Question

I want to be able to add a text-messaging balloon every time the user revives data from a HttpGet, I want it so that it looks nearly identical to the default Android text messaging UI. I’m fine with all the code, I just need a way to create the UI and create another text balloon every time data comes back from a HttpGet request.

Thanks ever so much, for the answering this questions and I’m sure there’s an easy way to do it, yet I’ve found no way by using the ‘ole Google.

Answer 1

I am doing something similar for my app am doing the following to achieve it:

1. You will need a 9-Patch-Image (a stretchable PNG, see here) that represents the bubble. You want to make the part stretchable that does not include the corners of the bubble. You can create the bubbles using an image editor of your choice (I’d recommend a vector graphics editor like Inkscape). Then use the 9-Patch editor included in the Android Developer Tools to transform the PNG image into a 9-Patch PNG.
2. Create a custom layout file for one bubble. Create a textview inside it, and add your bubble as a background resource. (android:background)
3. Use an arraylist with a custom adapter to inflate and fill your items.

So far, this will give you identical bubbles as background for all messages.
If you want to get fancy, you can create different bubbles for participants, and use the setBackgroundResource method in your Adapter to set the correct background.

Further, if you wish to align them left or right, like in the message app, you will need to add spacers to the left and right of your TextView in the layout file. I used FrameLayouts with a fixed width. Make sure to set their visibility to GONE.
As with swapping the different bubble colors, just set the visibility of the left/right spacer.