Example
There are many possible ways of customizing the look of a Button. This example presents several options:
Option 0: Use ThemeOverlay (currently the easiest/quickest way)
Create a new style in your styles file:
styles.xml
<resources>
<style name=“mybutton” parent=”ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Ligth”>
<!-- customize colorButtonNormal for the disable color -->
<item name="colorButtonNormal">@color/colorbuttonnormal</item>
<!-- customize colorAccent for the enabled color -->
<item name="colorButtonNormal">@color/coloraccent</item>
</style>
</resources>
Then in the layout where you place your button (e.g. MainActivity):
activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity">
<Button
android:id="@+id/mybutton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Hello"
android:theme="@style/mybutton"
style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Colored"/>
</LinearLayout>
Option 1: Create your own button style
In values/styles.xml, create a new style for your button:
styles.xml
<resources>
<style name="mybuttonstyle" parent="@android:style/Widget.Button">
<item name="android:gravity">center_vertical|center_horizontal</item>
<item name="android:textColor">#FFFFFFFF</item>
<item name="android:shadowColor">#FF000000</item>
<item name="android:shadowDx">0</item>
<item name="android:shadowDy">-1</item>
<item name="android:shadowRadius">0.2</item>
<item name="android:textSize">16dip</item>
<item name="android:textStyle">bold</item>
<item name="android:background">@drawable/button</item>
</style>
</resources>
Then in the layout where you place your button (e.g. in MainActivity):
activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity">
<Button
android:id="@+id/mybutton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Hello"
android:theme="@style/mybuttonstyle"/>
</LinearLayout>
Option 2: Assign a drawable for each of your button states
Create an xml file into drawable folder called 'mybuttondrawable.xml' to define the drawable resource of each of your button states:
drawable/mybutton.xml
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item
android:state_enabled="false"
android:drawable="@drawable/mybutton_disabled" />
<item
android:state_pressed="true"
android:state_enabled="true"
android:drawable="@drawable/mybutton_pressed" />
<item
android:state_focused="true"
android:state_enabled="true"
android:drawable="@drawable/mybutton_focused" />
<item
android:state_enabled="true"
android:drawable="@drawable/mybutton_enabled" />
</selector>
Each of those drawables may be images (e.g. mybutton_disabled.png) or xml files defined by you and stored in the drawables folder. For instance:
drawable/mybutton_disabled.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle">
<gradient
android:startColor="#F2F2F2"
android:centerColor="#A4A4A4"
android:endColor="#F2F2F2"
android:angle="90"/>
<padding android:left="7dp"
android:top="7dp"
android:right="7dp"
android:bottom="7dp" />
<stroke
android:width="2dip"
android:color="#FFFFFF" />
<corners android:radius= "8dp" />
</shape>
Then in the layout where you place your button (e.g. MainActivity):
activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity">
<Button
android:id="@+id/mybutton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Hello"
android:background="@drawable/mybuttondrawable"/>
</LinearLayout>
Option 3: Add your button style to your App theme
You can override the default android button style in the definition of your app theme (in values/styles.xml).
styles.xml
<resources>
<style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme">
<item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">@color/colorAccent</item>
<item name="android:button">@style/mybutton</item>
</style>
<style name="mybutton" parent="android:style/Widget.Button">
<item name="android:gravity">center_vertical|center_horizontal</item>
<item name="android:textColor">#FFFFFFFF</item>
<item name="android:shadowColor">#FF000000</item>
<item name="android:shadowDx">0</item>
<item name="android:shadowDy">-1</item>
<item name="android:shadowRadius">0.2</item>
<item name="android:textSize">16dip</item>
<item name="android:textStyle">bold</item>
<item name="android:background">@drawable/anydrawable</item>
</style>
</resources>
Option 4: Overlay a color on the default button style programatically
Just find you button in your activity and apply a color filter:
Button mybutton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.mybutton);
mybutton.getBackground().setColorFilter(anycolor, PorterDuff.Mode.MULTIPLY)
You can check different blending modes here and nice examples here.
