Android Widget Toolkit

Android provides a toolbox for standard view to help you create a simple interface. By using these controls (modifications or extensions, if necessary), you can simplify your development and ensure consistency between applications.

 

The following lists some similar controls:

 

❑ Textview

Standard read-only text label. It supports multi-line display, string formatting, and automatic text wrapping.

 

❑ Edittext

Editable text input box. It supports multiline input and text line breaks.

 

❑ Listview

A viewgroup that creates and manages a group of display items in a list. The standard listview uses textview to display the values in each string array.

 

❑ Spinner

A combination control that displays a textview and an associated listview. It is used to select an item from a list and display the selection items in textview. It also has a button that displays a selection box when pressed.

 

Button

Standard button.

 

❑ Checkbox

The buttons in two states are checked or unchecked.

 

❑ Radiobutton

A button that combines two states. Only one option can be selected at a time in a bunch of options.

 

Here, only some widgets are selected. Android also supports more advanced view implementations, including the date-time selector, input boxes, maps, libraries, and tables. To learn more about the available widgets, connect:

 

Http://code.google.com/android/reference/view-gallery.html.

 

As an innovative programmer, it is only a matter of time that built-in controls cannot meet your needs. Later in this chapter, you will learn how to expand and combine existing controls and self-developed widgets to design and create new widgets.