how to fit png background image to the size of imagebutton in android sdk

Question

i have created an image button in my xml

    <Button android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:id="@+id/send" 
        android:layout_width="50dip"
        android:background="@drawable/button_back">
    </Button>

and its background like this "button_back.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/back_pressed" /> <!-- pressed png -->
     <item android:state_focused="true"
           android:drawable="@drawable/back_focused" /> <!-- focused png -->
     <item android:drawable="@drawable/back_normal" /> <!-- default png -->
 </selector>

its working fine but my problem is that my button width is 50 and my image png width is 70. how can i fit this png to get resized to my button width automatically. Right now no matter what width i give to my button its width gets to the size of image png width.

can someone help me how to do this.

Thanks

Answer 1

try adding to xml button:

                android:scaleType="fitCenter"

Answer 2

I believe 9-patch is what you are looking for.

Looks here: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/draw9patch.html and search for "Nine-patch" here: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/graphics/2d-graphics.html#nine-patch

Update: It might also be a good idea to scale down your images to fit the 50dip width, and use 9-patch for auto-scaling (when orientation changes for example).