Material Preference

Material theme for preference widgets.

Backporting dat material look and functionality.

Available from API 14. Connecting AndroidX Preference to AppCompat.

For older version see the 2.x branch.

Table of contents

• How to get the library?
• Screenshots
• Contents
• How to use the library?
• Changelog
• Reporting errors

How to get the preference library?

dependencies {
    implementation("net.xpece.android:support-preference:3.0.0")
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

Compatibility

Version 3.x.x requires AndroidX.

How to get color picker preference too?

dependencies {
    implementation("net.xpece.android:support-preference-color:3.0.0")
}

How to get custom Material popup menu and spinner?

dependencies {
    implementation("net.xpece.android:support-spinner:3.0.0")
}

Screenshots

Android version 4.4.

Showcasing simple menu/dialog, custom title and summary text appearance and color picker.

                       

Contents

Support preference

• Preference
• CheckBoxPreference
• SwitchPreference
  • Using SwitchCompat available from API 7
• DialogPreference
  • Uses AppCompat AlertDialog Material theme
• EditTextPreference
• ListPreference
  • Optionally can display as a simple menu or simple dialog.
  • Subclasses support custom adapter.
• DropDownPreference
• MultiSelectListPreference
  • Available since API 7
• SeekBarDialogPreference extends DialogPreference
  • Made public
• SeekBarPreference
  • Made public
  • According to http://www.google.com/design/spec/components/dialogs.html#dialogs-confirmation-dialogs
• RingtonePreference
  • Coerced Ringtone Picker Activity from AOSP
• XpPreferenceFragment
  • Handles proper Preference inflation and DialogPreference dialogs
• SharedPreferencesCompat
  • getStringSet and putStringSet methods allow persisting string sets even before API 11
• XpPreferenceManager
  • setDefaultValues method takes into account preference classes in custom packages
• XpPreferenceHelpers
  • Tinted icons and text appearance support for preferences outside of this library
• ColorPreference

Support spinner

Spinner, popup menu and adapters behaving according to Material Design specs. Read https://www.google.com/design/spec/components/menus.html#menus-behavior.

• XpAppCompatSpinner
  • Spinner variant that uses simple menu or simple dialog.
• XpListPopupWindow
  • Popup window that supports minimum distance from edges, multiple size measuring modes, ListView padding etc.
• CheckedTypedItemAdapter<T>
  • ListAdapter plus SpinnerAdapter that highlights one item.
  • Open methods for converting T to CharSequence.
  • Allows different string representations for selected spinner item and drop down menu.

Features on top of AndroidX Preference

• Using AppCompat features.
• Material preference item layouts out of the box.
• Icon and dialog icon tinting and padding.
• EditTextPreference understands EditText XML attributes.
  • Use EditTextPreference.setOnCreateEditTextListener(OnCreateEditTextListener) to setup your input field.
• Several preference widgets not publicly available in AndroidX or SDK.
  • RingtonePreference, SeekBarPreference, SeekBarDialogPreference, MultiSelectListPreference
• Subscreen navigation implementation.
• ListPreference can optionally show as a simple menu in a popup instead of a dialog.
• ColorPreference
• Preference long click listeners.
• Title/summary text color and text appearance defined in Java or XML.

How to use the library?

Basic setup

Your preference fragment needs to extend XpPreferenceFragment.

Setup your preference items in the following method:

public void onCreatePreferences2(final Bundle savedInstanceState, final String rootKey) {
    addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.my_preferences);
}

Your settings activity theme needs to specify the following values:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
    <!-- Used to theme preference list and items. -->
    <item name="preferenceTheme">@style/PreferenceThemeOverlay.Asp.Material</item>
    <!-- Default icon tint for preferences. -->
    <item name="asp_preferenceIconTint">?colorAccent</item>
    <item name="asp_preferenceDialogIconTint">?asp_preferenceIconTint</item>
</style>

Recommended tint colors are ?colorAccent or ?colorControlNormal.

Styling alertDialogTheme is recommended for a proper color theme. See the sample project.

Dividers

AndroidX Preference provides a divider implementation out of the box. If you want to customize how this divider looks you can call setDivider(...) and setDividerHeight(...). The divider will be drawn just between items and at the bottom of the list. It will not be drawn before the end of category.

If you want more control over where the dividers are drawn, disable the default implementation and enable the one from this library:

@Override
public void onViewCreated(View view, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState);
    getListView().addItemDecoration(
            new PreferenceDividerDecoration(getStyledContext())
                    .drawBottom(true));
    setDivider(null);
}

Ringtone picker

RingtonePicker will show only system ringtones/notification sounds by default. If you want to include sounds from the external storage your app needs to request android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission in its manifest. Don't forget to check this runtime permission before opening ringtone picker on API 23.

