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androidoverlaytoastgoogle-tv

How to implement toast overlay in Google TV

Im creating an application for Google TV. I am trying to create a custom toast overlay over the top of the broadcast.

I have created the custom toast as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="@+id/custom_toast_layout_id"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#FFF"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="5dp" >

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/text"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:textColor="#000" />

</LinearLayout>

and implemented it in the view of the googleTV app:

     LayoutInflater inflater = getLayoutInflater();

            View layout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.main,
            (ViewGroup) findViewById(R.id.custom_toast_layout_id));

            // Toast...
            Toast toast = new Toast(getApplicationContext());
            toast.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL, 0, 0);
            toast.setDuration(Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
            toast.setView(layout);
            toast.show();

My question is how do i make this app show the normal broadcast information in the app so that I can trigger this overlay during viewing?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Solution

  • Here are some ways of doing this:

    1. You can create an app the user has to explicitly launch every time before they want to see this kind of toast on their live broadcast. The app will have a transparent activity and then display the toast or just a view with the information. Your activity will block all other interactions with the broadcast like changing channels.

    2. Invoke the toast or transparent activity from a service. Look at this open sourced app: https://github.com/entertailion/Overlay-for-GTV

    3. Instead of the toast or transparent view, you can also use a system alert window which is supported by Android to overlay a view on top of any other activity. You need "android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW" in your manifest and you need to set the window type to "WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_SYSTEM_ALERT".