Android - set a ProgressBar to be a vertical bar instead of horizontal?

Question

I am trying to use a ProgressBar as a metering like display. I thought it was going to be an easy task and thought that ProgressBar had a property to set to be vertical, but I'm not seeing anything.

Additionally I'd like to be able to show ruler like indicator along the side of the bar to clearly indicate the current level.

Pointers appreciated - Thanks!

Answer 1

I had recently come across the need for a vertical progress bar but was unable to find a solution using the existing Progress Bar widget. The solutions I came across generally required an extension of the current Progress Bar or a completely new class in it self. I wasn't convinced rolling out a new class to achieve a simple orientation change was necessary.

This article presents a simple, elegant, and most importantly, a no-hack solution to achieving a vertical progress bar. I'm going to skip the explanation and simply provide a cookie cutter solution. If you require further details feel free to contact me or leave a comment below.

Create an xml in your drawable folder (not drawable-hdpi or drawable-mdpi -- place it in drawable). For this example I call my xml vertical_progress_bar.xml

Here's what to place in the xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <item android:id="@android:id/background">
    <shape>
      <corners android:radius="5dip" />
      <gradient
        android:startColor="#ff9d9e9d"
        android:centerColor="#ff5a5d5a"
        android:centerY="0.75"
        android:endColor="#ff747674"
        android:angle="180"
      />
    </shape>
  </item>
  <item android:id="@android:id/secondaryProgress">
    <clip android:clipOrientation="vertical" android:gravity="bottom">
      <shape>
        <corners android:radius="5dip" />
        <gradient
          android:startColor="#80ffd300"
          android:centerColor="#80ffb600"
          android:centerY="0.75"
          android:endColor="#a0ffcb00"
          android:angle="180"
        />
      </shape>
    </clip>
  </item>
  <item android:id="@android:id/progress">
    <clip android:clipOrientation="vertical" android:gravity="bottom">
      <shape>
        <corners android:radius="5dip" />
        <gradient
          android:startColor="#ffffd300"
          android:centerColor="#ffffb600"
          android:centerY="0.75"
          android:endColor="#ffffcb00"
          android:angle="180"
        />
      </shape>
    </clip>
</item>
</layer-list>

Create an xml file called styles.xml and place it in res/values. If your project already contains styles.xml in res/values then skip this step.

Modify your styles.xml file and append the following code to the end of the file:

<style name="Widget">
</style>
<style name="Widget.ProgressBar">
  <item name="android:indeterminateOnly">true</item>
  <item name="android:indeterminateBehavior">repeat</item>
  <item name="android:indeterminateDuration">3500</item>
  <item name="android:minWidth">48dip</item>
  <item name="android:maxWidth">48dip</item>
  <item name="android:minHeight">48dip</item>
  <item name="android:maxHeight">48dip</item>
</style>
<style name="Widget.ProgressBar.Vertical">
  <item name="android:indeterminateOnly">false</item>
  <item name="android:progressDrawable">@drawable/progress_bar_vertical</item>
  <item name="android:indeterminateDrawable">@android:drawable/progress_indeterminate_horizontal</item>
  <item name="android:minWidth">1dip</item>
  <item name="android:maxWidth">12dip</item>
</style>

Add your new vertical progress bar to your layout. Here's an example:

<ProgressBar
  android:id="@+id/vertical_progressbar"
  android:layout_width="12dip"
  android:layout_height="300dip"
  style="@style/Widget.ProgressBar.Vertical"
/>

That should be all you need to do to make use of a vertical progress bar in your project. Optionally, you might have custom drawable nine-patch images that you are using for the progress bar. You should make the appropriate changes in the progress_bar_vertical.xml file. I hope this helps you out in your project!