Android Tutorial

By : Ketan Bhimani

256 

Exploring Other View Containers

Many other user interface controls are available within the Android

SDK. Some of these controls are listed here:

 Switchers: A ViewSwitcher control contains only two child View objects

and only one of those is shown at a time. It switches between the two,

animating as it does so. Primarily, the ImageSwitcher, shown in Figure,

and TextSwitcher objects are used. Each one provides a way to set a new

child View, either a Drawable resource or a text string, and then animates

from what is displayed to the new contents.

ImageSwitcher while in the middle of switching between two
Drawable resources.

 SlidingDrawer: Another View container is the

SlidingDrawer control. This control includes two parts: a

handle and a container view. The user drags the

handle open and the internal contents are shown; then

the user can drag the handle shut and the content

disappears. The SlidingDrawer can be used

horizontally or vertically and is always used from within

a layout representing the larger screen. This makes the

SlidingDrawer especially useful for application

configurations such as game controls. A user can pull out the drawer,

pause the game, change some features, and then close the

SlidingDrawer to resume the game. Figure shows how the typical

SlidingDrawer looks when pulled open.