Button

Syntax#

<Button … />
android:onClick=“methodname”
button.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener(){…});
public class classname implements View.OnLongClickListener

inline onClickListener

Say we have a button (we can create it programmatically, or bind it from a view using findViewbyId(), etc…)

Button btnOK = (...)

Now, create an anonymous class and set it inline.

btnOk.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
    @Override
    public void onClick(View v) {
        // Do stuff here...
    }
});

Using the layout to define a click action

Using the same click event for one or more Views in the XML

Listening to the long click events

Defining external Listener

Custom Click Listener to prevent multiple fast clicks

Customizing Button style

There are many possible ways of customizing the look of a Button. This example presents several options:

Option 0: Use ThemeOverlay (currently the easiest/quickest way)

Create a new style in your styles file:

styles.xml

<resources>
    <style name=“mybutton” parent=”ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Ligth”>
        <!-- customize colorButtonNormal for the disable color -->
        <item name="colorButtonNormal">@color/colorbuttonnormal</item>
        <!-- customize colorAccent for the enabled color -->
        <item name="colorButtonNormal">@color/coloraccent</item>
    </style>
</resources>

Then in the layout where you place your button (e.g. MainActivity):

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="https://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="https://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

            <Button
                android:id="@+id/mybutton"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="Hello"
                android:theme="@style/mybutton"
                style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Colored"/>

</LinearLayout>

Option 1: Create your own button style

In values/styles.xml, create a new style for your button:

styles.xml

<resources>
        <style name="mybuttonstyle" parent="@android:style/Widget.Button">
            <item name="android:gravity">center_vertical|center_horizontal</item>
            <item name="android:textColor">#FFFFFFFF</item>
            <item name="android:shadowColor">#FF000000</item>
            <item name="android:shadowDx">0</item>
            <item name="android:shadowDy">-1</item>
            <item name="android:shadowRadius">0.2</item>
            <item name="android:textSize">16dip</item>
            <item name="android:textStyle">bold</item>
            <item name="android:background">@drawable/button</item>
        </style>
    </resources>

Then in the layout where you place your button (e.g. in MainActivity):

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="https://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="https://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

            <Button
                android:id="@+id/mybutton"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="Hello"
                android:theme="@style/mybuttonstyle"/>

</LinearLayout>

Option 2: Assign a drawable for each of your button states

Create an xml file into drawable folder called ‘mybuttondrawable.xml’ to define the drawable resource of each of your button states:

drawable/mybutton.xml

<selector xmlns:android="https://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item
        android:state_enabled="false"
        android:drawable="@drawable/mybutton_disabled" />
    <item
        android:state_pressed="true"
        android:state_enabled="true"
        android:drawable="@drawable/mybutton_pressed" />
    <item
        android:state_focused="true"
        android:state_enabled="true"
        android:drawable="@drawable/mybutton_focused" />
    <item
        android:state_enabled="true"
        android:drawable="@drawable/mybutton_enabled" />
</selector>

Each of those drawables may be images (e.g. mybutton_disabled.png) or xml files defined by you and stored in the drawables folder. For instance:

drawable/mybutton_disabled.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

    <shape xmlns:android="https://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle">
        <gradient
            android:startColor="#F2F2F2"
            android:centerColor="#A4A4A4"
            android:endColor="#F2F2F2"
            android:angle="90"/>
        <padding android:left="7dp"
            android:top="7dp"
            android:right="7dp"
            android:bottom="7dp" />
        <stroke
            android:width="2dip"
            android:color="#FFFFFF" />
        <corners android:radius= "8dp" />
    </shape>

Then in the layout where you place your button (e.g. MainActivity):

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="https://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="https://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

            <Button
                android:id="@+id/mybutton"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="Hello"
                android:background="@drawable/mybuttondrawable"/>

</LinearLayout>

Option 3: Add your button style to your App theme

You can override the default android button style in the definition of your app theme (in values/styles.xml).

styles.xml

<resources>
     <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme">
            <item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
            <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
            <item name="colorAccent">@color/colorAccent</item>
              <item name="android:button">@style/mybutton</item>
     </style>
    
     <style name="mybutton" parent="android:style/Widget.Button">
             <item name="android:gravity">center_vertical|center_horizontal</item>
                <item name="android:textColor">#FFFFFFFF</item>
                <item name="android:shadowColor">#FF000000</item>
                <item name="android:shadowDx">0</item>
                <item name="android:shadowDy">-1</item>
                <item name="android:shadowRadius">0.2</item>
                <item name="android:textSize">16dip</item>
                <item name="android:textStyle">bold</item>
                <item name="android:background">@drawable/anydrawable</item>
     </style>
</resources>

Option 4: Overlay a color on the default button style programatically

Just find you button in your activity and apply a color filter:

Button mybutton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.mybutton);
mybutton.getBackground().setColorFilter(anycolor, PorterDuff.Mode.MULTIPLY)

You can check different blending modes here and nice examples here.