Android Live Wallpaper Tutorial

Live wallpapers   - are  richer, animated, interactive backgrounds on Homescreen.

In this post I will describe step by step "How to Create LiveWallpaper " .

  The Android Development Tutorials blog contains Basic as well as Advanced android tutorials.Go to Android Development Tutorials to get list of all Android Tutorials.

 

Android Live Wallpaper Example

In this example I have created a LiveWallpaper in which a Fish  is moving left to right.
The example is too simple and has been described in manner that you can easily  understand.

How to create a Live Wallpaper

Step 1: create a xml file which will describe your wallpaper.
Step 2: edit your manifest file add service and feature.
Step 3: create a service class which extends WallpaperService class.


Step 1:  create a xml folder inside res folder.
              inside xml folder create mywallpaper.xml file

             <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
            <wallpaper
                     xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
                     android:thumbnail="@drawable/fish"
                     android:description="@string/wallpaper_description" 
            />
here thumbnail is the image that will be shown in list of livewallpapers and description attribute is the description of your live wallpaper.

Also add following in your string.xml file inside values folder
<string name="wallpaper_description">Fish Aquarium</string>

Step 2: Edit your Manifest.xml

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.livewallpapertutorial"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="8"
        android:targetSdkVersion="16" />

     <uses-feature
        android:name="android.software.live_wallpaper"
        android:required="true" >
    </uses-feature>

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <service
            android:name="LiveWallpaperService"
            android:enabled="true"
            android:label="Wallpaper Example "
            android:permission="android.permission.BIND_WALLPAPER" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.service.wallpaper.WallpaperService" >
                </action>
            </intent-filter>

            <meta-data
                android:name="android.service.wallpaper"
                android:resource="@xml/mywallpaper" >
            </meta-data>
        </service>

    </application>

</manifest>


Step 3: create a service class which extends  WallpaperService.

this class is the base class for all live wallpapers in the system. You must implement the   onCreateEngine()   method .
The Engine class defines the life cycle methods, as for example onCreate(), onSurfaceCreated(), onVisibilityChanged(), onOffsetsChanged(), onTouchEvent() and onCommand(). 


public class LiveWallpaperService extends WallpaperService
{
                int x,y;
               
                public void onCreate()
                {
                        super.onCreate();
                }

                public void onDestroy()
                {
                        super.onDestroy();
                }

                public Engine onCreateEngine()
                {
                        return new MyWallpaperEngine();
                }

                class MyWallpaperEngine extends Engine
                {

                        private final Handler handler = new Handler();
                        private final Runnable drawRunner = new Runnable() {
                            @Override
                            public void run() {
                                draw();
                            }
                        };
                        private boolean visible = true;
                        public Bitmap image1,backgroundImage;

                        MyWallpaperEngine()
                        {
                                 // get the fish and background image references
                                image1 = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(getResources(),R.drawable.fish);
                                backgroundImage = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(getResources(),R.drawable.background);
                                x=-130; // initialize x position
                                y=200;  // initialize y position
                               
                        }


                        public void onCreate(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder)
                        {
                                super.onCreate(surfaceHolder);
                        }

                        @Override
                        public void onVisibilityChanged(boolean visible)
                        {
                                this.visible = visible;
                                // if screen wallpaper is visible then draw the image otherwise do not draw
                                if (visible)
                                {
                                    handler.post(drawRunner);
                                }
                                else
                                {
                                    handler.removeCallbacks(drawRunner);
                                }
                        }

                        @Override
                        public void onSurfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder)
                        {
                                super.onSurfaceDestroyed(holder);
                                this.visible = false;
                                handler.removeCallbacks(drawRunner);
                        }

                        public void onOffsetsChanged(float xOffset, float yOffset, float xStep, float yStep, int xPixels, int yPixels)
                        {
                                draw();
                        }

                        void draw()
                        {
                                final SurfaceHolder holder = getSurfaceHolder();
                 
                                Canvas c = null;
                                try
                                {
                                        c = holder.lockCanvas();
                                        // clear the canvas
                                        c.drawColor(Color.BLACK);
                                        if (c != null)
                                        {
                                                // draw the background image
                                                c.drawBitmap(backgroundImage, 0, 0, null);
                                                // draw the fish
                                                c.drawBitmap(image1, x,y, null);
                                                // get the width of canvas
                                                int width=c.getWidth();
                                               
