Using the new LiveWallpaper library you can now create your own live wallpapers. The user can set live wallpapers by long pressing on the home screen and choosing Wallpapers - Live Wallpapers.
Creating a live wallpaper is not too difficult.
A service is responsible for handling the wallpaper events and drawing the wallpaper.
There can be several instances of the same wallpaper at the same time. For example the user can set your wallpaper as the home screen wallpaper and also see a demo of your wallpaper in the wallpaper preview dialog.
LiveWallpaper library contains two objects: LWManager and LWEngine.
LWManager is responsible for raising the events.
The first parameter of each event is of type LWEngine. LWEngine represents a specific wallpaper instance.
LWEngine includes a Canvas property which is used to draw the wallpaper.
When you finish drawing you must call LWEngine.Refresh or LWEngine.RefreshAll. Otherwise the drawing will not appear.
The following example draws a blue background. Red circles are drawn when the user touches the screen:
As there could be several different engines, it is convenient to work with the local engine.
LWEngine includes a Tag property which you can use to store data specific to that engine.
LWManager includes an internal timer that you can use if you need to do animations. The Tick event will only be raised for visible wallpapers. This is important to conserve battery.
For example the following code draws the time on the wallpaper:
Offsets
On most devices the wallpaper virtual size is wider than a single screen. When the user moves to a different screen the offset changes.
You can use the OffsetChanged event to handle those changes.
LWEngine.FullWallpaperWidth / Height return the full size of the wallpaper.
LWEngine.CurrentOffsetX / Y return the current position.
Note that the wallpaper scrolls less than the foreground layer with the icons.
The LiveWallpaperImage demonstrates how to use those properties to display an image over the full wallpaper.
LWManager events
SizeChanged - Raised when the engine is first ready and when the screen size changes (for example when the orientation changes).
VisibilityChanged - Raised when a wallpaper becomes visible or invisible.
Touch - Raised when the user touches the wallpaper.
Tick - The internal timer tick event.
OffsetChanged - Raised when the wallpaper offsets change.
EngineDestroyed - Raised when an engine is destroyed.
Configuration
Live wallpapers require some configuration.
1. You should add the inner service declaration to the manifest editor (Project -> Manifest Editor):
It is also recommended to change minSdkVersion to 7 (at the beginning of the manifest editor code).
2. Add wallpaper.xml to Objects\res\xml folder and set it to be readonly (otherwise it will be deleted during compilation).
You can find this file in both attached examples.
3. Your service must be named WallpaperService. Note that there is an additional service inside the library named anywheresoftware.b4a.objects.WallpaperInternalService. The internal service connects to your service.
Examples
LiveWallpaperImage - The user can select an image from the activity. This image is set as the wallpaper. When the user changes the wallpaper offset the image is updated accordingly.
LiveWallpaperBall - A bouncing smiley. Clicking on the smiley will change its direction.
Before running the examples you need to set Object\res\xml\wallpaper.xml to be readonly. Otherwise it will be deleted.
Note that it is recommended to test live wallpapers in Release mode (the wallpaper will fail in debug mode when the process is started by the OS).
Creating a live wallpaper is not too difficult.
A service is responsible for handling the wallpaper events and drawing the wallpaper.
There can be several instances of the same wallpaper at the same time. For example the user can set your wallpaper as the home screen wallpaper and also see a demo of your wallpaper in the wallpaper preview dialog.
LiveWallpaper library contains two objects: LWManager and LWEngine.
LWManager is responsible for raising the events.
The first parameter of each event is of type LWEngine. LWEngine represents a specific wallpaper instance.
LWEngine includes a Canvas property which is used to draw the wallpaper.
When you finish drawing you must call LWEngine.Refresh or LWEngine.RefreshAll. Otherwise the drawing will not appear.
The following example draws a blue background. Red circles are drawn when the user touches the screen:
B4X:
Sub Process_Globals
Dim lwm As LWManager
End Sub
Sub Service_Create
lwm.Initialize("lwm", True)
End Sub
Sub LWM_SizeChanged (Engine As LWEngine)
Engine.Canvas.DrawColor(Colors.Blue)
Engine.RefreshAll
End Sub
Sub LWM_Touch (Engine As LWEngine, Action As Int, X As Float, Y As Float)
Engine.Canvas.DrawCircle(X, Y, 20dip, Colors.Red, True, 0)
Engine.Rect.Left = X - 20dip
Engine.Rect.Right = X + 20dip
Engine.Rect.Top = Y - 20dip
Engine.Rect.Bottom = Y + 20dip
Engine.Refresh(Engine.Rect)
End SubAs there could be several different engines, it is convenient to work with the local engine.
LWEngine includes a Tag property which you can use to store data specific to that engine.
LWManager includes an internal timer that you can use if you need to do animations. The Tick event will only be raised for visible wallpapers. This is important to conserve battery.
For example the following code draws the time on the wallpaper:
B4X:
Sub Process_Globals
Dim lwm As LWManager
End Sub
Sub Service_Create
lwm.Initialize("lwm", True)
lwm.StartTicking(1000) 'tick every second
End Sub
Sub LWM_Tick (Engine As LWEngine)
Engine.Canvas.DrawColor(Colors.Black) 'Erase the background
Engine.Canvas.DrawText(DateTime.Time(DateTime.Now), _
300dip, 100dip, Typeface.DEFAULT_BOLD, 40, Colors.White, "LEFT")
Engine.RefreshAll
End SubOffsets
On most devices the wallpaper virtual size is wider than a single screen. When the user moves to a different screen the offset changes.
You can use the OffsetChanged event to handle those changes.
LWEngine.FullWallpaperWidth / Height return the full size of the wallpaper.
LWEngine.CurrentOffsetX / Y return the current position.
Note that the wallpaper scrolls less than the foreground layer with the icons.
The LiveWallpaperImage demonstrates how to use those properties to display an image over the full wallpaper.
LWManager events
SizeChanged - Raised when the engine is first ready and when the screen size changes (for example when the orientation changes).
VisibilityChanged - Raised when a wallpaper becomes visible or invisible.
Touch - Raised when the user touches the wallpaper.
Tick - The internal timer tick event.
OffsetChanged - Raised when the wallpaper offsets change.
EngineDestroyed - Raised when an engine is destroyed.
Configuration
Live wallpapers require some configuration.
1. You should add the inner service declaration to the manifest editor (Project -> Manifest Editor):
B4X:
AddApplicationText(
<!-- ******** Add the internal service declaration - you can change android:label ******* -->
<service
android:label="My Livewallpaper"
android:name="anywheresoftware.b4a.objects.WallpaperInternalService"
android:permission="android.permission.BIND_WALLPAPER">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.service.wallpaper.WallpaperService" />
</intent-filter>
<meta-data android:name="android.service.wallpaper" android:resource="@xml/wallpaper" />
</service>
)2. Add wallpaper.xml to Objects\res\xml folder and set it to be readonly (otherwise it will be deleted during compilation).
You can find this file in both attached examples.
3. Your service must be named WallpaperService. Note that there is an additional service inside the library named anywheresoftware.b4a.objects.WallpaperInternalService. The internal service connects to your service.
Examples
LiveWallpaperImage - The user can select an image from the activity. This image is set as the wallpaper. When the user changes the wallpaper offset the image is updated accordingly.
LiveWallpaperBall - A bouncing smiley. Clicking on the smiley will change its direction.
Before running the examples you need to set Object\res\xml\wallpaper.xml to be readonly. Otherwise it will be deleted.
Note that it is recommended to test live wallpapers in Release mode (the wallpaper will fail in debug mode when the process is started by the OS).
Last edited:
