How to have a transparent ImageButton: Android

Question

<ImageButton android:id="@+id/previous"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="@drawable/media_skip_backward"
android:background="@drawable/transparent"></ImageButton>

This is what I tried to get a transparent ImageButton so as to place those buttons on a SurfaceView. But Eclipse, gives me an error in the project as soon as I include the transparent line in xml.

Please help.

just a side note: instead of your own transparent image, you could generally also just use @android:color/transparent - no need for your own custom transparent image — Mathias Conradt, Aug 04 '10 at 05:42
Please note that by giving the image button a transparent background, you're removing a visual feedback for button clicked (and probably disabled) state. This results in a slight decrease of usability. — szeryf, Jan 04 '13 at 18:19
In order to be sure that the ImageButton actually gets placed upon the SurfaceView it is also useful to call previousButton.bringToFront(), otherwise it may still be hidden behind the SurfaceView — Jay Snayder, Oct 03 '13 at 13:36
The Android API provides the correct attribute to create a transparent background without losing the visual feedback for button clicked or for the other states! Read my answer below! — lory105, Nov 21 '13 at 18:47

score 1064 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 04 '10 at 05:17

1064

Try using null for the background ...

android:background="@null"

answered Aug 04 '10 at 05:17

Quintin Robinson

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Thank you. This works. Only the image is seen and not the box around it. But can I lay this button over the SurfacaView ie over the video preview? Is this possible? How do I do it? – Namratha Aug 04 '10 at 05:43
1

@Namratha The `SurfaceView` should allow you to blace your buttons over a surface but note: "This can be used to place overlays such as buttons on top of the Surface, though note however that it can have an impact on performance since a full alpha-blended composite will be performed each time the Surface changes." from http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/SurfaceView.html – Quintin Robinson Aug 04 '10 at 06:02
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It's not correct to use a null background!! The Android API provides the correct attribute to create a transparent background without losing the visual feedback for button clicked or for the other states! Read my answer below! – lory105 Nov 21 '13 at 18:48
1

Setting the button background to null is not good idea, as mentioned above and below. Answers with using appropriate attributes is a lot better, or create correct selector with transparent for non-clicked and appropriate feedback when clicked. – Damian Walczak Nov 17 '14 at 14:45
That gave me an error.. But this worked for me android:background="@android:color/transparent" – Juan Mendez Oct 23 '17 at 02:59

lory105 · Answer 2 · 2013-11-21T18:38:14.990

367

DON'T USE A TRANSAPENT OR NULL LAYOUT because then the button (or the generic view) will no more highlight at click!!!

I had the same problem and finally I found the correct attribute from Android API to solve the problem. It can apply to any view.

Use this in the button specifications:

android:background="?android:selectableItemBackground"

edited Nov 21 '13 at 18:38

answered Aug 30 '13 at 15:55

lory105

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This requires API 11 - you eliminate 24% of the phones in the wild (as of Jan 2014) – Shaun Neal Jan 01 '14 at 22:54
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It seems that using the Support library, the API>=11 requirement might be overcome http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19714682/android-apply-selectableitembackground-in-xml-with-support-v7 – Someone Somewhere Jan 03 '14 at 22:57
33

For a round ripple effect, use `android:background="?android:selectableItemBackgroundBorderless"` – Mateus Gondim Aug 02 '17 at 15:27
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Luckily as of 2019, this eliminates roughly 0% of the phones in the wild. – WSBT Oct 18 '19 at 06:08
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This is better than the top Answer of Quentin? – luke cross Jun 16 '20 at 10:46
Is there a straightforward way to do this programatically? – Stefan Haustein Nov 21 '20 at 19:43

score 143 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 09 '11 at 04:04

143

You can also use a transparent color:

android:background="@android:color/transparent"

answered Jul 09 '11 at 04:04

Geykel

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@Geykel, @Adam, you should be aware that this attribute is quite dangerous when used unconditionally since it will add another transparent layer that will get drawn to the screen and might result in overdrawn pixels and slow your application. In order to test it, you can use the `Developer option: Show GPU overdraw` and see the difference between setting a background to `@null` and `@android:color/transparent`. – amirlazarovich Mar 06 '13 at 09:30
This is the best and most effective answer. :) – Juan Mendez Oct 23 '17 at 03:00

leoly · Answer 4 · 2013-07-23T13:36:37.180

119

Setting the background to "@null" will make the button have no effect when clicked. This will be a better choice.

style="?android:attr/borderlessButtonStyle"

Later I found that using

android:background="?android:attr/selectableItemBackground"

is also a good solution. And you can inherit this attribute in your own style.

edited Jul 23 '13 at 13:36

answered Apr 19 '13 at 03:59

leoly

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didnt work for me and the second one made the app to crash. Perhaps i did smth wrong but i dont know what. – Yannis Dran Jul 12 '13 at 16:02
5

Requires API level 11. [Source](http://developer.android.com/reference/android/R.attr.html#selectableItemBackground) – Jason Robinson Sep 20 '13 at 20:57
2

This is the correct answer. Also using AppCompact, with this answer the ripple effect works perfectly and on api 19 the normal pressed effect works out of the box. android:background="?android:attr/selectableItemBackground" Brilliant! – Raffaeu Mar 28 '15 at 17:34
This solution of `selectableItemBackground` has an added benefit of making the button change states when clicked. The other solutions make the button appear not clickable. – IgorGanapolsky Jun 15 '15 at 17:29

score 14 · Answer 5 · edited Sep 05 '12 at 11:55

14

in run time, you can use following code

btn.setBackgroundDrawable(null);

edited Sep 05 '12 at 11:55

Ronak Mehta

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answered Jan 18 '12 at 10:00

Adem

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btn.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT); Works on all API levels – AlBeebe Apr 03 '13 at 16:37
setBackgroundDrawable is deprecated use setbackGroundColor as suggested above by AlBeebe – bhaskarc Dec 24 '13 at 06:10
this method is now deprecated – Ray Kiddy Jul 06 '15 at 18:49

score 11 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 28 '16 at 23:46

11

I believe the accepted answer should be: android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackground"

This is the same as @lory105's answer but it uses the support library for maximum compatibility (the android: equivalent is only available for API >= 11)

answered Jan 28 '16 at 23:46

Sam Stern

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nhcodes · Answer 7 · 2020-06-20T00:48:34.100

10

Don't use null or transparent if you need a click animation. Better:

//Rectangular click animation
android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackground"

//Rounded click animation
android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackgroundBorderless"

edited Jun 20 '20 at 00:48

answered Jun 20 '20 at 00:42

nhcodes

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Nishant Shah · Answer 8 · 2010-08-04T05:30:53.293

8

Remove this line :

android:background="@drawable/transparent">

And in your activity class set

ImageButton btn = (ImageButton)findViewById(R.id.previous);
btn.setAlpha(100);

You can set alpha level 0 to 255

o means transparent and 255 means opaque.

edited Aug 04 '10 at 05:30

answered Aug 04 '10 at 05:25

Nishant Shah

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But does this enable the button to lie on top of the SurfaceView? – Namratha Aug 04 '10 at 05:35
7

This answer is wrong and misleading as it makes the entire button semi-opaque. If wishing to do this from code then pass null to the setBackground method. setAlpha is not what you need. – Quintin Willison Aug 03 '11 at 12:29
It makes the whole view transparent. – Raj Sep 09 '11 at 13:36

Ajay Venugopal · Answer 9 · 2015-01-29T08:07:06.847

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The best way is using the transparent color code

android:background="#00000000"

use the color code #00000000 for making any thing transparent

edited Jan 29 '15 at 08:07

answered Oct 11 '14 at 11:26

Ajay Venugopal

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`@android:color/transparent` without hard-coded values. – Fred Sep 28 '15 at 09:03
1

No, referenced values should be preferred...but IMO, @Fred, even putting an `@android:` reference directly in layout is considered an hardcoded value since if you want to change it you still have to surf in the layout to find it. I would declare something like this `@android:color/transparent` and use my own value in layout so I can easily find it in my ***resources.xml*** file and change it without having to search it in layout – Cliff Burton Nov 11 '16 at 10:50

score 2 · Answer 10 · edited Oct 19 '16 at 08:31

2

Use this:

<ImageButton
 android:id="@+id/back"
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:background="@null"
 android:padding="10dp"
 android:src="@drawable/backbtn" />

edited Oct 19 '16 at 08:31

Pang

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answered Feb 04 '15 at 09:20

Akshay Paliwal

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score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Oct 01 '19 at 06:27

2

I was already adding something to the background so , This thing worked for me:

   android:backgroundTint="@android:color/transparent"

(Android Studio 3.4.1)

EDIT: only works on android api level 21 and above. for compatibility, use this instead

   android:background="@android:color/transparent"

edited Oct 01 '19 at 06:27

Dika

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answered Jun 15 '19 at 16:46

Arsam

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score 2 · Answer 12 · answered Jul 04 '21 at 03:31

You can use the following code works just fine by setting the background to transparent:

