customize check box preference

Question

I am unable to customize my checkbox , although I have defined the background in the xml preference file, it doesn't pull the file. 1. I am trying to display custom images for checkbox and have defined the selector xml as "android_button.xml" which looks like :

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_checkable="true"
      android:drawable="@drawable/state_normal" /> <!-- pressed -->
<item  android:state_checked="true"
      android:drawable="@drawable/android_pressed" /> <!-- focused -->
<item android:drawable="@drawable/state_normal" /> <!-- default -->
</selector>

state_normal and android_pressed are two .png images in res>drawable folder.

2.my Checkbox preference.xml file is :

          <CheckBoxPreference android:key="@string/Drop_Option"
            android:title="Close after call drop"
            android:defaultValue="true"
            android:background="@drawable/android_button"
            />

Is there any error in the definition, The only change that shows up in screen is the android:title text, if I change the text, it changes the text. Nothing else changes. How do I fix this. Thank you for your suggestion.

Answer 1

There are two ways to achieve what you need, first is to define custom checkbox layout custom_chexbox.xml at res/layout:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<CheckBox xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="@+android:id/checkbox" android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:focusable="false"
android:clickable="false" android:button="@drawable/android_button"/>

Then you need to specify this layout for the preference:

<CheckBoxPreference android:key="@string/Drop_Option"
 android:title="Close after call drop" android:defaultValue="true"
 android:widgetLayout="@layout/custom_checkbox"/>

Second way is to create a custom theme, redefine style for checkbox views and apply the theme to the preferences activity, see How to customize the color of the CheckMark color in android in a dialog. : android for details.