Android Question How to hide initial/default activity until layout loads

[JohnC]

When my app first starts, an activity with the Titlebar showing my app's name and a black body is very briefly displayed, then the layout I am loading in the Activity_Create is displayed.

How can I prevent this unknown initial/default activity from displaying before my actual desired layout is loaded?

I even have the below in the "Main" activity:

#Region  Activity Attributes
    #FullScreen: false
    #IncludeTitle: False
#End Region

 

[Eme Fibonacci]

Have you tried to add something like this in manifest editor?

 android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar.Fullscreen"

 

[Eme Fibonacci]

I just tried that and it made no difference

Please, try this

SetApplicationAttribute(android:theme, @android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar)

 

[JohnC]

My first attempt I added it to the manifest wrong, but now I got it working!

Thanks.

 

[JohnC]

I wonder why this is not added as a default in the manifest, because who would want a default activity to briefly show up when thier app first starts?

 

[Eme Fibonacci]

I think the problem is that would be without themes (holo, material, light, etc.)

And would need combinations.

Something like that:

<stylename="MyTheme"parent="android:Theme.Holo.Light">
<item name="android:windowActionBar">false</item>
<item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item></style>

 

[JohnC]

Erel,

Why is there some unknown activity (with a default layout) quickly being displayed right before the first ".Loadlayout" of the "Main" activity is able to load the desired layout?

 

[Erel]

It is the main activity before the layout was loaded. If you want to completely hide the title bar then you should set a theme that doesn't have one.

 

[JohnC]

Hi Erel,

But if I completely hide the Titlebar, then where will the three dots (the "Menu" for my app) appear for devices with android 4+ (that don't have a dedicated/hardware "menu" button at the bottom)?

 

[Erel]

The three dots button will not appear if the title is hidden.

 

[JohnC]

But then how will end users without a hardware "menu" button display my app's menu?

Also, it seems that if I hide the titlebar, my app can't include/use an Actionbar, is this correct?

 

[Erel]

The title bar and the action bar are the same thing. So if you remove the title bar there will be no action bar. The layout should appear pretty quickly. Postpone any slow task after Activity_Create is completed.

 

[JohnC]

Hi Erel,

It does appear quickly, less then a second (without any tasks in the Activity_Create), but even that 1 second gives the app a less-polished/unprofessional appearance.

Idea: You created the "Starter" service to insure certain code is executed before anything else. Would it be possible to add the ability to specify a "main" layout in the starter sub that would be applied to the Main activity BEFORE it gets displayed? This way it wont briefly display the "default" layout for the Main activity, then have to change to the desired layout.

 

[JohnC]

And if this happens when loading subsequent activities while an app if running (but I haven't noticed this yet), maybe you could create a new parameter for StartActivity call:

StartActivity("setup","config")

Where the second param is the layout you want the new activity to use before it is displayed.

 

[Erel]

It is not possible to load the layout before the activity size is known.

Use AppCompat: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/t...le-with-older-android-versions.48423/#content
It uses its own toolbar to implement a more sophisticated action bar and the theme doesn't include an action bar so you won't see it when your program starts.

 

[JohnC]

Thanks, I'll give that a shot... but just to make sure I understand all this correctly...

1) Because my app doesn't have a titlebar/actionbar, then 4.0+ devices that don't have a dedicated menu button will have nowhere to put the menu/overflow 3-dot menu icon, so it wont appear anywhere in my app - is this right?

2) Accordingly, then it's my responsibility to put the 3-dot icon in the top right corner of my app (in the AppCompat toolbar) and display the app's menu programmically using "Activity.OpenMenu" when the user clicks it. Is this right?

 

[JohnC]

Also, do you know if/how Android Studio developers get around this issue?

 

[Cableguy]

easy enough, create a splash screen with black background!

 

[JohnC]

That just substitutes one not great visual with another - it's still not a proper fix.

 

[Cableguy]

if you take a good look at most "heavy" starting app, like the most famous games, they all do it... it does not make your app less professional... and gives the user something visual to "occupy" his time waiting for the app to start