How to add a button to PreferenceScreen

I know this is a bit late, but I just found a solution i like better than Max's praised solution.

You can simply add a footer (or if you like the button to be on top, a header) to the PreferenceActivity's ListView like so:

public class MyActivity extends PreferenceActivity {
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.preferences);
        ListView v = getListView();
        v.addFooterView(new Button(this));
    }
}

I hope this helps someone.


This example below will render a button at the bottom of the page (in case anybody is still interested).

In case of a LinearLayout you could also apply weights; this is needed because the Listview is set to *fill_parent*. I usually do this by adding *android:layout_weight* 's:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
              android:layout_width="fill_parent"
              android:layout_height="fill_parent"
              android:orientation="vertical">
    <ListView android:id="@android:id/list"
              android:layout_width="fill_parent"
              android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="10"/>
    <Button android:text="This is a button on top of all preferences."
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_weight="1"/>
</LinearLayout>

The explanation below isn't propbably 100% but it will help you understand...

+-- View Port (linear layout)
| +-- List View (this is where the preferences will go)
| |
| |
| +--
+--
  +--
  | Button (which was pushed out of view by the fillparent of ListView
  +--

You could also say, because the Button has no weight; the button is rendered at 0dp height.

Now with the layout_weigths added it will lett the button render inview

+-- View Port (linear layout)
| +-- List View (this is where the preferences will go)
| |
| |
| +--
| +--
| | Button (which was pushed out of view by the fillparent of ListView
| +--
+--

There is another solution for customizing the appearance of the preferences.

Design a normal XML layout with buttons or whatever you want to add to the standard preferences. Include a ListView in your layout and give it the ID @android:id/list.

Let's say we call the layout file res/layout/main.xml. It could look something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
              android:layout_width="match_parent"
              android:layout_height="match_parent"
              android:orientation="vertical">
    <Button android:text="This is a button on top of all preferences."
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
    <ListView android:id="@android:id/list"
              android:layout_width="match_parent"
              android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>

In your PreferenceActivity, add these two lines to your onCreate:

addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.preferences);
setContentView(R.layout.main);

The ListView in your layout will then be replaced by the preferences defined the usual way in res/xml/preferences.xml.


Actually, there is a solution. Here is a code, i hope, this will be useful for anyone. It looks like 3 options and 2 buttons in the bottom of the screen, independent of screen resolution (was targeted to 240 as lowest)

package com.myapplication.gui;

import android.app.AlertDialog;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.DialogInterface;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.preference.Preference;
import android.preference.PreferenceActivity;
import android.preference.PreferenceScreen;
import android.view.Display;
import android.view.Gravity;
import android.view.WindowManager;
import android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.ScrollView;
import com.myproject.general.HeightListView;

import com.myapplication.R;

public class FilterActivity extends PreferenceActivity {

    private LinearLayout rootView; 
    private LinearLayout buttonView; 
    private Button buttonDone;
    private Button buttonRevert;
    private ListView preferenceView; 
    private LinearLayout gradientView;
    private ScrollView scrollRoot;

    @Override 
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { 
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); 

        Display display = ((WindowManager) getSystemService(Context.WINDOW_SERVICE)).getDefaultDisplay(); 
        int height = display.getHeight();
        int width = height > 240 ? display.getWidth() : display.getWidth() - 4;

        scrollRoot = new ScrollView(this);
        scrollRoot.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));

        rootView = new LinearLayout(this); 
        rootView.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT)); 
        rootView.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);

        buttonView = new LinearLayout(this); 
        buttonView.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));
        buttonView.setOrientation(LinearLayout.HORIZONTAL);
        buttonView.setGravity(Gravity.BOTTOM);

        gradientView = new LinearLayout(this);
        gradientView.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
        gradientView.setOrientation(LinearLayout.HORIZONTAL);
        gradientView.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.gradient);
        gradientView.setPadding(0, 5, 0, 0);
        gradientView.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.gradient);

        buttonDone = new Button(this); 
        buttonDone.setText(R.string.filterButton_Done); 
        buttonDone.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(width/2, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
        gradientView.addView(buttonDone);

        buttonRevert = new Button(this); 
        buttonRevert.setText(R.string.filterButton_Revert);
        buttonRevert.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(width/2, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
        gradientView.addView(buttonRevert);

        buttonView.addView(gradientView);

        preferenceView = new HeightListView(this); 
        preferenceView.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT)); 
        preferenceView.setId(android.R.id.list); 

        PreferenceScreen screen = createPreferenceHierarchy(); 
        screen.bind(preferenceView); 
        preferenceView.setAdapter(screen.getRootAdapter()); 
        rootView.addView(preferenceView);
        rootView.addView(buttonView);

        if (height > 240) {
            this.setContentView(rootView);
        }
        else {
            scrollRoot.addView(rootView);
            this.setContentView(scrollRoot);
        }

        setPreferenceScreen(screen); 
    } 

    private PreferenceScreen createPreferenceHierarchy() {        
        PreferenceScreen root = getPreferenceManager().createPreferenceScreen(this);

        PreferenceScreen pref1 = getPreferenceManager().createPreferenceScreen(this);
        pref1.setKey("pref1");
        pref1.setTitle("Title");
        pref1.setSummary("Summary");
        root.addPreference(pref1); 

        PreferenceScreen pref2 = getPreferenceManager().createPreferenceScreen(this);
        pref2.setKey("pref2");
        pref2.setTitle("Title");
        pref2.setSummary("Summary");
        root.addPreference(pref2); 

        PreferenceScreen pref3 = getPreferenceManager().createPreferenceScreen(this);
        pref3.setKey("pref3");
        pref3.setTitle("Title");
        pref3.setSummary("Summary");
        root.addPreference(pref3); 

        return root; 
    } 
}