How to detect swipe event without finger lift

Question

I want to increment / decrement a number on continuous swipe up / swipe down events. I could implement simple swipe events using the GestureDetector and OnSwipeTouchListener.

However, this swipe event is sensed only when the finger is lifted after the swipe. So for incrementing the number to +5, I've to make 5 individual swipe up's on the screen.

I want to apply 'slider' like action such that the number gets changed while user is swiping up or down anywhere on the screen. (I don't want to use the 'Slider' widget).

Is this possible?

Any help would be really grateful. Thanks!

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 15 '13 at 12:15

Use the OnTouchListener:

private float baseX, baseY;

OnTouchListener listener = new OnTouchListener(){
    public boolean onTouch (View v, MotionEvent event)
    {
        switch(event.getAction())
        {
            case MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN:
                //TOUCH STARTED
                baseX = event.getX();
                baseY = event.getY();
                return true;
            case MotionEvent.ACTION_MOVE:
                //FINGER IS MOVING
                //Do your calculations here, using the x and y positions relative to the starting values you get in ACTION_DOWN
                return true;
            case MotionEvent.ACTION_CANCEL:
            case MotionEvent.ACTION_UP:
                //TOUCH COMPLETED
                return true;
        }
    }
}

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 29 '14 at 08:06

@1up, thanks a lot for the solution!

An enhancement I could add is even if the swipe direction is reversed without lifting the finger, it would work well.

Using the skeleton you gave, posting my code hoping it would help somebody in future...

public class OnSwipeListener implements OnTouchListener
{
    @Override
    public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event) 
    {
    boolean result = false;

    float currentX      = 0.0f;
    float currentY      = 0.0f;

    float current_diffX = 0.0f;
    float current_diffY = 0.0f;

    switch(event.getAction())
    {
        case MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN:
            //Touch detected, record base X-Y coordinates
            baseX = event.getX();
            baseY = event.getY();

            //As the event is consumed, return true
            result = true;  
            break;

        case MotionEvent.ACTION_MOVE:
            //Swipe started, get current X-Y coordinates and compute those with the base ones
            currentX = event.getX();
            currentY = event.getY();

            current_diffX = currentX - baseX;
            current_diffY = currentY - baseY;

            //...................................................Determine horizontal swipe direction
            if(h_swipe == LEFT_SWIPE)
            {
                if( currentX > previousX )
                {
                    //If here, then horizontal swipe has been reversed
                    h_swipe = RIGHT_SWIPE;

                    //Overwrite base coordinate
                    baseX = previousX;

                    //Recalculate Difference
                    current_diffX = currentX - baseX;
                }
                else
                {
                    //NOP - Intentionally kept empty
                }
            }
            else if(h_swipe == RIGHT_SWIPE)
            {
                if( currentX < previousX )
                {
                    //If here, then horizontal swipe has been reversed
                    h_swipe = LEFT_SWIPE;

                    //Overwrite base coordinate
                    baseX = previousX;

                    //Recalculate Difference
                    current_diffX = currentX - baseX;
                }
                else
                {
                    //NOP - Intentionally kept empty
                }                   
            }
            else
            {
                //If here, then it's a fresh swipe event, so compare with base coordinates
                if( currentX < baseX )
                {
                    h_swipe = LEFT_SWIPE;
                }
                else if( currentX > baseX )
                {
                    h_swipe = RIGHT_SWIPE;
                }
                else
                {
                    //NOP - Intentionally kept empty
                }
            }

            //...................................................Determine vertical swipe direction 
            if(v_swipe == UP_SWIPE)
            {
                if(currentY > previousY)
                {
                    //If here, then vertical swipe has been reversed
                    v_swipe = DOWN_SWIPE;

                    //Overwrite base coordinate
                    baseY = previousY;

                    //Recalculate coordinate difference
                    current_diffY = currentY - baseY;
                }
                else
                {
                    //NOP - Intentionally kept empty
                }
            }
            else if(v_swipe == DOWN_SWIPE)
            {
                if(currentY < previousY)
                {
                    //If here, then vertical swipe has been reversed
                    v_swipe = UP_SWIPE;

                    //Overwrite base coordinate
                    baseY = previousY;

                    //Recalculate coordinate difference
                    current_diffY = currentY - baseY;
                }
                else
                {
                    //NOP - Intentionally kept empty
                }
            }
            else
            {
                //If here, then it's a fresh swipe event, so compare with base coordinates
                if( currentY < baseY )
                {
                    v_swipe = UP_SWIPE;
                }
                else if( currentY > baseY )
                {
                    v_swipe = DOWN_SWIPE;
                }
                else
                {
                    //NOP - Intentionally kept empty
                }
            }

            //Record current coordinates for future comparisons
            previousX = currentX;
            previousY = currentY;

            //................................Determine the prominent swipe (horizontal/vertical)
            if(Math.abs(current_diffX) > Math.abs(current_diffY))
            {
                //It's a horizontal swipe
                if (Math.abs(current_diffX) > SWIPE_THRESHOLD) 
                {
                    if (current_diffX > 0) 
                    {
                        onRightSwipe();
                    } 
                    else 
                    {
                        onLeftSwipe();
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    //Not enough swipe movement, ignore.
                    //NOP - Intentionally kept empty
                }
            }
            else
            {
                //It's a vertical swipe
                if (Math.abs(current_diffY) > SWIPE_THRESHOLD) 
                {
                    if (current_diffY > 0) 
                    {
                        onDownSwipe();
                    } 
                    else 
                    {
                        onUpSwipe();
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    //Not enough swipe movement, ignore.
                    //NOP - Intentionally kept empty
                }                   
            }

            //As the event is consumed, return true
            result = true;
            break;

        case MotionEvent.ACTION_UP:
            //Swipe ended, clear variables, if necessary
            h_swipe = NO_H_SWIPE;
            v_swipe = NO_V_SWIPE;

            baseX = 0.0f;
            baseY = 0.0f;

            previousX = 0.0f;
            previousY = 0.0f;

            //As the event is consumed, return true
            result = true;              
            break;

        default:

            //Do not consume event
            result = false;
            break;
    }

    return result;
}


public void onUpSwipe()
{

}

public void onDownSwipe()
{

}

public void onRightSwipe()
{

}

public void onLeftSwipe()
{

}
}

A lot of symbols are unresolved in this implementation. No idea most of them that what they are! — sud007, Sep 21 '15 at 13:37

sud007 · Answer 3 · 2015-09-21T19:20:42.270

So i wrote my own version of direction listener.

NOTE : IT TELLS YOU ABOUT THE DIRECTION OF SWIPE ON A CONTINUOUS TOUCH SESSION!

import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.view.View;

public class SwipeDirectionListener implements View.OnTouchListener {

float deltaX ;
float deltaY ;
float maxValX;
float maxValY;
float firstTouchX;
float firstTouchY;
float currentX ;
float currentY ;
float SWIPE_THRESHOLD = 10.0f;

@Override
public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event) {
    boolean result ;

    switch (event.getAction()) {
        case MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN:
            //Register the first touch on TouchDown and this should not change unless finger goes up.
            firstTouchX = event.getX();
            firstTouchY = event.getY();
            maxValX = 0.0f;
            maxValY = 0.0f;
            //As the event is consumed, return true
            result = true;
            break;

        case MotionEvent.ACTION_MOVE:
            //CurrentX/Y are the continues changing values of one single touch session. Change
            //when finger slides on view
            currentX = event.getX();
            currentY = event.getY();
           //setting the maximum value of X or Y so far. Any deviation in this means a  change of direction so reset the firstTouch value to last known max value i.e MaxVal X/Y.
            if(maxValX <currentX){
                maxValX = currentX;
            }else{
                firstTouchX= maxValX;
                maxValX =0.0f;
            }

            if(maxValY <currentY){
                maxValY = currentY;
            }else{
                firstTouchY= maxValY;
                maxValY =0.0f;
            }
            //DeltaX/Y are the difference between current touch and the value when finger first touched screen.
            //If its negative that means current value is on left side of first touchdown value i.e Going left and
            //vice versa.
            deltaX = currentX - firstTouchX;
            deltaY = currentY - firstTouchY;

            if (Math.abs(deltaX) > Math.abs(deltaY)) {
                //Horizontal swipe
                if (Math.abs(deltaX) > SWIPE_THRESHOLD) {
                    if (deltaX > 0) {
                        //means we are going right
                        onRightSwipe(currentX);
                    } else {
                        //means we are going left
                        onLeftSwipe(currentX);
                    }
                } 
            } else {
                //It's a vertical swipe
                if (Math.abs(deltaY) > SWIPE_THRESHOLD) {
                    if (deltaY > 0) {
                        //means we are going down
                        onDownSwipe(currentY);
                    } else {
                        //means we are going up
                        onUpSwipe(currentY);
                    }
                } 
            }

            result = true;
            break;

        case MotionEvent.ACTION_UP:
            //Clean UP
            firstTouchX = 0.0f;
            firstTouchY = 0.0f;

            result = true;
            break;

        default:
            result = false;
            break;
    }

    return result;
}


public void onUpSwipe(float value) {

}

public void onDownSwipe(float value) {

}

public void onRightSwipe(float value) {

}

public void onLeftSwipe(float value) {

}
}

And that works like a charm!

Implementation:

yourView.setOnTouchListener(new SwipeDirectionListener() {
        public void onUpSwipe(float value) {

            mTextView.setText("onUpSwipe :"+value);
        }

        public void onDownSwipe(float value) {
            mTextView.setText("onDownSwipe :"+value);
        }

        public void onRightSwipe(float value) {
            mTextView.setText("onRightSwipe :"+value);
        }

        public void onLeftSwipe(float value) {
            mTextView.setText("onLeftSwipe :"+value);
        }
    });

I don't understand why is negative and why doesn't increase like the swipe down — dacastro4, Oct 09 '18 at 02:24
@dacastro4 you can read that in Official documentation. X and Y values are always relative on the screen. They may be negative. — sud007, Oct 09 '18 at 07:43

How to detect swipe event without finger lift

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