Opacity on a background Drawable image in View (using XML Layout)

Question

I was just wondering if there was a way to change the opacity of the background image for a View (ie. TextView, etc.).

I know that I can set the background image like this:

android:background="@drawable/my_drawable_image"

Or I can set a specific background colour with an alpha setting like this:

android:background="#10f7f7f7"

Is there a way I can control the opacity (set the alpha) if I'm setting the background as a drawable image? And I want to do this in the XML Layout. I already know that I could grab the Drawable object and programmatically set the alpha, but I want to see if I can do it in the layout.

It can be done using drawable xml resource. Check out my answer http://stackoverflow.com/a/36467846/5460053 — Monish Kamble, Apr 07 '16 at 06:04

score 35 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 14 '11 at 08:51

35

I ended up just going with the programmatical solution, since it doesn't look like it can be done via the XML layouts.

Drawable rightArrow = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.green_arrow_right_small);

// setting the opacity (alpha)
rightArrow.setAlpha(10);

// setting the images on the ImageViews
rightImage.setImageDrawable(rightArrow);

answered Feb 14 '11 at 08:51

xil3

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@mohammadsadeghsaati `#setAlpha(int)` is available since API Level 1 on `Drawable`. – Aleks N. May 08 '15 at 07:50

score 16 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

16

This might make your Work simpler

View backgroundimage = findViewById(R.id.background);
Drawable background = backgroundimage.getBackground();
background.setAlpha(80);

Alpha Values 0-255, 0 means fully transparent, and 255 means fully opaque

from: This Answer

edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Community

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answered Nov 16 '12 at 17:44

Thamilan S

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score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 20 '15 at 07:57

9

You can also use XML to change the transparency:

android:alpha = "0.7"

The value of alpha ranges from 0 to 1

answered Sep 20 '15 at 07:57

Alireza

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this applies alpha to the view, not the background – andrei Jun 06 '17 at 09:35

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 19 '17 at 18:39

You can embed the image in xml, so you'll be able to see it in the Graphical Layout

<LinearLayout
        style="@style/LoginFormContainer"
        android:id="@+id/login_layout"
        android:orientation="vertical" 
        android:background="@drawable/signuphead">

And change the code like this to make it transparent:

Drawable loginActivityBackground = findViewById(R.id.login_layout).getBackground();
loginActivityBackground.setAlpha(127);

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 13 '12 at 18:39

2

The answer you gave didn't exactly answer the question you asked. Here's what I did.

    Drawable login_activity_top_background = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.login_activity_top_background);
    login_activity_top_background.setAlpha(127);
    LinearLayout login_activity_top = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.login_activity_top);
    login_activity_top.setBackgroundDrawable(login_activity_top_background);

answered Mar 13 '12 at 18:39

JohnnyLambada

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Well, my question was if it could be set within the XML Layout, rather than programmatically. – xil3 Mar 13 '12 at 19:25

Opacity on a background Drawable image in View (using XML Layout)

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