Android Tutorial => Popup overlay

Example

In order to put your view on top of every application, you have to assign your view to the corresponding window manager. For that you need the system alert permission, which can be requested by adding the following line to your manifest file:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW" />

Note: If your application gets destroyed, your view will be removed from the window manager. Therefore, it is better to create the view and assign it to the window manager by a foreground service.

Assigning a view to the WindowManager

You can retrieve a window manager instance as follows:

WindowManager mWindowManager = (WindowManager) mContext.getSystemService(Context.WINDOW_SERVICE);

In order to define the position of your view, you have to create some layout parameters as follows:

WindowManager.LayoutParams mLayoutParams = new WindowManager.LayoutParams(
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
        WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_PHONE,
        WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_TURN_SCREEN_ON,
        PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT);
mLayoutParams.gravity = Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL | Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL;

Now, you can assign your view together with the created layout parameters to the window manager instance as follows:

mWindowManager.addView(yourView, mLayoutParams);

Voila! Your view has been successfully placed on top of all other applications.

Note: You view will not be put on top of the keyguard.

PDF - Download Android for free

Previous Next

Android

Fastest Entity Framework Extensions

Example

Assigning a view to the WindowManager

Got any Android Question?

Android

Android Creating Overlay (always-on-top) Windows Popup overlay

Fastest Entity Framework Extensions

Example

Assigning a view to the WindowManager

Got any Android Question?