So in an Activity I have a SurfaceView which I use as a drawing canvas, and 2 layouts to provide UI function. There is a LinearLayout holding buttons and a RelativeLayout which I use later on (it is GONE from the start and called VISIBLE later).
Now the button row doesn't appear correctly on the screen. The buttons are all washed out, as if they are trapped behind the canvas. I have tried setting the alpha with:
button.getBackground().setAlpha(255);
I have tried making the SurfaceView transparent as in how to make surfaceview transparent but neither of these have worked.
Interestingly if I set the background of the buttons to #ff000000 (as can be seen in some of the buttons below, been testing a few ideas) then it appears completely black on top of the canvas, although obviously it has now lost its button shape which is not what I want!
Here's the layout:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="@+id/TopLevelView"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<!-- Drawing Surface -->
<stu.test.project.DrawingSurface
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:id="@+id/drawingSurface"/>
<!-- Button Row -->
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:id="@+id/ButtonRow">
<!-- START BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Start"
android:visibility="gone"
android:id="@+id/startDrawingButtonId"/>
<!-- FINISH BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Finish"
android:visibility="gone"
android:id="@+id/finishButtonId"/>
<!-- RESET BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#ff000000"
android:text="Restart"
android:visibility="gone"
android:id="@+id/resetButtonId"/>
<!-- HOME BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Home"
android:background="#ff000000"
android:visibility="gone"
android:id="@+id/homeButtonId"/>
<!-- RESTART BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Restart"
android:background="#ff000000"
android:visibility="gone"
android:id="@+id/restartButtonId"/>
<!-- SAVE BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Save"
android:background="#ff000000"
android:visibility="gone"
android:id="@+id/saveButtonId"/>
<!-- STATS BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Stats"
android:visibility="gone"
android:id="@+id/statsButtonId"/>
<!-- EMAIL BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Send email"
android:visibility="gone"
android:background="#ff000000"
android:id="@+id/emailButtonId"/>
<!-- LOAD BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Load another record"
android:visibility="gone"
android:background="#ff000000"
android:id="@+id/loadButtonId"/>
<!-- MARKS BUTTON -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Add marks"
android:visibility="gone"
android:id="@+id/marksButtonId"/>
</LinearLayout>
<!-- Here is the Marking Scheme Layout -->
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:visibility="gone"
android:background="@drawable/marks_background"
android:id="@+id/marksRelativeLayout">
<!-- Element Title -->
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:id="@+id/markTitle"
android:padding="10dp"/>
<!-- Instructions -->
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Enter the score"
android:id="@+id/markDescription"
android:padding="10dp"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_below="@id/markTitle"/>
<!-- Previous Button -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Previous"
android:id="@+id/previousMarkButton"
android:layout_below="@id/markDescription"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"/>
<!-- Marking Scheme -->
<RadioGroup
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="10dp"
android:layout_below="@id/markDescription"
android:layout_toRightOf="@id/previousMarkButton"
android:id="@+id/marksRadioGroup">
<RadioButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="0"
android:id="@+id/radioButton0"/>
<RadioButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="1"
android:id="@+id/radioButton1"/>
<RadioButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="2"
android:id="@+id/radioButton2"/>
</RadioGroup>
<!-- Next Button -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Next"
android:id="@+id/nextMarkButton"
android:layout_below="@id/markDescription"
android:layout_marginRight="10dp"
android:layout_toRightOf="@id/marksRadioGroup"/>
<!-- Done Button -->
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Done"
android:id="@+id/doneMarkButton"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginBottom="10dp"
android:layout_below="@id/marksRadioGroup"/>
</RelativeLayout>
</FrameLayout>
Here's an image:
