Question

So, I’m trying to view a camera preview as a background with an imageview on top of it. Check this question out, that I’ve asked, to get a better idea of what I’m trying to accomplish. However, instead of using a FrameLayout, I found it easier to use a RelativeLayout (for the reason of placing views where I want on the screen). The problem is that I can’t get the imageview (over the surface view) to take up the whole screen. No matter how I re-size the image it still displays in the center without filling the screen.

So, my question is, how would I make the imageview fill the entire screen over the surface view? Perhaps, I am making a simple mistake but if that is the case please point it out. Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Here’s the XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:id="@+id/relative" >

<ImageView
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:id="@+id/image"
    android:src="@drawable/background" >
</ImageView>

<Button
    android:id="@+id/scan"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:layout_centerVertical="true"
    android:layout_margin="10dp"
    android:text="Scan"
    android:textSize="20dp"
    android:textStyle="bold"
    android:onClick="Scan" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/search"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_below="@+id/scan"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:layout_margin="10dp"
    android:text="Search"
    android:textSize="20dp"
    android:textStyle="bold"
    android:onClick="Search" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/importing"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_below="@+id/search"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:layout_margin="10dp"
    android:text="Import"
    android:textSize="20dp"
    android:textStyle="bold"
    android:onClick="Import" />

</RelativeLayout>

And here’s the code where I place the views (bring to front so they are visible over the surface view):

    mPreview = new CameraPreview(this, mCamera);
    relative.addView(mPreview);
    layout.bringToFront();
    scan.bringToFront();
    search.bringToFront();
    friendImport.bringToFront();

EDIT:
Here’s an example image of what I’m talking about (I am trying to get the white transparent image to cover the whole screen):

Answer 1

After experimenting for a while, I seem to have found a solution to my problem. My image was showing up similar to this picture:

Which is weird, because this is how a 9-patch image works and I did not declare my image as a 9-patch. But even when I called match_parent (or even fill_parent) it only filled to the fill area like in the image I posted.

So, with lots of trial and error, I took away any border that was on the image and took all the blur effects off. The image was, for some reason, a dramatically smaller file size. Then, I tried to place this as the background and… success!

I’m not too sure as to why it did not work to begin with, but, I have a theory that, perhaps, because there was a 1px border on the image it saved it as a 9-patch PNG instead of a normal PNG file. Or maybe it was due to the blur effect that was on the image. I’m not too sure, but, I do know that once I took off the blur effects and removed the border it did work.

I hope this is useful for anyone who might be faced with a similar problem!