FontPreference dialog for Android

Using the FontManager class it is possible to implement a simple and nice font selection dialog on Android platform. This is also one of the very few ListView implementation which implements the custom ListView by properly subclassing the DialogPreference the same way ListPreference does. It may also be interesting for anyone who is looking for a way to draw the custom items in the ListPreference style.

     

Anyway, here it is. Apache license.

/*
 * Copyright (C) 2011-2012 George Yunaev
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 */

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;

import android.app.AlertDialog.Builder;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.DialogInterface;
import android.content.SharedPreferences.Editor;
import android.graphics.Typeface;
import android.preference.DialogPreference;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.CheckedTextView;

public class FontPreference extends DialogPreference implements DialogInterface.OnClickListener
{
	// Keeps the font file paths and names in separate arrays
	private List< String >	m_fontPaths;
	private List< String >	m_fontNames;

	// Font adaptor responsible for redrawing the item TextView with the appropriate font.
	// We use BaseAdapter since we need both arrays, and the effort is quite small.
	public class FontAdapter extends BaseAdapter
	{
		@Override
		public int getCount()
		{
			return m_fontNames.size();
		}

		@Override
		public Object getItem(int position)
		{
			return m_fontNames.get( position );
		}

		@Override
		public long getItemId(int position)
		{
			// We use the position as ID
			return position;
		}

		@Override
		public View getView( int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent )
		{
            View view = convertView;

            // This function may be called in two cases: a new view needs to be created,
            // or an existing view needs to be reused
            if ( view == null )
            {
            	// Since we're using the system list for the layout, use the system inflater
            	final LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater)
                            getContext().getSystemService( Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE );

            	// And inflate the view android.R.layout.select_dialog_singlechoice
            	// Why? See com.android.internal.app.AlertController method createListView()
            	view = inflater.inflate( android.R.layout.select_dialog_singlechoice, parent, false);
            }

            if ( view != null )
            {
            	// Find the text view from our interface
            	CheckedTextView tv = (CheckedTextView) view.findViewById( android.R.id.text1 );

            	// Replace the string with the current font name using our typeface
            	Typeface tface = Typeface.createFromFile( m_fontPaths.get( position ) );
            	tv.setTypeface( tface );

            	// If you want to make the selected item having different foreground or background color,
            	// be aware of themes. In some of them your foreground color may be the background color.
            	// So we don't mess with anything here and just add the extra stars to have the selected
            	// font to stand out.
            	tv.setText( m_fontNames.get( position ) );
            }

            return view;
		}
	}

	public FontPreference( Context context, AttributeSet attrs )
	{
		super(context, attrs);
	}

	@Override
	protected void onPrepareDialogBuilder( Builder builder )
	{
        super.onPrepareDialogBuilder(builder);

		// Get the fonts on the device
		HashMap< String, String > fonts = FontManager.enumerateFonts();
		m_fontPaths = new ArrayList< String >();
		m_fontNames = new ArrayList< String >();

		// Get the current value to find the checked item
		String selectedFontPath = getSharedPreferences().getString( getKey(), "");
		int idx = 0, checked_item = 0;

		for ( String path : fonts.keySet() )
		{
			if ( path.equals( selectedFontPath ) )
				checked_item = idx;

			m_fontPaths.add( path );
			m_fontNames.add( fonts.get(path) );
			idx++;
		}

		// Create out adapter
		// If you're building for API 11 and up, you can pass builder.getContext
		// instead of current context
		FontAdapter adapter = new FontAdapter();

        builder.setSingleChoiceItems( adapter, checked_item, this );

        // The typical interaction for list-based dialogs is to have click-on-an-item dismiss the dialog
        builder.setPositiveButton(null, null);
	}

    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which)
    {
    	if ( which >=0 && which < m_fontPaths.size() )
    	{
    		String selectedFontPath = m_fontPaths.get( which );
    		Editor editor = getSharedPreferences().edit();
    		editor.putString( getKey(), selectedFontPath );
    		editor.commit();

    		dialog.dismiss();
    	}
    }
}
This entry was posted in android.

6 Responses to FontPreference dialog for Android

  1. Sumit says:

    Very nice tutorial..
    but i don’t know how to call this dialog preference from an activity?

  2. V Alexander says:

    This is ideal, but it would be really helpful to show how to make use of it from, say, the MainActivity view: how to call and then how to apply the selected font to a TextEdit, for example.

  3. Liviu says:

    You can implement it very easy.

  4. Ret says:

    How to use this in Layout and activity. Please provide an example

  5. Ghulam Murtaza says:

    This doesn’t work anymore

  6. Honey says:

    How do i call this on my button click in Activity??