<ImageButton 
android:id="@+id/previous"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="@drawable/media_skip_backward"
android:background="transparent"></ImageButton>

score 2 · Answer 13 · edited May 01 '18 at 08:24

2

Use ImageView... it have transparent background by default...

edited May 01 '18 at 08:24

AskNilesh

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answered Feb 23 '12 at 13:31

Daniel Gomez Rico

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You can use an ImageView as a button. In your java code you just say ImageView previous = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.previous); and then previous.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener{public void onClick(/*this happens when you touch the ImageView*/)}); Voila! – marienke Jun 27 '13 at 09:27

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Feb 14 '17 at 09:55

1

Set the background of the ImageButton as @null in XML

<ImageButton android:id="@+id/previous"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="@drawable/media_skip_backward"
android:background="@null"></ImageButton>

answered Feb 14 '17 at 09:55

Murtuza Ali Khan Mohammed

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score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Apr 11 '17 at 12:32

Use "@null" . It worked for me.

<ImageButton
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    app:srcCompat="@drawable/bkash"
    android:id="@+id/bid1"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
    android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
    android:background="@null" />

score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Mar 05 '19 at 14:12

1

It's android:background="@android:color/transparent"

<ImageButton
    android:id="@+id/imageButton"
    android:src="@android:drawable/ic_menu_delete"
    android:background="@android:color/transparent"
/>

answered Mar 05 '19 at 14:12

Nikolay Podolnyy

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Lai Lee · Answer 17 · 2021-11-28T02:56:06.793

1

It works and also keeps visual feedback for button clicked,

android:backgroundTintMode="screen"

edited Nov 28 '21 at 02:56

answered Nov 28 '21 at 02:48

Lai Lee

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score 1 · Answer 18 · edited Feb 27 '23 at 14:10

1

you can either use: android:background="#00000000" or android:backgroundTint="#00000000"

edited Feb 27 '23 at 14:10

JustSightseeing

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answered Feb 21 '23 at 09:35

Tejas Vijay Tidake

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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Feb 25 '23 at 16:20

Muhammed Refaat · Answer 19 · 2015-11-22T08:09:53.073

0

Programmatically it can be done by :

image_button.setAlpha(0f) // to make it full transparent
image_button.setAlpha(0.5f) // to make it half transparent
image_button.setAlpha(0.6f) // to make it (40%) transparent
image_button.setAlpha(1f) // to make it opaque

edited Nov 22 '15 at 08:09

answered Aug 05 '14 at 09:32

Muhammed Refaat

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I'm not the downvoter, but this appears to make the entire image transparent, not just the background. – Trevor May 04 '16 at 22:49
@threed I know, and that's exactly the OP asking in his ques, "a transparent ImageButton". – Muhammed Refaat May 05 '16 at 08:11
1

You're absolutely right, the OP asked for a transparent button. But his example suggests that he might have meant to ask for a button with a transparent background (e.g. `android:background="@drawable/transparent"`). Either way, I'm just suggesting a possible reason for the downvote; I'm not saying it's justified. – Trevor May 05 '16 at 19:44
1

@threed well, may be that was the reason for it, thank you any way. – Muhammed Refaat May 06 '16 at 02:01

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Feb 20 '15 at 20:58

0

This is programatically set background color as transparent

 ImageButton btn=(ImageButton)findViewById(R.id.ImageButton01);
 btn.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);

answered Feb 20 '15 at 20:58

Zar E Ahmer

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score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Apr 28 '22 at 11:00

0

If you want to do it in a .xml use the below code:

android:background="@null"

And, here is an example of doing it programmatically

yourButton.setBackgroundResource(0);

answered Apr 28 '22 at 11:00

Fakhriddin Abdullaev

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score 0 · Answer 22 · answered Dec 12 '22 at 22:22

0

Dont forget to add padding, it helps to show button effect. Add padding to adjust with this background.

android:background="?android:selectableItemBackground"
android:padding="5dp"

answered Dec 12 '22 at 22:22

Mahbubur Rahman Khan

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score -2 · Answer 23 · edited Nov 07 '12 at 17:27

-2

<ImageButton
    android:id="@+id/previous"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@drawable/media_skip_backward">
</ImageButton>

I used a transparent png for the ImageButton, and the ImageButton worked.

edited Nov 07 '12 at 17:27

Dave Clemmer

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answered Nov 05 '11 at 07:54

Kiyoshi

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This is not a good solution.. use the right attribute provided by the Android API! Read my answare. – lory105 Nov 21 '13 at 18:41
This will result in another layer, adding to overdraw. – tir38 Nov 12 '15 at 22:25

How to have a transparent ImageButton: Android

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