                                                // if x crosses the width means  x has reached to right edge
                                                if(x>width+100)
                                                {  
                                                        // assign initial value to start with
                                                        x=-130;
                                                }
                                                // change the x position/value by 1 pixel
                                                x=x+1;
                                        }
                                 }
                                finally
                                {
                                        if (c != null)
                                               holder.unlockCanvasAndPost(c);
                                }

                                handler.removeCallbacks(drawRunner);
                                if (visible)
                                {
                                          handler.postDelayed(drawRunner, 10); // delay 10 mileseconds
                                }   

                        }
                }
}

Run the application and set the Wallpaper.( Long Press on Screen ->Set Wallpaper -> HomeScreen -> Live Wallpapers -> select your Live wall paper)

 

More Android Topics

New Advance Topics:
Android ImageSwitcher                    Android TextSwitcher                                Android ViewFlipper
Android Gesture Detector               Handling/Detecting Swap Events                Gradient Drawable
Detecting Missed Calls                    Hide Title Bar                                           GridView Animation

 Beginning With Android
      Android : Introduction                                                              Configuring Eclipse for Android Development
     Creating Your First Android Project                                           Understanding Android Manifest File of your android app

 Advance Android Topics                                                              Customizing Android Views

      Customizing Toast In Android                                                        Customizing Radio Buttons

      Showing Toast for Longer Time                                                      Customizing Checkboxes In Android

      Customizing the Display Time of Toast                                           Customizing ProgressBar

      Using TimePickerDialog and DatePickerDialog In android                 Customizing Toast In Android

      Animating A Button In Android

      Populating ListView With DataBase                                           Android Animation

      Increasin Size of Checkboxes                                                   Using Android ImageSwitcher  

      Android ProgressBar                                                                 Using Android TextSwitcher

      Designing For Different Screen Sizes                                            GridView Animation

      Handling Keyboard Events                                                        Animating A Button In Android

      Scheduling Task Using AlarmManger

Working With Layouts                                                                Working With Views

Understanding Layouts in Android                                                   Using Buttons and EditText in Android
Working with Linear Layout (With Example)                                     Using CheckBoxes in Android
Nested Linear Layout (With Example)                                              Using AutoCompleteTextView in Android                                                                                          Grid View
Relative Layout In Android                                                               ListView
Table Layout                                                                                   Android ProgressBar
Frame Layout(With Example)                                                          Customizing ProgressBar
Absolute Layout                                                                             Customizing Radio Buttons
Grid Layout                                                                                    Customizing Checkboxes In Android

Android Components                                                                 Dialogs In Android

Activity In Android                                                                    Working With Alert Dialog
Activity Life Cycle                                                                    Adding Radio Buttons In Dialog
Starting Activity For Result                                                       Adding Check Boxes In Dialog
Sending Data from One Activity to Other in Android                    Creating Customized Dialogs in Android
Returning Result from Activity                                                   Creating Dialog To Collect User Input
Android : Service                                                                     DatePicker and TimePickerDialog
BroadcastReceiver                                                                   Using TimePickerDialog and DatePickerDialog In android

Menus In Android                                                                ListView:
Creating Option Menu                                                               Populating ListView With DataBase
Creating Context Menu In Android                                              Populating ListView with ArrayList
                                                                                               ListView with Custom Adapter

Toast                                                                                      Working With SMS
Customizing Toast In Android                                                       How to Send SMS in Android
Customizing the Display Time of Toast                                        How To Receive SMS
Customizing Toast At Runtime                                                  Accessing Inbox In Android
Adding Image in Toast
Showing Toast for Longer Time


TelephonyManager                                                            Storage: Storing Data In Android
Using Telephony Manager In Android                                          SharedPreferences In Android
                                                                                              Reading and Writing files to Internal Stoarage
Working With Incoming Calls                                             DataBase
How To Handle Incoming Calls in Android                                Working With Database in Android
How to Forward an Incoming Call In Android                            Creating Table In Android
CALL States In Android                                                          Inserting, Deleting and Updating Records In Table in Android


Miscellaneous
Notifications In Android
How To Vibrate The Android Phone
Sending Email In Android
Opening a webpage In Browser
How to Access PhoneBook In Android
Prompt User Input with an AlertDialog