TimePicker in PreferenceScreen

Question

I'd like to create a preference field called Interval and I want to be able to popup a TimePicker and set a mm:ss formated value with minimal value 00:30 and step 30 seconds.

Is it possible to use TimePicker in PreferenceScreen ?

Answer 1

I have modified the code from first answer:

• it stores selected time in long form (milliseconds) which is easier to work with (using Calendar) then string
• it automatically shows selected time in summary field in user's format (12 or 24 hour)

Updated code:

public class TimePreference extends DialogPreference {
    private Calendar calendar;
    private TimePicker picker = null;

    public TimePreference(Context ctxt) {
        this(ctxt, null);
    }

    public TimePreference(Context ctxt, AttributeSet attrs) {
        this(ctxt, attrs, android.R.attr.dialogPreferenceStyle);
    }

    public TimePreference(Context ctxt, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(ctxt, attrs, defStyle);

        setPositiveButtonText(R.string.set);
        setNegativeButtonText(R.string.cancel);
        calendar = new GregorianCalendar();
    }

    @Override
    protected View onCreateDialogView() {
        picker = new TimePicker(getContext());
        return (picker);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onBindDialogView(View v) {
        super.onBindDialogView(v);
        picker.setCurrentHour(calendar.get(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY));
        picker.setCurrentMinute(calendar.get(Calendar.MINUTE));
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDialogClosed(boolean positiveResult) {
        super.onDialogClosed(positiveResult);

        if (positiveResult) {
            calendar.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, picker.getCurrentHour());
            calendar.set(Calendar.MINUTE, picker.getCurrentMinute());

            setSummary(getSummary());
            if (callChangeListener(calendar.getTimeInMillis())) {
                persistLong(calendar.getTimeInMillis());
                notifyChanged();
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected Object onGetDefaultValue(TypedArray a, int index) {
        return (a.getString(index));
    }

    @Override
    protected void onSetInitialValue(boolean restoreValue, Object defaultValue) {

        if (restoreValue) {
            if (defaultValue == null) {
                calendar.setTimeInMillis(getPersistedLong(System.currentTimeMillis()));
            } else {
                calendar.setTimeInMillis(Long.parseLong(getPersistedString((String) defaultValue)));
            }
        } else {
            if (defaultValue == null) {
                calendar.setTimeInMillis(System.currentTimeMillis());
            } else {
                calendar.setTimeInMillis(Long.parseLong((String) defaultValue));
            }
        }
        setSummary(getSummary());
    }

    @Override
    public CharSequence getSummary() {
        if (calendar == null) {
            return null;
        }
        return DateFormat.getTimeFormat(getContext()).format(new Date(calendar.getTimeInMillis()));
    }
} 

Answer 2

For those whom the implementation of a custom Preference isn't so obvious (like it wasn't for me), you have to add this to your preferences.xml or whatever you're calling it.

You'll end up with something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >

    <EditTextPreference
        android:key="editTextPref_Key"
        android:title="@string/editTextPref_title"/>
    <com.example.myapp.TimePreference
        android:key="timePrefA_Key"
        android:title="@string/timePrefA_title"/>    
    <com.example.myapp.TimePreference
        android:key="timePrefB_Key"
        android:title="@string/timePrefB_title"/>

</PreferenceScreen>

Assuming you added the TimePreference to your own root package:
(src/com/example/myapp/TimePreference.java)

Answer 3

For Preferences Support Library different code is needed. It requires two custom classes TimePreference and TimePreferenceDialogFragmentCompat, as well as overide of onDisplayPreferenceDialog method in PreferenceFragmentCompat extension class.

---

TimePreference.java

package com.test;

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.res.TypedArray;
import android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference;
import android.util.AttributeSet;

public class TimePreference extends DialogPreference
{
    public int hour = 0;
    public int minute = 0;

    public static int parseHour(String value)
    {
        try
        {
            String[] time = value.split(":");
            return (Integer.parseInt(time[0]));
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            return 0;
        }
    }

    public static int parseMinute(String value)
    {
        try
        {
            String[] time = value.split(":");
            return (Integer.parseInt(time[1]));
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            return 0;
        }
    }

    public static String timeToString(int h, int m)
    {
        return String.format("%02d", h) + ":" + String.format("%02d", m);
    }

    public TimePreference(Context context, AttributeSet attrs)
    {
        super(context, attrs);
    }

    @Override
    protected Object onGetDefaultValue(TypedArray a, int index)
    {
        return a.getString(index);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onSetInitialValue(boolean restoreValue, Object defaultValue)
    {
        String value;
        if (restoreValue)
        {
            if (defaultValue == null) value = getPersistedString("00:00");
            else value = getPersistedString(defaultValue.toString());
        }
        else
        {
            value = defaultValue.toString();
        }

        hour = parseHour(value);
        minute = parseMinute(value);
    }

    public void persistStringValue(String value)
    {
        persistString(value);
    }
}

TimePreferenceDialogFragmentCompat.java

package com.test;

import android.content.Context;
import android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference;
import android.support.v7.preference.Preference;
import android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceDialogFragmentCompat;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TimePicker;

public class TimePreferenceDialogFragmentCompat extends PreferenceDialogFragmentCompat implements DialogPreference.TargetFragment
{
    TimePicker timePicker = null;

    @Override
    protected View onCreateDialogView(Context context)
    {
        timePicker = new TimePicker(context);
        return (timePicker);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onBindDialogView(View v)
    {
        super.onBindDialogView(v);
        timePicker.setIs24HourView(true);
        TimePreference pref = (TimePreference) getPreference();
        timePicker.setCurrentHour(pref.hour);
        timePicker.setCurrentMinute(pref.minute);
    }