ListPreference custom adapter

If you subclass ListPreference you can supply your own SpinnerAdapter which may or may not use getEntries() as its data set. Here follow the methods you need to override:

• SpinnerAdapter buildSimpleMenuAdapter(Context) - Used in simple menus.
• SpinnerAdapter buildSimpleDialogAdapter(Context) - Used in simple dialogs.
• Override the following methods if your SpinnerAdapter does not use getEntries() as data set:
  • CharSequence[] getEntries() - Item captions.
  • CharSequence[] getEntryValues() - Persisted item values.

Simple menu and Simple dialog

Simple menu is described in Material Design specs.

If you want to show your ListPreference in a popup instead of a dialog use this configuration:

<ListPreference
    style="@style/Preference.Material.DialogPreference.ListPreference.SimpleMenu"/>

Above code will ensure that:

• If all items fit on one line a popup window is shown.
• Otherwise a simple dialog is shown.
• Popup window width will round up to nearest multiply of 56dp on phones and 64dp on tablets.

These are the attributes and values for manual setup:

Attribute	Values	Description
app:asp_menuMode	dialog	Default behavior. Alert dialog with radio buttons and optional window title.
	simple_menu	Menu is shown in a popup window. Selected option is highlighted. Less disruptive than dialog.
	simple_dialog	Menu is shown in a dialog with no other controls. Selected option is highlighted.
	simple_adaptive	Menu is shown in a popup window if it contains single line items only . Otherwise simple dialog is shown.
app:asp_simpleMenuWidthUnit	0dp	Default behavior. Popup window width is determined by the width of its content.
	*X*dp	Popup width is determined by the width of its content and rounded up to the nearest multiply of Xdp.
app:asp_simpleMenuWidthMode	match_constraint	Popup width will stretch to match underlying ListPreference width.
	wrap_content	Default behavior. Popup window width is determined by the width of its content.
	wrap_content_unit	Popup width is determined by the width of its content and rounded up to the nearest multiply of Xdp.
app:asp_simpleMenuMaxWidth	fit_anchor	Default behavior. Popup width can stretch up to width of the underlying ListPreference.
	fit_screen	Popup width can stretch up to width of the screen.
app:asp_simpleMenuMaxItemCount	-1	Default behavior. Popup will show as many items as fit on the screen.
	X	Popup will show at most X items.

Material Spinner

New XpAppCompatSpinner widget is built according to Material Design specs.

Menus are positioned over their emitting elements such that the currently selected menu item appears on top of the emitting element.

Example setup:

<net.xpece.android.support.widget.XpAppCompatSpinner
    style="@style/Widget.Material.Spinner.Underlined"
    android:theme="ThemeOverlay.Material.Spinner"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:entries="@array/my_entries"
    app:asp_spinnerMode="dialog|dropdown|adaptive"/>

The above setup will ensure the following:

• Popup ListView will have top and bottom padding.
  • Theme overlay applied via android:theme directly limits its effects on this widget.
  • Is not supported by AppCompat or platform popup windows.
• Spinner will have proper space around its caret before API 23.
  • If using style="@style/Widget.Material.Spinner" or style="@style/Widget.Material.Spinner.Underlined".

If you need to alter entries programmatically create by CheckedItemAdapter.newInstance(Context, CharSequence[], int) or supply your own adapter (responsible for its own styling) to XpAppCompatSpinner.setAdapter(SpinnerAdapter).

Attribute	Values	Description
app:asp_spinnerMode	dropdown	Menu is shown in a popup window. Selected option is highlighted. Less disruptive.
	dialog	Menu is shown in a dialog with no other controls. Selected option is highlighted.
	adaptive	Default behavior. Menu is shown in a popup window if it contains only single line items. Otherwise simple dialog is shown.
app:asp_simpleMenuWidthUnit	0dp	Default behavior. Popup window width is determined by the width of its content.
	*X*dp	Popup width is determined by the width of its content and rounded up to the nearest multiply of Xdp.
app:asp_simpleMenuWidthMode	match_constraint	Popup width will stretch to match underlying anchor width.
	wrap_content	Default behavior. Popup window width is determined by the width of its content.
	wrap_content_unit	Popup width is determined by the width of its content and rounded up to the nearest multiply of Xdp.
app:asp_simpleMenuMaxWidth	fit_anchor	Popup width can stretch up to width of the underlying anchor.
	fit_screen	Default behavior. Popup width can stretch up to width of the screen.
app:asp_simpleMenuMaxItemCount	-1	Default behavior. Popup will show as many items as fit on the screen.
	X	Popup will show at most X items.

