index.jd revision 369c1c1fa22802b6504c5cde533d797841700a66
1page.title=Graphics
2@jd:body
3
4<div id="qv-wrapper">
5  <div id="qv">
6  <h2>In this document</h2>
7  <ol>
8    <li><a href="#options">Consider your Options</a></li>
9    <li><a href="#draw-to-view">Simple Graphics Inside a View</a></li>
10    <li><a href="#draw-with-canvas">Draw with a Canvas</a>
11    <ol>
12      <li><a href="#on-view">On a View</a></li>
13      <li><a href="#on-surfaceview">On a SurfaceView</a></li>
14    </ol>
15    </li>
16  </ol>
17  </div>
18</div>
19<p>Android graphics are powered by a custom 2D graphics library and OpenGL ES 1.0
20for high performance 3D graphics. The most common 2D graphics APIs can be found in the 
21{@link android.graphics.drawable drawable package}. OpenGL APIs are available
22from the Khronos {@link javax.microedition.khronos.opengles OpenGL ES package},
23plus some Android {@link android.opengl OpenGL utilities}.</p>
24
25<p>When starting a project, it's important to consider exactly what your graphical demands will be. 
26Varying graphical tasks are best accomplished with varying techniques. For example, graphics and animations
27for a rather static application should be implemented much differently than graphics and animations
28for an interactive game or 3D rendering.</p>
29
30<p>Here, we'll discuss a few of the options you have for drawing graphics on Android, 
31and which tasks they're best suited for.</p>
32
33<p>If you're specifically looking for information on drawing 3D graphics, this page won't
34help a lot. However, the information below about how to <a href="#draw-with-canvas">Draw with a
35Canvas</a> (and the section on SurfaceView), 
36will give you a quick idea of how you should draw to the View hierarchy. For more information
37on Android's 3D graphic utilities (provided by the OpenGL ES API), 
38read <a href="opengl.html">3D with OpenGL</a> and refer to other OpenGL documentation.</p>
39
40
41<h2 id="options">Consider your Options</h2>
42
43<p>When drawing 2D graphics, you'll typically do so in one of two ways:</p>
44<ol type="a">
45  <li>Draw your graphics or animations into a View object from your layout. In this manner, 
46  the drawing (and any animation) of your graphics is handled by the system's 
47  normal View hierarchy drawing process &mdash; you simply define the graphics to go inside the View.</li>
48  <li>Draw your graphics directly to a Canvas. This way, you personally call the appropriate class's 
49  <code>draw()</code> method (passing it your Canvas), or one of the Canvas <code>draw...()</code> methods (like 
50  <code>{@link android.graphics.Canvas#drawPicture(Picture,Rect) drawPicture()}</code>). In doing so, you are also in
51  control of any animation.</li>
52</ol>
53
54<p>Option "a," drawing to a View, is your best choice when you want to draw simple graphics that do not
55need to change dynamically and are not part of a performance-intensive game. For example, you should
56draw your graphics into a View when you want to display a static graphic or predefined animation, within 
57an otherwise static application. Read <a href="#draw-to-view">Simple Graphics Inside a View</a>.</li>
58
59<p>Option "b," drawing to a Canvas, is better when your application needs to regularly re-draw itself.
60Basically, any video game should be drawing to the Canvas on its own. However, there's more than 
61one way to do this: </p>
62<ul>
63  <li>In the same thread as your UI Activity, wherein you create a custom View component in
64  your layout, call <code>{@link android.view.View#invalidate()}</code> and then handle the 
65  <code>{@link android.view.View#onDraw(Canvas) onDraw()}</code> callback..</li>
66  <li>Or, in a separate thread, wherein you manage a {@link android.view.SurfaceView} and 
67  perform draws to the Canvas as fast as your thread is capable 
68  (you do not need to request <code>invalidate()</code>).</li>
69</ul>
70<p>...Begin by reading <a href="#draw-with-canvas">Draw with a Canvas</a>.</p>
71
72<h2 id="draw-to-view">Simple Graphics Inside a View</h2>
73
74<p>If you'll be drawing some simple graphics (images, shapes, colors, pre-defined animations, etc.),
75then you should probably just draw to the background of a View or
76to the content of an {@link android.widget.ImageView} in your layout.
