Question

I want to animate a custom view programmatically. I want it to only animate in the position where it is declare in the xml file, and I don’t want it to mess the layout. Also this animation is affected by other factor so the android Animation class is out of the question.

I have test this sample tutorial and watch this videos. My problem is that most tutorial is for animating a sprite into a canvas where you will trace your sprite’s location.

How can you animate the custom view without affecting layout and without using the Android Animation class?

Edited:
The custom view will act as a animated-gif and will toggle another set of frames whenever an event activates it.

Answer 1

If you want “frame by frame” animation that just “runs” like an animated gif, you can follow:
drawable-animation official tutorial.

Quoting from the tutorial:

<animation-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:oneshot="true">
    <item android:drawable="@drawable/rocket_thrust1" android:duration="200" />
    <item android:drawable="@drawable/rocket_thrust2" android:duration="200" />
    <item android:drawable="@drawable/rocket_thrust3" android:duration="200" />
</animation-list>

and in your code

AnimationDrawable rocketAnimation;

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  setContentView(R.layout.main);

  ImageView rocketImage = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.rocket_image);
  rocketImage.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.rocket_thrust);
  rocketAnimation = (AnimationDrawable) rocketImage.getBackground();
}

public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
  if (event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN) {
    rocketAnimation.start();
    return true;
  }
  return super.onTouchEvent(event);
}