Color preference

<ColorPreference
    android:defaultValue="?colorPrimary"
    android:entries="@array/colors_material_names"
    android:entryValues="@array/colors_material"
    android:key="notif_color"
    android:title="Notification color"/>

<array name="colors_material">
     <item>@color/material_red_500</item>
     <item>@color/material_light_blue_500</item>
     <item>@color/material_light_green_500</item>
     <item>@color/material_orange_500</item>
</array>

<string-array name="colors_material_names">
    <item>Red</item>
    <item>Light Blue</item>
    <item>Light Green</item>
    <item>Orange</item>
</string-array>

Attributes include:

Attribute	Values	Description
android:entryValues	Array of colors	Specifies an array of colors to display.
android:entries	Array of text	Specifies textual description of each color.
app:asp_columnCount	Integer	Specifies the number of columns in the color picker. Use an integer resource which will allow you to specify greater number on tablets. Default is 4.
	-1	Number of columns will be computed automatically to fill space available in window.
app:asp_swatchSize	small	Default option. Swatches will be 48dp in width and height plus 4dp margin on each side.
	large	Swatches will be 64dp in width and height plus 8dp margin on each side.

Finally you need to make your preference fragment fire up the color picker dialog when the preference is clicked and optionally update summary when a color is chosen. Please review sample SettingsActivity.java and SettingsFragment.java respectively.

If you need to change the default style either use style attribute or override it in your theme:

<item name="colorPreferenceStyle">@style/Preference.Material.DialogPreference.ColorPreference</item>

The color is stored internally as a 32-bit integer.

Subscreen navigation

Possible solution is implemented in PreferenceScreenNavigationStrategy.ReplaceFragment class. This class will help you replace the whole preference fragment with a new instance with specified root preference. It is using fragment transactions and back stack allowing for transition animations and saved states.

This class also supports Up button navigation which synthesizes preference screen stack on-the-fly. Please see the sample project for details.

Known issues with support library

You may have experienced unexpected background color which manifests as holo blue on Android 4 and grey on Android 5. This is caused by PreferenceFragment's RecyclerView grabbing focus on fragment start. We can disable this behavior while still being able to navigate between individual preferences with a D-pad.

@Override
public void onViewCreated(View view, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState);
    final RecyclerView listView = getListView();

    // We don't want this. The children are still focusable.
    listView.setFocusable(false);
}

Icon tinting

All preferences:

• app:asp_tint
• app:asp_tintMode
• app:asp_tintEnabled

All dialog preferences:

• app:asp_dialogTint
• app:asp_dialogTintMode
• app:asp_dialogTintEnabled

Icon padding

Application icons (48dp x 48dp) require no extra padding. For smaller icons extra padding of 4dp on each side is needed. Achieve this by using app:asp_iconPaddingEnabled and app:asp_dialogIconPaddingEnabled attributes. Icon padding is enabled by default.

Handling PreferenceScreen icons

As PreferenceScreen class is final and hardwired into preference system I was unable to automate icon tinting and padding. However you are able to do this yourself:

Preference subs = findPreference("subscreen");
PreferenceIconHelper subsHelper = new PreferenceIconHelper(subs);
subsHelper.setIconPaddingEnabled(true); // Call this BEFORE setIcon!
subsHelper.setIcon(R.drawable.some_icon);
subsHelper.setTintList(AppCompatResources.getColorStateList(subs.getContext(), R.color.accent));
subsHelper.setIconTintEnabled(true);
/* or */
PreferenceIconHelper.setup(subs /* preference */,
    R.drawable.some_icon /* icon */,
    R.color.accent /* tint */,
    true /* padding */);

You can use this class even on preference classes from androidx.preference package in case you're not using XpPreferenceFragment.

Proguard

Proguard rules are bundled with the library.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md.

Reporting errors

Some devices require special care and specific errors may occur inside this library. You are encouraged to opt-in to notifications about these internal errors so this library and relay them to the Issues section.

Here's an example how to get error reports to Crashlytics:

class MyApplication extends Application {
    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        // Setup Crashlytics, do whatever else you need...

        XpSupportPreferencePlugins.registerErrorInterceptor(new ErrorInterceptor() {
            @Override
            public void onError(@NonNull Throwable t, @Nullable String message) {
                Timber.w(t, message);
                if (message != null) Crashlytics.log(message);
                Crashlytics.logException(t);
            }
        });
    }
}

Only register the listener once per app process!

When reporting your findings here make sure to strip any user or sensitive data.

What's needed:

• Android version
• Device manufacturer and model
• Stacktrace with line numbers preserved
• Android support library version
• xpece-android-support-preference library version

Thanks for making this library better!

Credit

Most of this library is straight up pillaged latest SDK mixed with heavy reliance on AndroidX AppCompat and Preference. Kudos to people who create and maintain these!