77In this case, you can skip the rest of this document and learn how to
78draw graphics and animations in the <a href="2d-graphics.html">2D Graphics</a> document.
79</p>
80
81
82<h2 id="draw-with-canvas">Draw with a Canvas</h2>
83
84<p>When you're writing an application in which you would like to perform specialized drawing
85and/or control the animation of graphics,
86you should do so by drawing through a {@link android.graphics.Canvas}. A Canvas works for you as
87a pretense, or interface, to the actual surface upon which your graphics will be drawn &mdash; it
88holds all of your "draw" calls. Via the Canvas, your drawing is actually performed upon an 
89underlying {@link android.graphics.Bitmap}, which is placed into the window.</p>
90
91<p>In the event that you're drawing within the <code>{@link android.view.View#onDraw(Canvas) onDraw()}</code>
92callback method, the Canvas is provided for you and you need only place your drawing calls upon it.
93You can also acquire a Canvas from <code>{@link android.view.SurfaceHolder#lockCanvas() SurfaceHolder.lockCanvas()}</code>,
94when dealing with a SurfaceView object. (Both of these scenarios are discussed in the following sections.)
95However, if you need to create a new Canvas, then you must define the {@link android.graphics.Bitmap} 
96upon which drawing will actually be performed. The Bitmap is always required for a Canvas. You can set up
97a new Canvas like this:</p>
98<pre>
99Bitmap b = Bitmap.createBitmap(100, 100, Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
100Canvas c = new Canvas(b);
101</pre>
102
103<p>Now your Canvas will draw onto the defined Bitmap. After drawing upon it with the Canvas, you can then carry your 
104Bitmap to another Canvas with one of the <code>{@link android.graphics.Canvas#drawBitmap(Bitmap,Matrix,Paint)
105Canvas.drawBitmap(Bitmap,...)}</code> methods. It's recommended that you ultimately draw your final
106graphics through a Canvas offered to you
107by <code>{@link android.view.View#onDraw(Canvas) View.onDraw()}</code> or 
108<code>{@link android.view.SurfaceHolder#lockCanvas() SurfaceHolder.lockCanvas()}</code> (see the following sections).</p>
109
110<p>The {@link android.graphics.Canvas} class has its own set of drawing methods that you can use, 
111like <code>drawBitmap(...)</code>, <code>drawRect(...)</code>, <code>drawText(...)</code>, and many more.
112Other classes that you might use also have <code>draw()</code> methods. For example, you'll probably
113have some {@link android.graphics.drawable.Drawable} objects that you want to put on the Canvas. Drawable
114has its own <code>{@link android.graphics.drawable.Drawable#draw(Canvas) draw()}</code> method 
115that takes your Canvas as an argument.</p>
116
117
118<h3 id="on-view">On a View</h3>
119
120<p>If your application does not require a significant amount of processing or
121frame-rate speed (perhaps for a chess game, a snake game, 
122or another slowly-animated application), then you should consider creating a custom View component
123and drawing with a Canvas in <code>{@link android.view.View#onDraw(Canvas) View.onDraw()}</code>. 
