SL4A_UiExamples

Introduction

The UiFacade has some powerful features for managing a wide variety of dialog boxes and menus. It also supports the powerful webView function. Help files are available here

Here is some sample code to make things event clearer.

All of these examples assume you are running in a foreground terminal.

Basic Alert Box

Bring up a basic alert box.

uitest.py

import android
droid=android.Android()
droid.dialogCreateAlert("I like swords.","Do you like swords?")
droid.dialogSetPositiveButtonText("Yes")
droid.dialogSetNegativeButtonText("No")
droid.dialogShow()
response=droid.dialogGetResponse().result
droid.dialogDismiss()
if response.has_key("which"):
  result=response["which"]
  if result=="positive":
    print "Yay! I like swords too!"
  elif result=="negative":
    print "Oh. How sad."
elif response.has_key("canceled"): # Yes, I know it's mispelled.
  print "You can't even make up your mind?"
else:
  print "Unknown response=",response

print "Done"

Lists

There are a variety of list functions available. It's not immediately clear what the differences are.

• dialogSetItems - gives a list of choices. Returns immediately on selection.
• dialogSetSingleChoiceItems - Radio group. Choose one, have to close dialog box to proceed.
• dialogSetMultiChoiceItems - Check Boxes. Choose several items.

This should demonstrate the differences:

uilist.py

# Test of Lists
import android,sys
droid=android.Android()

#Choose which list type you want.
def getlist():
  droid.dialogCreateAlert("List Types")
  droid.dialogSetItems(["Items","Single","Multi"])
  droid.dialogShow()
  result=droid.dialogGetResponse().result
  if result.has_key("item"):
    return result["item"]
  else:
    return -1

#Choose List
listtype=getlist()
if listtype<0:
  print "No item chosen"
  sys.exit()

options=["Red","White","Blue","Charcoal"]
droid.dialogCreateAlert("Colors")
if listtype==0:
  droid.dialogSetItems(options)
elif listtype==1:
  droid.dialogSetSingleChoiceItems(options)
elif listtype==2:
  droid.dialogSetMultiChoiceItems(options)
droid.dialogSetPositiveButtonText("OK")
droid.dialogSetNegativeButtonText("Cancel")
droid.dialogShow()
result=droid.dialogGetResponse().result
# droid.dialogDismiss() # In most modes this is not needed.
if result==None:
  print "Time out"
elif result.has_key("item"):
  item=result["item"];
  print "Chosen item=",item,"=",options[item]
else:
  print "Result=",result
  print "Selected=",droid.dialogGetSelectedItems().result
print "Done"

Events

In version 4x, (see Unofficial Releases), dialog events have been added, meaning you can continue to process in the background while waiting on a user response.

uipoll.py

# Demonstrate use of modal dialog. Process location events while
# waiting for user input.
import android
droid=android.Android()
droid.dialogCreateAlert("I like swords.","Do you like swords?")
droid.dialogSetPositiveButtonText("Yes")
droid.dialogSetNegativeButtonText("No")
droid.dialogShow()
droid.startLocating()
while True: # Wait for events for up to 10 seconds.
  response=droid.eventWait(10000).result
  if response==None: # No events to process. exit.
    break
  if response["name"]=="dialog": # When you get a dialog event, exit loop
    break
  print response # Probably a location event.

# Have fallen out of loop. Close the dialog 
droid.dialogDismiss()
if response==None:
  print "Timed out."
else:
  rdialog=response["data"] # dialog response is stored in data.
  if  rdialog.has_key("which"):
    result=rdialog["which"]
    if result=="positive":
      print "Yay! I like swords too!"
    elif result=="negative":
      print "Oh. How sad."
  elif rdialog.has_key("canceled"): # Yes, I know it's mispelled.
    print "You can't even make up your mind?"
  else:
    print "Unknown response=",response
print droid.stopLocating()
print "Done"

uiseek.py

# Test of Seekbar events.
import android
droid=android.Android()
droid.dialogCreateSeekBar(50,100,"I like swords.","How much you like swords?")
droid.dialogSetPositiveButtonText("Yes")
droid.dialogSetNegativeButtonText("No")
droid.dialogShow()
looping=True
while looping: # Wait for events for up to 10 secnds.from the menu.
  response=droid.eventWait(10000).result
  if response==None: # No events to process. exit.
    break
  if response["name"]=="dialog":
    looping=False # Fall out of loop unless told otherwise.
    data=response["data"]
    if data.has_key("which"):
      which=data["which"]
      if which=="seekbar":
        print "Progress=",data["progress"]," User input=",data["fromuser"]
        looping=True  # Keep Looping
        
# Have fallen out of loop. Close the dialog 
droid.dialogDismiss()
if response==None:
  print "Timed out."
else:
  rdialog=response["data"] # dialog response is stored in data.
  if  rdialog.has_key("which"):
    result=rdialog["which"]
    if result=="positive":
      print "Yay! I like swords too!"
    elif result=="negative":
      print "Oh. How sad."
  elif rdialog.has_key("canceled"): # Yes, I know it's mispelled.
    print "You can't even make up your mind?"
  print "You like swords this much: ",rdialog["progress"]  

print "Done"

Menus

This will add several menu options to your menu tree. Access by hitting MENU. When pressed, will trigger an event.

uimenu.py

import android
droid=android.Android()

droid.addOptionsMenuItem("Silly","silly",None,"star_on")
droid.addOptionsMenuItem("Sensible","sensible","I bet.","star_off")
droid.addOptionsMenuItem("Off","off",None,"ic_menu_revert")

print "Hit menu to see extra options."
print "Will timeout in 10 seconds if you hit nothing."

while True: # Wait for events from the menu.
  response=droid.eventWait(10000).result
  if response==None:
    break
  print response
  if response["name"]=="off":
    break
print "And done."