page.title=Creating Custom Layouts page.tags=wear helpoutsWidget=true @jd:body
Creating layouts for wearables is the same as handheld devices, except you have to design for the screen size and for glanceability. Do not port functionality and the UI from a handheld app and expect a good experience. You should create custom layouts only when necessary. Read the design guidelines for information on how to design great wearable apps.
In general, you should create notifications on the handheld and let them automatically sync to the wearable. This lets you build your notifications once and have them appear on many types of devices (not just wearables, but eventually Auto and TV) without having to design them for different form factors.
If the standard notification styles don't work for you (such as {@link android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle} or {@link android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.InboxStyle}), you can display an activity with a custom layout. You can only create and issue custom notifications on the wearable, and the system does not sync these notifications to the handheld.
Note: When creating custom notifications on the wearable, you can use the standard notification APIs (API Level 20) instead of the Support Library.
To create a custom notification:
public void onCreate(Bundle bundle){ ... setContentView(R.layout.notification_activity); }
Theme.DeviceDefault.Light
. For example:<activity android:name="com.example.MyDisplayActivity" android:exported="true" android:allowEmbedded="true" android:taskAffinity="" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.DeviceDefault.Light" />
Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(this, NotificationActivity.class); PendingIntent notificationPendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0, notificationIntent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
notify()
method.
Note: When the notification is peeking on the homescreen, the system displays it with a standard template that it generates from the notification's semantic data. This template works well on all watchfaces. When users swipe the notification up, they'll then see the custom activity for the notification.
The Wearable UI Library is automatically included when you create your wearable
app with the Android Studio Project Wizard. You can also add this library to your build.gradle
file with the following dependency declaration:
dependencies { compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar']) compile 'com.google.android.support:wearable:+' compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-wearable:+' }
This library helps you build UIs that are designed for wearables. For more information, see Creating Custom UIs for Wear Devices.
Here are some of the major classes in the Wearable UI Library:
BoxInsetLayout
- A FrameLayout that's aware of screen shape and can box its
children in the center square of a round screen.CardFragment
- A fragment that presents content within an expandable,
vertically scrollable card.CircledImageView
- An image view surrounded by a circle.ConfirmationActivity
- An activity that displays confirmation animations after the user
completes an action.CrossFadeDrawable
- A drawable that contains two child drawables and provides
methods to directly adjust the blend between the two.DelayedConfirmationView
- A view that provides a circular countdown timer,
typically used to automatically confirm an operation after a short delay has elapsed.DismissOverlayView
- A view for implementing long-press-to-dismiss.DotsPageIndicator
- A page indicator for GridViewPager that identifies the
current page in relation to all available pages on the current row.GridViewPager
- A layout manager that allows the user to both vertically and
horizontally through pages of data. You supply an implementation of a GridPagerAdapter to
generate the pages that the view shows.GridPagerAdapter
- An adapter that supplies pages to a GridViewPager.FragmentGridPagerAdapter
- An implementation of GridPagerAdapter that
represents each page as a fragment.WatchViewStub
- A class that can inflate a specific layout,
depending on the shape of the device's screen.WearableListView
- An alternative version of ListView that is optimized for
ease of use on small screen wearable devices. It displays a vertically scrollable list of items,
and automatically snaps to the nearest item when the user stops scrolling.
The reference documentation explains how to use each UI widget in detail. Browse the Wear API reference documentation for the classes above.
If you are using the ADT plugin for Eclipse, download the Wearable UI library to include the Wearable UI library as a dependency in your project.
Note: We recommend Android Studio for Android Wear app development.