B4A Library ChatHead wrapper + GIF overlay

JordiCP · Jan 5, 2016

(2017/07/01)

Based on this wrapper, I also built some strange things on it, with different purposes. I am not working on most of them anymore, so I decided to share.

This one is funny. Similar to the video but with added elements

It combines several overlay elements and brings them into life simulating GIF animation (based on some previously converted GIF files to PNG) and sequencing them with a timer. In this version there are some xmas stars, a Santa and a spider skull

I publish it here since the thread already exists and is related to it... As always, perhaps the code style is not the best in the world to learn from, but I have tried to comment a bit and delete unneeded things so that it will be more easy to follow.

Important: in most recent android versions, you must grant directly to the app the permission to show elements on top of others (it is not enough with the declared manifest permissions). So, if nothing appears on your screen you should check it.

Hope you enjoy it
-----------------------------------

I'm happy to share this chatHead wrapper made with B4A and Inline Java. The original project is taken from here . I wrapped and modified it "a bit" for my purposes.

These views are not "normal" views in the sense that they don't need to be in an activity, but are added diectly to the WindowManager.
This allows for special uses, such as pop-up notifications which the user can interact with or simply discard. But also special care must be taken.

The attached zip is itself a small demo. All the "important" things are in the inline Java part in "oService", and how are they created and destroyed. The rest is just for the demo itself

Possibly many things can be improved, such as adding animations (I think in this case they are a bit tricky and still struggling with them)

Important: These views are not automatically destroyed when you destroy your app. Please pay attention at Service_Destroy

Also: the sound example in Files folder is from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/. It is free, but if you use it, they need to be mentioned

Enjoy!

(I am preparing the drop option as in facebook messenger, but will take a while )

Smee · Jun 18, 2017

Oh WOW, just what I have been looking for, Thanks very much for your generous contribution and work. Is the 'Enable Drop' still being planned?
Thanks again

Star-Dust · Jun 18, 2017

JordiCP said:
Hi all,

I'm happy to share this chatHead wrapper made with B4A and Inline Java. The original project is taken from here . I wrapped and modified it "a bit" for my purposes.

These views are not "normal" views in the sense that they don't need to be in an activity, but are added diectly to the WindowManager.
This allows for special uses, such as pop-up notifications which the user can interact with or simply discard. But also special care must be taken.

The attached zip is itself a small demo. All the "important" things are in the inline Java part in "oService", and how are they created and destroyed. The rest is just for the demo itself

Possibly many things can be improved, such as adding animations (I think in this case they are a bit tricky and still struggling with them)

Important: These views are not automatically destroyed when you destroy your app. Please pay attention at Service_Destroy

Also: the sound example in Files folder is from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/. It is free, but if you use it, they need to be mentioned

Enjoy!

(I am preparing the drop option as in facebook messenger, but will take a while )

It's very interesting, it resembles the StandOut library. But surely lighter. I'm looking for something like this.

Thank you very much, your projects are always interesting.

Do you have documentation to edit the project and to manage the events?

JordiCP · Jun 18, 2017

Smee said:
Is the 'Enable Drop' still being planned?

Sorry, I abandoned my plans to make the "drop" part , but shouldn't be too difficult as the source code is there in case someone wants to expand it.

Star-Dust said:
Do you have documentation to edit the project and to manage the events?

It is not a library "per se" but just a working example based on the link of the first post. I will try to take a look a it this week and see if I can "clean"/improve/document something to make it easier to work with.

Star-Dust · Jun 18, 2017

If I had a bit of documentation I would try to build a library.

Sorry a question...
BUT if instead of extending an ImageView Object, it extends a Panel object. Can You Build a Flying App?

Smee · Jun 19, 2017

Hey JordiCp, thanks for this code it works perfectly in the demo. When I drop the oservice into a project and just call it with the lines

B4X:

    Starter.MYSERVICE=True
    StartService(oService)
'

the service is called but then hits an error at this line

B4X:

            myChatHead.instance=J.RunMethod("newInstance2",Array(J,id))

