SurfaceHolder.setFormat(PixelFormat.RGBA_8888) fails on some devices and not others

Question

I have a game app with the following Views structure. First I have an empty FrameLayout like so:

FrameLayout game_frame_layout = new FrameLayout(getApplicationContext());

Then I add two views to it like so:

game_frame_layout.addView(customView);
game_frame_layout.addView(butView);

The customView is for displaying all sorts of moving game graphics while the butView displays some ImageButtons on top of the moving grapics. The customView is an instance of a class CustomView which extends SurfaceView.

CustomView includes the following code

    void updateView() 
    {
        final SurfaceHolder holder = getHolder();
        holder.setFormat(PixelFormat.RGBA_8888);

        try 
        {
                Canvas canvas = holder.lockCanvas();
                if (canvas != null) 
                {
                    onDraw(canvas);

                    holder.unlockCanvasAndPost(canvas);
                }
        } 
        catch (Exception e) 
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

The line holder.setFormat(PixelFormat.RGBA_8888); is a recent addition (see here). Without that line, my animated graphics appear to be in a format with too few colours (by experiment I deduced it was "RGB_565"), so I get some banding artifacts. When I added the setFormat line, the graphics appear perfectly (without banding) on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Android 3.1)... but on three other devices: a Samsung GT-l9100 (4.1.2), a Nexus 7 ME370T 4.4.2 and a HTC One X 4.2.2 I only see the buttons corresponding to butView against an entirely black background. There is no indication in the logs that the program has crashed.

Any ideas?

Do you need transparency for that surface or could you also give `PixelFormat.RGB_888` a shot? — tiguchi, Jan 22 '14 at 00:46
Are your buttons still moving on your "black" moving graphics? — Sherif elKhatib, Jan 29 '14 at 23:00

Pasquale Anatriello · Answer 1 · 2014-01-15T14:55:14.050

2

Probably not all android devices support a 32/24 bit pixel format so that's why 565 is always working while 888 might fail. You might try to understand if it's a problem with the hardware acceleration trying to disable it

edited Jan 15 '14 at 14:55

answered Jan 15 '14 at 14:48

Pasquale Anatriello

2,355
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I can confirm that disabling hardware acceleration did not fix the problem. – Mick Jan 16 '14 at 18:09
Seems strange that its the newer devices that are failing. – Mick Jan 22 '14 at 13:26

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 22 '14 at 09:32

2

What happens when you change the order you add them to the game_frame_layout? First the butView and then the customView:

game_frame_layout.addView(butView);
game_frame_layout.addView(customView);

I assume the butView won't be visible, but i'm curious whether the customView renders its content properly.

answered Jan 22 '14 at 09:32

Delblanco

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Black screen - no buttons. – Mick Jan 22 '14 at 13:15
Did you find any changes in the surfaceview/holder or view drawing mechanism between Honeycomb and JellyBean release? seems strange that your jellybean devices fail to display. – Delblanco Jan 22 '14 at 13:34

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 24 '14 at 03:48

1

Your application doesn't seems to be working post ICS. ICS saw major revisions in the graphics department, the most significant being introduction of TextureView which is designed to address the shortcomings of SurfaceView. Try extending TextureView instead of SurfaceView for your CustomView class. For more info visit Android 4.0 Graphics and Animation

answered Jan 24 '14 at 03:48

Shakti

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I know its not an ideal solution because it will not work for lower API levels but with decreasing share of Pre-ICS devices, this might be your best bet. – Shakti Jan 24 '14 at 03:50

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 22 '14 at 07:53

0

I'm curious if you set butView's background to transparent.

butView.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);

answered Jan 22 '14 at 07:53

Zhenghong Wang

2,117
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No change - still all black behind buttons. – Mick Jan 22 '14 at 13:12

SurfaceHolder.setFormat(PixelFormat.RGBA_8888) fails on some devices and not others

4 Answers4