How to make a instant messenger GUI with bubbles

Question

I am a very beginner and I need someone to tell me, which way instant messengers GUI with bubbles are done. Is it just a ScrollView with TextViews with 9-patched backgrounds? And which way the new ones get created at the very bottom? Or is there any library to implement all this? How to make it on Android? Just point me to the technology.

Answer 1

Regarding showing the all the chat messages you will use ListView.

Each item will show single message from user.

You have to provide two types of row, one for the sender and other for receiver.

and regarding speech bubble you need to work with 9 patch images.

Edit: I've written a blog post about Android Speech Bubble. may be of some help for you. :)

Answer 2

Try to use this tutorial it's very helpful:

First you have to create your 9-patch drawable for the bubble view

Second Build your two custom rows for your ui one with a bubble that points to the right and onother to the left

Finally use a custom adapter to bind data to your views

Cheers hope this gonna be a starting point to the solution