Android Google Map IconGenerator - Making a transparent marker icon

Question

So I'm using a ClusterManagerto cluster my Markers, so that the user can have a better experience.

I have actually implemente Google's code, which I found here. Imagine now that my Marker icon is a ball. I want the background of the icon to be transparent, not white.

On Google's original tutorial they set a ImageView to the IconGenerator, like this:

public class MyClusterManagerRenderer extends DefaultClusterRenderer<ClusteredMarker> {

private final IconGenerator mIconGenerator;
private final ImageView mImageView;

public MyClusterManagerRenderer(Context context, GoogleMap googleMap,
                                ClusterManager<ClusteredMarker> clusterManager){

    super(context, googleMap, clusterManager);

    mIconGenerator = new IconGenerator(context);
    mImageView = new ImageView(context);
    mIconGenerator.setContentView(mImageView);
}

@Override
protected void onBeforeClusterItemRendered(ClusteredMarker item, MarkerOptions markerOptions) {

    mImageView.setImageResource(item.iconPicture);
    Bitmap icon = mIconGenerator.makeIcon();
    markerOptions.icon(BitmapDescriptorFactory.fromBitmap(icon)).title(item.user);
}

...
}

I have tried several ways to make my icon transparent, like calling:

mImageView.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);

but without success. The only way I managed to find a solution is to directly attach my transparent image to the IconGenerator, like this:

mIconGenerator.setBackground(aContext.getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.ball));

The downside of this approach is that a ImageView have some interesting methods that I would like to call, like setPadding, while the IconGenerator doesn't have that.

So, is there a way to make my icon transparent, using the ImageView?

Thank you,

Answer 1

The solution I found is this:

private static final Drawable TRANSPARENT_DRAWABLE = new ColorDrawable(Color.TRANSPARENT);

// Make the background of marker transparent
mIconGenerator.setBackground(TRANSPARENT_DRAWABLE);