TabHost / TabWidget - Scale Background Image?

Question

I need to scale my TabWidget background images so they maintain aspect ratio.
I am using a TabHost with a TabWidget. I am then using setBackgroundDrawable to set the images.

I found a close answer here - Background in tab widget ignore scaling. However, I'm not sure just where to add the new Drawable code. (Working with the HelloTabWidget example, none of my modules use RelativeLayout, and I don't see any layout for "tabcontent".)

I also found this thread - Android: Scale a Drawable or background image?. According to it, it sounds like I would have to pre-scale my images, which defeats the whole purpose of making them scaleable.

I also found another thread where someone subclassed the Drawable class so it would either not scale, or it would scale properly. I can't find it now, but that seems like a LOT to go through when you should just be able to do something simple like mTab.setScaleType(centerInside).

Here's my code:

main.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TabHost xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@android:id/tabhost"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:background="@drawable/main_background"> 
    <LinearLayout
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent">
    <FrameLayout
            android:id="@android:id/tabcontent"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"/>        
    <TabWidget
            android:id="@android:id/tabs"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
            android:layout_weight="0"/>
    </LinearLayout>
</TabHost>

main activity:

        tabHost.setOnTabChangedListener(new OnTabChangeListener() { 
            TabHost changedTabHost = getTabHost();
            TabWidget changedTabWidget = getTabWidget();
            View changedView = changedTabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(0);

            public void onTabChanged(String tabId) { 
                int selectedTab = changedTabHost.getCurrentTab();
                TabWidget tw = getTabWidget();

                if(selectedTab == 0) {
                    //setTitle("Missions Timeline");
                    View tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(0);
                    tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_timeline_on));
                    tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(1);
                    tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_map_off));
                    tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(2);
                    tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_search_off));
                    tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(3);
                    tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_news_off));
                    tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(4);
                    tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_license_off));
                            //ImageView iv = (ImageView)tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(0).findViewById(android.R.id.icon); 
                            //iv.setImageDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_timeline_on)); 
                            //iv = (ImageView)tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(1).findViewById(android.R.id.icon); 
                            //iv.setImageDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_map_off)); 
                    } else if (selectedTab == 1) {
                        //setTitle("Spinoffs Around You");
                        View tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(0);
                        tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_timeline_off));
                        tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(1);
                        tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_map_on));
                        tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(2);
                        tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_search_off));
                        tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(3);
                        tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_news_off));
                        tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(4);
                        tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab_license_off));
}

I also tried 9patch images, but they wind up being too small.

So, what's the best way to go about this?

Answer 1

Check this out and let me know whether it worked for you.

Custom Android Tab