Android:How to programmatically set an Activity's theme to Theme.Dialog

Question

So I have an Activity (say TestActivity) which needs to act as a normal unthemed Activity as well as a Theme.Dialog at other place. I am trying to reuse same TestActivity for both the tasks.

All I am looking for setting the theme dynamically. The code is simple: Here is my activity's onCreate that works with a black background

public void onCreate(Bundle icicle) {
    if (Utility.isDialog == true)
        setTheme(android.R.style.Theme_Dialog);
    super.onCreate(icicle);
    requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
.....

and here is the Manifest Entry

<activity android:name=".TestActivity"/>

And in the meantime I found a post that says it can't be done here is the post http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4394 .But there is a strong feeling that it can be done.

All suggestions are welcome.

Should I accept that there is **no solution** to this question as this [post](http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4394) says? — 100rabh, Mar 16 '11 at 10:27

score 55 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 22 '17 at 15:51

Would like to give a work around for this problem.

Problem : How to use the same activity as both dialog and full screen based.

Solution :

Define your activity in your AndroidManifest.xml with the theme @android:style/Theme.Dialog
In your respective .Java file, check for an intent extra that defines dialog mode.
If it does not exist, set the Theme to android.R.style.Theme. This is the default theme which is applied if you do not define any theme.

Code :

boolean fDialogMode = getIntent().hasExtra("dialog_mode");

if( ! fDialogMode ) {
    super.setTheme(android.R.style.Theme);
}

Alternate Solution:

A more complex solution is to use AlertDialog as below:

Define a ListAdapter class extended from ArrayAdapter.

return 1 in getCount function

@Override
public int getCount() { return 1; }

In the getView function, inflate the layout of the activity you need and do any customization before returning the view.

@Override
public View getView( int position, View view, ViewGroup group ) {
    View v = view;
    if( v == null ) {
        v = getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE).inflate( <layout res id>, null );
    }

... Do any customization here    ....

      return v;
}

This is definitely a second choice option by if you are not doing too much processing in the activity class this could be an option.

Only reason to consider this solution could be that the logic to show it in a dialog is isolated to the places where it is used as a dialog.

Both the options worked for me but for obvious reasons I am taking the first option. :-)

Great explanation, thanks! If someone don't get it at the first time (like me :D) - read @mozarty solution first to understand where exactly you should put this code. — Dmitry Zaytsev, Aug 07 '12 at 06:30

Ahmed Salem · Answer 2 · 2011-10-13T10:23:41.023

45

you can use setTheme(..) before calling setContentView(...)and super.oncreate() and it should work fine

edited Oct 13 '11 at 10:23

answered Oct 13 '11 at 10:17

Ahmed Salem

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you are not calling setContentView , and i know that it can be done because i did it in my activity – Ahmed Salem Oct 17 '11 at 07:26
4

Moving the call to setTheme before the super.onCreate made it work for me, thank you! – Bradley Uffner Nov 04 '11 at 18:14
Just a FYI: This does work, but it creates an enormous lag in creating a new activity for some reason (on Kindle Fire) and it makes my app crash unexpectedly on the Nook Color. – Joris Weimar Mar 08 '12 at 23:22
i never tried it on Kindle before , thx for the info , will have to test it when i get one – Ahmed Salem Mar 09 '12 at 20:13
This solution doesn't work for all devices. Consider the Motorola Xoom, the result is a dialog on top of a black background rather than a transparent one. – Cookster Jun 18 '12 at 16:40
@user933237 that is interesting , i also found out that what you described happens on ACER iconia tablet – Ahmed Salem Jun 21 '12 at 09:33

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 25 '14 at 20:08

11

Like several others, calls to setTheme in onCreate (before or after my call to super.onCreate) did not work. However, by overriding setTheme, I was able to specify a theme other than that stated in Manifest.xml. Specifically, the following worked without issue:

@Override
public void setTheme(int resid) {
    boolean changeTheme = true;
    super.setTheme(changeTheme ? android.R.style.Theme_Dialog : resid);
}

I found the above in the discussion at: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4394

answered Apr 25 '14 at 20:08

user3570982

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1

However, with Android invoking setTheme() before the onCreate() call, one can't use the data normally sent to an activity to decide whether to change the theme. Some additional hack is needed to make that decision. – Steve B Mar 04 '15 at 21:52

score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 11 '11 at 10:48

10

Call Activity.setTheme() in onCreate() before you call setContentView().

answered Feb 11 '11 at 10:48

Reuben Scratton

38,595
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2

Reuben though it works (& I have tried that earlier too)but I see Black Background instead of the calling Activity – 100rabh Feb 11 '11 at 11:19
Then your theme properties are incorrect. What is your android:windowBackground set to? – Reuben Scratton Feb 11 '11 at 11:37
Reuben I have not defined a custom style.But I will now implement a custom style with windowBackground to color/transparent – 100rabh Feb 14 '11 at 07:18
Reuben even the custom style didn't worked.For your answer to windowBackgound see this post http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2176922/how-to-create-transparent-activity-in-android/2700683#2700683 – 100rabh Feb 14 '11 at 09:44
1

see the updated post with the code.Do let me know for more details. – 100rabh Feb 14 '11 at 13:11
is it possible to call the setTheme after setContentView, if i call setContentView again (this time after setTheme) ? example of a scenario: user sees the activity, press a button, and it changes the theme by calling setTheme and then setContentView. – android developer Aug 02 '13 at 23:50

score 3 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 23 '17 at 07:30

3

use setTheme before calling super.onCreate(savedInstance)

edited Mar 23 '17 at 07:30

Kapil Rajput

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answered Mar 20 '13 at 08:53

Mohammad Abu Hmead

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 15 '14 at 22:38

This may not be applicable in your situation, but you can use the theme:

Theme.Holo.DialogWhenLarge

and it will display your activity as a dialog when the screen is large, and as a regular activity when the screen is small. This is covered in the Android documentation on Dialogs and also contains information on programming a Dialog which can also sun as a full screen fragment.

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 16 '19 at 13:47

0

Default theme library call:

super.setTheme(android.R.style.Theme);

In my case I was using AppCompat Theme, so make sure that on your id you refer the proper library (i.e.):

super.setTheme(android.support.v7.appcompat.R.style.Theme_AppCompat_NoActionBar);

edited Jun 16 '19 at 13:47

Zoe

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answered Nov 19 '17 at 02:16

Victor Oliveira

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score -1 · Answer 8 · edited Jun 16 '19 at 13:47

-1

setTheme(android.R.style.Theme_Dialog);

edited Jun 16 '19 at 13:47

Zoe

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answered Sep 04 '13 at 12:45

Dapper Dan

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please take some time to explain how this solves the problem so that other with similar problem can know the issue clearly. – Regolith Jun 17 '19 at 04:49

score -1 · Answer 9 · edited Oct 24 '15 at 16:37

I know that I am late but I would like to post a solution here:

Check the full source code here. This is the code I used when changing theme...

SharedPreferences pref = PreferenceManager
       .getDefaultSharedPreferences(this);
String themeName = pref.getString("prefSyncFrequency3", "Theme1");
if (themeName.equals("Africa")) {
    setTheme(R.style.AppTheme);
} else if (themeName.equals("Colorful Beach")) {
    //Toast.makeText(this, "set theme", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    setTheme(R.style.beach);
} else if (themeName.equals("Abstract")) {
    //Toast.makeText(this, "set theme", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    setTheme(R.style.abstract2);
} else if (themeName.equals("Default")) {
    setTheme(R.style.defaulttheme);
}

Android:How to programmatically set an Activity's theme to Theme.Dialog

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