp"
    android:textStyle="bold" 
    />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_settings"
    android:background="@drawable/menu_settings"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_margin="10dp"
     />

<ScrollView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="400dp"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginBottom="40dp"
android:scrollbars="none"
>

    <com.tdubstudios.soundboard.hungergames.ScrollAbleLinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_lLayout_noID"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        >

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_cato"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_1"
        />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_cinna"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_2" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_effie"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_3" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_gale"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_4" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_haymitch"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_5" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_katniss"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_6" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/CategorySelect_b_peeta"
            style="@style/CustomBLUEButtonTextStyle"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text="@string/CategorySelect_b_7" />
    </com.tdubstudios.soundboard.hungergames.ScrollAbleLinearLayout>

</ScrollView>
</RelativeLayout>

This is the ScrollAbleLinearLayout class:

package com.tdubstudios.soundboard.hungergames;

import android.content.Context;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;

public class ScrollAbleLinearLayout extends LinearLayout {


public ScrollAbleLinearLayout(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
    super(context, attrs);
}

@Override
public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
    requestDisallowInterceptTouchEvent(true); // Tell parents not to use this event
    return false; // Tell children not to use this event
}
}

Yes I know the naming on some things have changed from my previous code, that is because I changed it to hide what type of app I was making (from search results). However for whatever reason I no long care, so that’s the reasoning behind that.

Thanks.

THIRD EDIT:

So I’m currently using

@Override
public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
    //requestDisallowInterceptTouchEvent(true); // Tell parents not to use this event
    if(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN){
        return false;
    } 
    if(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP){
        return false;
    }


    return true; // Tell children not to use this event
}

And it works the way I want it to, however it isn’t practical. For it to actually register the button clicks you have to make sure you don’t move your finger at all left/right/up/down. It has to be like exactly down and exactly up. I was trying to add a onFling method, and then tracking the distance the finger as moved. And if it has moved less then x amount of pixels then make the main method return false which will allow the buttons to work, but if it was actually a swipe/move then the button doesn’t need to get activated. Here is what I mean:

@Override
    public boolean onFling(MotionEvent e1, MotionEvent e2, float velocityX, float velocityY) {

        if (Math.abs(e1.getY() - e2.getY()) > MORE_THAN_X_INT) {
            booleanVar = false;
            return false;
        }else{
          booleanVar = true;
         }
      return false;
   }

Then doing:

Override
public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
    //requestDisallowInterceptTouchEvent(true); // Tell parents not to use this event
    if(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN){
        return false;
    } 
    if(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP){
        return false;
    }


    return booleanVar; // Tell children not to use this event
}

I think that would work, but I can’t test it because there isn’t a onFling method for extends LinearLayout

Any suggestions?

Please note my returning true/false might be backwards, I’m not sure it’s kind of confusing me. But if someone could lead me in a way to making that onFling method I can mess around with it to get it the correct values.

---

I have

@Override
public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
    //requestDisallowInterceptTouchEvent(true); // Tell parents not to use this event
    while(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN){
        return true;
    } 
    while(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP){
        return true;
    }


    return false; // Tell children not to use this event
}

and my buttons are never click able. But the ontouch listener works perfectly haha 😐

Answer 1

I would recommend extending LinearLayout and using onInterceptTouchEvent to catch the touch event, then return true to force its children to not receive the events.

Something like this:

public class MyLinearLayout extends LinearLayout {
    public MyLinearLayout(Context context) {
        super(context);
    }
    public MyLinearLayout(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
    }
    public MyLinearLayout(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
    }
    @Override
    public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
        return true; // Tell children not to use this event
    }
}

And, then in your XML, change LinearLayout to com.yourpackagename.MyLinearLayout.

Addendum: If you want both the Buttons and the LinearLayout to receive the event, you can change the onInterceptTouchEvent to this:

@Override
public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
    // Whatever touch event code you want, using the "event" variable
    return false; // Allow children to use the event
}