The error message I get is

*** Service (oservice) Create ***
** Service (oservice) Start **
Error occurred on line: 129 (oService)
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
at anywheresoftware.b4j.object.JavaObject.RunMethod(JavaObject.java:131)
at aus.anyfcsapp.joe.oservice._init_elements(oservice.java:357)
at aus.anyfcsapp.joe.oservice._service_start(oservice.java:641)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
at anywheresoftware.b4a.shell.Shell.runMethod(Shell.java:710)
at anywheresoftware.b4a.shell.Shell.raiseEventImpl(Shell.java:339)
at anywheresoftware.b4a.shell.Shell.raiseEvent(Shell.java:249)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
at anywheresoftware.b4a.ShellBA.raiseEvent2(ShellBA.java:139)
at anywheresoftware.b4a.BA.raiseEvent(BA.java:166)
at aus.anyfcsapp.joe.oservice.handleStart(oservice.java:116)
at aus.anyfcsapp.joe.oservice.access$000(oservice.java:19)
at aus.anyfcsapp.joe.oservice$1.run(oservice.java:81)
at anywheresoftware.b4a.objects.ServiceHelper$StarterHelper.onStartCommand(ServiceHelper.java:105)
at aus.anyfcsapp.joe.oservice.onStartCommand(oservice.java:79)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleServiceArgs(ActivityThread.java:2990)
at android.app.ActivityThread.access$2200(ActivityThread.java:175)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1405)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:146)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5602)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1283)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1099)
at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
Caused by: android.view.WindowManager$BadTokenException: Unable to add window android.view.ViewRootImpl$W@42a86718 -- permission denied for this window type
at android.view.ViewRootImpl.setView(ViewRootImpl.java:793)
at android.view.WindowManagerGlobal.addView(WindowManagerGlobal.java:278)
at android.view.WindowManagerImpl.addView(WindowManagerImpl.java:69)
at aus.anyfcsapp.joe.oservice$CustomImageView.sharedConstructing(oservice.java:721)
at aus.anyfcsapp.joe.oservice$CustomImageView.<init>(oservice.java:689)
at aus.anyfcsapp.joe.oservice.newInstance2(oservice.java:855)
... 30 more

I get the error no mater if i add the line activity.finish or not in the calling of the service

Can you advise of a possible solution?

Thanks again

JordiCP · Jun 19, 2017

Did you copy the needed permission to in manifest? (SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW)

additionally, in later android versions, a special permission must be granted (manually) so that it can draw on top of other windows. But possibly the crash is due to the reason above.

Star-Dust · Jun 19, 2017

A small question in the project is the module called "c". Do you need something?

Smee · Jun 19, 2017

JordiCP said:
Did you copy the needed permission to in manifest? (SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW)

No I did not think to check the manifest. Thank you so much that fixed the problem.
Thanks again, Love your work

JordiCP · Jun 19, 2017

Star-Dust said:
A small question in the project is the module called "c". Do you need something?

No, I simply forgot that there, as one day I will forget my head somewhere

(regarding your other question, I just saw now the edit)

Star-Dust said:
BUT if instead of extending an ImageView Object, it extends a Panel object. Can You Build a Flying App?

Not sure if can be done directly with B4A objects, I think not, since they need to be in an activity, but sincerely never tried it. My example is more limited to button/control and some experiments for an app that I started to develop, but is now frozen.

Based on similar principles (I think), but with a more complete implementation, there is also @Informatix's OverlayWindow library

Star-Dust · Jun 19, 2017

Last question : Why did you include these variables in Starter and not Oservice?

B4X:

Dim MYSERVICE As Boolean=False
Dim STICK_TO_BORDER As Boolean
Dim DOUBLETAPBEHAVIOUR As Int
Dim ENABLEDROP As Boolean=False

Star-Dust · Jun 19, 2017

I'll look at the Informatrix Library but I like to put my hands in to make something of mine. It is not a computer need, but thirsty to know.

JordiCP · Jun 19, 2017

Perhaps they make sense as global behaviour definitions which are not tied to a specific implementation (the one in oService). But don't take anything in my codes too seriously because I can apply other criteria or no criteria at all depending on the day, I am not a "clean" programmer

Star-Dust · Jun 19, 2017

@JordiCP Can I work on to create a Library?

JordiCP · Jun 19, 2017

Yes, my code (the b4a adaptation) is free to do what you want. I don't remember if the original code had any type of license, but even if it didn't have any, it is always nice to put a link to the origin.
(Anyway the link in the first post doesn't seem to be active , perhaps it has been moved somewhere else... )

Star-Dust · Jun 19, 2017

I do not know how to find it from another side, do you have directions?
I also modify Java, with a lot of effort because I'm 12 years old that I do not write anything in Java

JordiCP · Jun 19, 2017

I have just found the original (or a similar one derived from it since some lines are exactly the same) https://github.com/henrychuangtw/Android-ChatHead

Star-Dust · Jun 20, 2017

JordiCP said:
I have just found the original (or a similar one derived from it since some lines are exactly the same) https://github.com/henrychuangtw/Android-ChatHead

In this version the code has improved, and does not extend ImageView but extends Service.

I need to study it better

Smee · Jun 21, 2017

Hi
I have modified the java code to accept a single tap and it works fine. However I am trying to add a long click event that does not work. the code is as follows

B4X:

        public void onLongPress(MotionEvent e) {       
            processBA.raiseEvent(null, "onLong_Press", index);
        }

Could you shed any light why this would not work? I have tried it both inside the public class GestureListener extends and outside of it. I do not get any errors thrown but it just does not respond
Many thanks for any help

Star-Dust · Jun 21, 2017

Work is already done, if you prefer see :
https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/sd-floating-button-standout.80847/

Also try
public void onLongTap

Smee · Jun 21, 2017

Ahhh i worked it out, I forgot to do the event in lowercase

B4A Library ChatHead wrapper + GIF overlay

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