124The most convenient aspect of doing so is that the Android framework will
125provide you with a pre-defined Canvas to which you will place your drawing calls.</p>
126
127<p>To start, extend the {@link android.view.View} class (or descendant thereof) and define
128the <code>{@link android.view.View#onDraw(Canvas) onDraw()}</code> callback method. This method will be called by the Android 
129framework to request that your View draw itself. This is where you will perform all your calls
130to draw through the {@link android.graphics.Canvas}, which is passed to you through the <code>onDraw()</code> callback.</p>
131
132<p>The Android framework will only call <code>onDraw()</code> as necessary. Each time that 
133your application is prepared to be drawn, you must request your View be invalidated by calling
134<code>{@link android.view.View#invalidate()}</code>. This indicates that you'd like your View to be drawn and
135Android will then call your <code>onDraw()</code> method (though is not guaranteed that the callback will
136be instantaneous). </p>
137
138<p>Inside your View component's <code>onDraw()</code>, use the Canvas given to you for all your drawing,
139using various <code>Canvas.draw...()</code> methods, or other class <code>draw()</code> methods that
140take your Canvas as an argument. Once your <code>onDraw()</code> is complete, the Android framework will 
141use your Canvas to draw a Bitmap handled by the system.</p>
142
143<p class="note"><strong>Note: </strong> In order to request an invalidate from a thread other than your main
144Activity's thread, you must call <code>{@link android.view.View#postInvalidate()}</code>.</p>
145
146<p>Also read <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/ui/custom-components.html">Building Custom Components</a>
147for a guide to extending a View class, and <a href="2d-graphics.html">2D Graphics: Drawables</a> for
148information on using Drawable objects like images from your resources and other primitive shapes.</p>
149
150<p>For a sample application, see the Snake game, in the SDK samples folder:
151<code>&lt;your-sdk-directory>/samples/Snake/</code>.</p>
152
153<h3 id="on-surfaceview">On a SurfaceView</h3>
154
155<p>The {@link android.view.SurfaceView} is a special subclass of View that offers a dedicated
156drawing surface within the View hierarchy. The aim is to offer this drawing surface to
157an application's secondary thread, so that the application isn't required
158to wait until the system's View hierarchy is ready to draw. Instead, a secondary thread
159that has reference to a SurfaceView can draw to its own Canvas at its own pace.</p>
160
161<p>To begin, you need to create a new class that extends {@link android.view.SurfaceView}. The class should also 
162implement {@link android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback}. This subclass is an interface that will notify you
163with information about the underlying {@link android.view.Surface}, such as when it is created, changed, or destroyed. 
164These events  are important so that you know when you can start drawing, whether you need 
165to make adjustments based on new surface properties, and when to stop drawing and potentially 
166kill some tasks. Inside your SurfaceView class is also a good place to define your secondary Thread class, which will
167perform all the drawing procedures to your Canvas.</p>
168
169<p>Instead of handling the Surface object directly, you should handle it via
170a {@link android.view.SurfaceHolder}. So, when your SurfaceView is initialized, get the SurfaceHolder by calling 
171<code>{@link android.view.SurfaceView#getHolder()}</code>. You should then notify the SurfaceHolder that you'd
172like to receive SurfaceHolder callbacks (from {@link android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback}) by calling 
173{@link android.view.SurfaceHolder#addCallback(SurfaceHolder.Callback) addCallback()} 
174(pass it <var>this</var>). Then override each of the 
175{@link android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback} methods inside your SurfaceView class.</p>
176
177<p>In order to draw to the Surface Canvas from within your second thread, you must pass the thread your SurfaceHandler
178and retrieve the Canvas with <code>{@link android.view.SurfaceHolder#lockCanvas() lockCanvas()}</code>. 
179You can now take the Canvas given to you by the SurfaceHolder and do your necessary drawing upon it. 
180Once you're done drawing with the Canvas, call 
181<code>{@link android.view.SurfaceHolder#unlockCanvasAndPost(Canvas) unlockCanvasAndPost()}</code>, passing it
182your Canvas object. The Surface will now draw the Canvas as you left it. Perform this sequence of locking and 
183unlocking the canvas each time you want to redraw.</p>
184
185<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> On each pass you retrieve the Canvas from the SurfaceHolder, 
186the previous state of the Canvas will be retained. In order to properly animate your graphics, you must re-paint the 
187entire surface. For example, you can clear the previous state of the Canvas by filling in a color
188with <code>{@link android.graphics.Canvas#drawColor(int) drawColor()}</code> or setting a background image
189with <code>{@link android.graphics.Canvas#drawBitmap(Bitmap,Rect,RectF,Paint) drawBitmap()}</code>. Otherwise,
190you will see traces of the drawings you previously performed.</p>
191
192
193<p>For a sample application, see the Lunar Lander game, in the SDK samples folder:
194<code>&lt;your-sdk-directory>/samples/LunarLander/</code>. Or,
195browse the source in the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/samples/index.html">Sample Code</a> section.</p>
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