Question

This code was supposed to convert text to image

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        Paint paint = new Paint();
        paint.setStyle(Paint.Style.FILL);
        paint.setColor(Color.RED);
        paint.setTextSize(16);
        paint.setAntiAlias(true);
        paint.setTypeface(Typeface.MONOSPACE);

        Bitmap bm = Bitmap.createBitmap(16, 16, Bitmap.Config.ALPHA_8);
        float x = bm.getWidth();
        float y = bm.getHeight();
        Canvas c = new Canvas(bm);
        c.drawText("Test", x, y, paint);
}

Is this code ok? If yes, how can I make this new bitmap visible on screen? I tried this code which produced an error

setContentView(c); //<- ERROR!

I am confused with the element Canvas as there is not such element in XML which I can use in the code.

Answer 1

setContentView(View) takes a View and Canvas is not a View.

I am not sure that you want to create a Canvas on your own. There are ways to get a Canvas passed to you from the Android Framework though. One way you can do this is by creating a custom View. To do this, you will need to create a new class that extends View.

When overriding a View class, you will have the ability to override the onDraw(Canvas) method. This is probably where you want to do what you are attempting to do in your onCreate() method in the code you posted.

This link gives a good overview of what is required to create your own custom view.