Question

I have implement something like the following on J2me.
Is it possible to implement the same for Android?

i> I have a strip of image which I am keeping on the drawable folder. The image width & height is small.

ii> Now , using Android code & layout xml , I want to repeat displaying the small image strip so that an entire status bar / header is drawn for a screen with the use of repeating images.(mutiple image strips will ultimately draw the entire header)

The reason for implementing the header / status bar in this manner is to avoid keeping the entire header image on the drawable folder which increases the mobile application size.

Kindly provide me your inputs/sample code if anyone has done any implementation with the above logic.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Yes, you can have tiled bitmaps in android.

If your tile is in drawable/background.png, then in drawable/background_tile.xml:

<bitmap android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:src="@drawable/background" 
    android:tileMode="repeat"/>

And then you can set the background of a View to be your tiled bitmap in your layout:

<View xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="20dp"
    android:background="@drawable/background_tile"/>

You could set the background of a LinearLayout or other View subclass as well.