Question

I’ve set up an ImageButton to be transparent, so the icon matches the backgrond panel like the Android ActionBar. This looks fine as I want it to.

However, when the background is transparent, there isn’t the blueish highlight you see as when you press a transparent button in the action bar.

Can I have an ImageButton that is transparent and also has the highlight flash when clicked?

<ImageButton
    android:id="@+id/nextItemButton"
    style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:background="@null"
    android:src="@drawable/ic_media_ff" />

Answer 1

All you need to do is to set the proper background. If you want it to be transparent in normal state and blueish in pressed stated.

Create a StateListDrawable like this one in res/drawable directory.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:drawable="@color/my_bluish_color" android:state_pressed="true"/>
    <item android:drawable="@android:color/transparent"/>
</selector>

This way the default background is transparent. When pressed the background has the color you specified (instead of color you can use any drawable here).