How can I make a TextView look like a Button?

android user-interface

15,595

Solution 1

You should be able to just set the style in the layout XML file.

See http://developer.android.com/reference/android/R.style.html for a list of the built-in platform style. Not sure how well it would work, but its reasonably easy to do. Try this:

<TextView android:layout_height="wrap_content" style="@android:style/Widget.Button" android:layout_marginRight="5sp" android:text="" android:layout_width="fill_parent"></TextView>

EDIT: the issue is that the default button style sets the android:clickable attribute. Try and add the android:clickable attribute and set it to false:

<TextView android:layout_height="wrap_content" style="@android:style/Widget.Button" android:layout_marginRight="5sp" android:text="" android:clickable="false" android:layout_width="fill_parent"></TextView>

Solution 2

You should just be able to create a Drawable of a button and use setBackgroundDrawable() on the TextView.

Alternatively, you could use the android:background XML attribute.

Solution 3

Take this complete layout from my project:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<!-- Solution 1: New Button appearance -->
<!--TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    style="@android:style/Widget.DeviceDefault.Button"
    android:textAllCaps="false"
    android:focusable="false"
    android:clickable="false" /-->

<!-- Solution 2: Old Button appearance -->
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="match_parent"
      android:background="@android:drawable/btn_default"
      android:gravity="center_vertical|center_horizontal" />

without clickable=false onItemClick() is not fired in ListView/GridView etc.

without focusable=false you have not the pressed button effect when you press a TextView button.

15,595

Author by

Admin

Updated on August 06, 2022

Comments

Admin over 1 year

I have a ListActivity in Android. Each row is just an item that starts another activity with some resource. By default this is of course a TextView.

I'd like (and by "I'd like", I mean "the client insists") that TextView to look like a button. If I actually make them Buttons, the default list click handler doesn't work anymore - even if they're non-focusable - so I have to write code to manually inflate the view containing the button and set a click handler.

Is there some way instead I can just make the TextView look like a Button without any of a Button's behaviors?
Admin almost 13 years

I am using a CursorAdapter and a ListActivity - ideally I never have to call any particular function on the "Button" because there's no code that knows it exists.
Will Tate almost 13 years

edited answer to include the XML attribute you could use if you don't want to do it programmatically.
Admin almost 13 years

This, somewhat amazingly, does not work. Simply having the Button style is enough to make the view block list click events.
Admin almost 13 years

Is there some name I can use to get the "default" button style? Including my own drawable image will increase the program size and risk conflicting with the platform default.
Femi almost 13 years

You should be able to just override the android:clickable attribute. See my edit.
Admin almost 13 years

Finding the default image is not my concern - users having a different one for their system theme is.
Admin almost 13 years

That works. Thanks. You just saved me from doubling the lines in this trivial activity.
Karan Harsh Wardhan about 5 years

nice this lets me simply convert a textview to a button without having to do any other xml/programming changes
Partha Paul over 2 years

How to give borderRadius to it??