How to animate .gif images in an android?

Question

Here is the code for xml:

<ImageView
    android:id="@+id/imageView1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:src="@drawable/minepic" />

Here the minepic is a gif animated image but after running the application its just showing a static image.

Is there any solution about how to animate the .gif images in android application?

Answer 1

To give a precise and complete answer here is what you need to do step wise:

1. You would need to have different .png images which will act as frames for your animation. Save them in res/drawable folder.

2. Create anim.xml file in res/drawable folder with following content:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <animation-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 
       android:oneshot="false">
   
       <item android:drawable="@drawable/image_3" android:duration="250" />
       <item android:drawable="@drawable/image_2" android:duration="250" />
       <item android:drawable="@drawable/image_1" android:duration="250" />
       <item android:drawable="@drawable/image" android:duration="250" />
   
   </animation-list>
   

3. In the layout xml file inside which you want to show the animation:

   //...
   <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/iv_animation"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:contentDescription="Animation" />
   //...
   

4. In the Java file which loads the the layout xml file and calls setContentView:

   //...
   @Override
   public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
       super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
       setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
   
       final ImageView animImageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.iv_animation);
       animImageView.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.anim);
       animImageView.post(new Runnable() {
           @Override
           public void run() {
               AnimationDrawable frameAnimation =
                   (AnimationDrawable) animImageView.getBackground();
               frameAnimation.start();
           }
       });
       // ... other code ... 
   }
   // ...
   

In order to stop the animation you can call .stop() on the AnimationDrawable. For more details about the available methods, you can see AnimationDrawable documentation. Hope it helps someone.

Answer 2

I wouldn't recommend using Movie or WebView classes but ImageView instead with source drawable set to animation-list. Look at example(mydrawable.xml):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<animation-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:oneshot="false">
<item android:drawable="@drawable/image_1" android:duration="100" />
<item android:drawable="@drawable/image_2" android:duration="100" />
<item android:drawable="@drawable/image_3" android:duration="100" />
</animation-list> 

// in your layout : <ImageView
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:src="@drawable/my_drawable" />

Obviously, you have to slice your .gif into seperate images before using this solution.