Custom attr get color returns invalid values

Question

I have a custom view in which i want to set the color of a textview.

I have

attrs.xml

<declare-styleable name="PropertyView">
    <attr name="propertyTitle" format="string" localization="suggested" />
    <attr name="showTitle" format="boolean" />
    <attr name="propertyTextColor" format="color" />
    <attr name="propertyTextSize" format="dimension" />
</declare-styleable>

I set it in the layout file

<com.something.views.PropertyView
    android:id="@+id/dwf_rAwayTeamTimePenaltyInput"
    style="@style/mw"
    propertyview:propertyTextSize="16sp"
    propertyview:propertyTitle="@string/AwayTeam"
    propertyview:showTitle="true"
    propertyview:propertyTextColor="@color/textLight" />

And in my code I set it

    TypedArray a = context.getTheme().obtainStyledAttributes(attrs, R.styleable.PropertyView, 0, 0);

    showTitle = a.getBoolean(R.styleable.PropertyView_showTitle, false);
    String title = a.getString(R.styleable.PropertyView_propertyTitle);
    float textSize = a.getDimension(R.styleable.PropertyView_propertyTextSize, -1);
    int color = a.getColor(R.styleable.PropertyView_propertyTextColor, -1);
    textSize = textSize / getResources().getDisplayMetrics().scaledDensity;
    if(BuildConfig.DEBUG) Log.e(getClass().getName(), "Color set to: " + color);

    setShowTitle(showTitle);
    setTitle(title);
    if(textSize >= 0) mTitleTextView.setTextSize(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_SP, textSize);
    if(color != -1) mTitleTextView.setTextColor(color);

    a.recycle();

But color keeps returning -1. I also tried to set color to #000 When i do that i get a value of -16777216

I also tried a.getInteger and a.getInt

Anyone experience with this problem or suggestions?

Solution, thanks to Alex Fu

getColor cannot handle references

It is working now with

ColorStateList color = a.getColorStateList(R.styleable.PropertyView_propertyTextColor);
mTitleTextView.setTextColor(color);

Answer 1

You are using a reference to a color in your example, however according to your attrs.xml file, that property must be of a color type, not a reference. This is probably the reason why when you used a hex color code it worked, but using a reference returned -1.

If you do change the format to a reference, you should also change the method to retrieve it from a.getColor() to a.getColorStateList().

Answer 2

The is some sort of bug with attrs.

The following works perfectly.

---

attrs.xml

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

    <!-- Your View -->
    <declare-styleable name="YourView">
        <attr name="tint_color" format="reference" /> <!-- Important -->
        <attr name="ripple_drawable" format="reference" /> <!-- Important -->
    </declare-styleable>

</resources>

---

YourView.java

public YourView(Context context) {
    this(context, null);
}

public YourView(Context context, @Nullable AttributeSet attrs) {
    this(context, attrs, 0);
}

public YourView(Context context, @Nullable AttributeSet attrs, int defStyleAttr) {
    super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr);

    // Get attrs
    TypedArray a = context.obtainStyledAttributes(attrs, R.styleable.YourView, defStyleAttr, 0);

    // Set tint
    int tintStyle = R.styleable.YourView_tint_color;
    if (a.hasValue(tintStyle)) {
        mTintColor = a.getResourceId(tintStyle, 0); // Important
        setTint(mTintColor);
    }

    // Set Ripple
    int rippleStyle = R.styleable.YourView_ripple_drawable;
    if (a.hasValue(rippleStyle)) {
        mRippleDrawable = a.getResourceId(rippleStyle, 0); // Important
        setRipple(mRippleDrawable);
    }

    // End
    a.recycle();
}

---

Usage

<com.your.app.YourView
    ...
    app:ripple_drawable="@drawable/ripple_default"
    app:tint_color="@color/colorWhite" />

Answer 3

If you want every types of color to work

• hex: #ff0000
• color resource: @color/primary
• color selector: @color/primaryWithStates

You need to define your property as both color and reference

<attr name="propertyTextColor" format="color|reference" />

Then you simply access the value using getColorStateList

val colors = attr.getColorStateList(R.styleable.PropertyView_propertyTextColor)
titleTextView.setTextColor(colors)

For advanced needs where you want to digest the ColorStateList yourself

• In the first 2 cases you can access the color using colors.defaultColor
• If you used a selector you have to call the method getColorForState

So, the easiest way to extract the color is by doing

val currentColor = colors.getColorForState(drawableState, colors.defaultColor)
// do whatever you want with the color

It returns the color if there is one for the current state, otherwise the default one

Attention: getColorForState should be placed in the drawableStateChanged() method to be notified every time the state changes