Android LinearLayout with color resource: What am I doing wrong?

Question

I followed this tutorial to create a color state list for a particular Android view. I just want it to highlight when clicked so the user knows why the screen just changed.

When the view is rendered, I get the following error:

org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException: Binary XML file line #3: tag requires a 'drawable' attribute or child tag defining a drawable

My color XML (in res/color/viewcolor.xml):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">     <item android:state_pressed="true" android:color="#ff33ffff"/> <!-- pressed -->     <item android:color="#ff000000"/> <!-- default --> </selector> 

My layout XML (in res/layout/myview.xml):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <LinearLayout      xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"         android:id="@+id/myview"     android:orientation="horizontal"     android:layout_width="fill_parent"     android:layout_height="wrap_content"     android:gravity="top"     android:background="@color/viewcolor">     <!--crap in the layout--> </LinearLayout> 

What did I miss?

Answer 1

I remember that I worked around this error by using state drawable instead of state color. For some reason layout background just doesn't work with stateful colors. So try creating a stateful drawable (for example list of shape drawables with different colors) and use it as background.

res/drawable/pressed.xml:

<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle" >    <solid android:color="#ff33ffff" />  </shape> 

res/drawable/normal.xml:

<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle" >    <solid android:color="#ff000000" />  </shape> 

res/drawable/background.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">     <item android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="@drawable/pressed" />     <item android:drawable="@drawable/normal" /> </selector> 

Then use background.xml drawable as background :)

Answer 2

Instead of using shapes in your drawable, you can use the android:drawable attribute which accepts a color resource (e.g. @color/black).

layout.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <LinearLayout      xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     android:id="@+id/myview"     android:orientation="horizontal"     android:layout_width="fill_parent"     android:layout_height="wrap_content"     android:gravity="top"     android:background="@drawable/myDrawable">     <!-- other views in layout--> </LinearLayout> 

my_drawable.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">     <!-- focused -->     <item android:state_focused="true" android:drawable="@color/YOUR_COLOR_HERE" />     <!-- focused and pressed-->     <item android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="@color/YOUR_COLOR_HERE" />     <!-- pressed -->     <item android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="@color/YOUR_COLOR_HERE" />     <!-- default -->     <item android:drawable="@color/YOUR_COLOR_HERE" />  </selector> 

In my_drawable.xml you need to make sure that the colors you specify are defined in res/values/colors.xml, or this won't work.

If you want to use an image instead of a color change from a color resource to a drawable resource. Example:

android:drawable="@color/YOUR_COLOR_HERE" android:drawable="@drawable/YOUR_IMAGE_HERE"