This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
3.6. AndroidManifest.xml
In this section, you’ll modify the AndroidManifest.xml file to specify that this app’s Activity supports only a device’s portrait orientation and that the soft keypad should always remain on the screen. You’ll use the IDE’s Android Manifest editor to specify these settings. To open the Android Manifest editor, double click the app’s AndroidManifest.xml file in the Package Explorer. At the bottom of the editor, click the Application tab (Fig. 3.17), then select the MainActivity node in the Application Nodes section at the bottom of the window. This displays settings for the MainActivity in the Attributes for com.deitel.tipcalculator.MainActivity section.
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Fig. 3.17 | Andro Manifest editor’s Application tab.
Configuring MainActivity for Portrait Orientation
In general, most apps should support both portrait and landscape orientations. In portrait orientation, the device’s height is greater than its width. In landscape orientation, the device’s width is greater than its height. In the Tip Calculator app, rotating the device to landscape orientation on a typical phone would cause the numeric keypad to obscure most of the Tip Calculator’s GUI. For this reason, you’ll configure MainActivity to support only portrait orientation. In the Android Manifest editor’s Attributes for com.deitel.tipcalculator.MainActivity section, scroll down to the Screen orientation option and select portrait.
Forcing the Soft Keypad to Always Display for MainActivity
In the Tip Calculator app, the soft keypad should be displayed immediately when the app executes and should remain on the screen at all times. In the Android Manifest editor’s Attributes for com.deitel.tipcalculator.MainActivity section, scroll down to the Window soft input mode option and select stateAlwaysVisible. Note that this will not display the soft keyboard if a hard keyboard is present.