    @Override
    public void onDialogClosed(boolean positiveResult)
    {
        if (positiveResult)
        {
            TimePreference pref = (TimePreference) getPreference();
            pref.hour = timePicker.getCurrentHour();
            pref.minute = timePicker.getCurrentMinute();

            String value = TimePreference.timeToString(pref.hour, pref.minute);
            if (pref.callChangeListener(value)) pref.persistStringValue(value);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public Preference findPreference(CharSequence charSequence)
    {
        return getPreference();
    }
}

Required modifications in PreferenceFragmentCompat extension class

    public static class PreferencesFragment extends PreferenceFragmentCompat
    {
       ....

        @Override
        public void onDisplayPreferenceDialog(Preference preference)
        {
            DialogFragment dialogFragment = null;
            if (preference instanceof TimePreference)
            {
                dialogFragment = new TimePreferenceDialogFragmentCompat();
                Bundle bundle = new Bundle(1);
                bundle.putString("key", preference.getKey());
                dialogFragment.setArguments(bundle);
            }

            if (dialogFragment != null)
            {
                dialogFragment.setTargetFragment(this, 0);
                dialogFragment.show(this.getFragmentManager(), "android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragment.DIALOG");
            }
            else
            {
                super.onDisplayPreferenceDialog(preference);
            }
        }
    }

With above code time preference can be used in preferences xml file like this

<com.test.TimePreference
    android:key="some_time"
    android:title="Set some time"
    android:defaultValue="12:00"
    android:summary="Set some time"/>

Answer 4

CommonsWare's solution has a few problems, which I fixed:

• It doesn't update the field properly after it is changed
• The minutes value only persists a single digit, e.g. 10:2 instead of 10:02
• If you use PreferenceManager.setDefaultPreferences to set initial default preferences in your app, it won't work because onSetInitialValue needs to persist it
• The formatting of the result isn't tailored to the user's Locale (e.g. US uses AM/PM)

Here's my code, enjoy.

public class TimePreference extends DialogPreference {
    private int lastHour=0;
    private int lastMinute=0;
    private TimePicker picker=null;

    public static int getHour(String time) {
        String[] pieces=time.split(":");

        return(Integer.parseInt(pieces[0]));
    }

    public static int getMinute(String time) {
        String[] pieces=time.split(":");

        return(Integer.parseInt(pieces[1]));
    }

    public TimePreference(Context ctxt, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(ctxt, attrs);

        setPositiveButtonText("Set");
        setNegativeButtonText("Cancel");
    }

    @Override
    protected View onCreateDialogView() {
        picker=new TimePicker(getContext());

        return(picker);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onBindDialogView(View v) {
        super.onBindDialogView(v);

        picker.setCurrentHour(lastHour);
        picker.setCurrentMinute(lastMinute);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDialogClosed(boolean positiveResult) {
        super.onDialogClosed(positiveResult);

        if (positiveResult) {
            lastHour=picker.getCurrentHour();
            lastMinute=picker.getCurrentMinute();

            setSummary(getSummary());

            String lastMinuteString = String.valueOf(lastMinute);
            String time = String.valueOf(lastHour) + ":" + (lastMinuteString.length() == 1 ? "0" + lastMinuteString : lastMinuteString);

            if (callChangeListener(time)) {
                persistString(time);
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected Object onGetDefaultValue(TypedArray a, int index) {
        return(a.getString(index));
    }

    @Override
    protected void onSetInitialValue(boolean restoreValue, Object defaultValue) {

        String time;
        String defaultValueStr = (defaultValue != null) ? defaultValue.toString() : "00:00";
        if (restoreValue)
            time = getPersistedString(defaultValueStr);
        else {
            time = defaultValueStr;
            if (shouldPersist())
                persistString(defaultValueStr);
        }

        lastHour=getHour(time);
        lastMinute=getMinute(time);

        setSummary(getSummary());
    }

    @Override
    public CharSequence getSummary() {

        Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
        cal.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, lastHour);
        cal.set(Calendar.MINUTE, lastMinute);
        DateFormat sdf = SimpleDateFormat.getTimeInstance(SimpleDateFormat.SHORT);

        return sdf.format(cal.getTime());
    }

}

Answer 5

Like LEO87, I was seeing ClassCastException's. The problem was due to stale persisted data from a previous control of the same name. Possible solutions are to clear the app data, use a different name (key), or if you must use the same key name, catch the exception as follows:

@Override
protected void onSetInitialValue(boolean restoreValue, Object defaultValue) {
    if (restoreValue) {
        long persistedValue;
        try {
            persistedValue = getPersistedLong(System.currentTimeMillis());
        } catch (Exception e) {
            //Stale persisted data may be the wrong type
            persistedValue = System.currentTimeMillis();
        }
        calendar.setTimeInMillis(persistedValue);
    } else if (defaultValue != null) {
        calendar.setTimeInMillis(Long.parseLong((String) defaultValue));
    } else {
        //!restoreValue, defaultValue == null
        calendar.setTimeInMillis(System.currentTimeMillis());
    }

    setSummary(getSummary());
}

Answer 6

add this for Summary:

@Override
public CharSequence getSummary() {
    Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
    cal.set(Calendar.YEAR, Calendar.MONTH, Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, lastHour, lastMinute);
    return DateFormat.getTimeFormat(getContext()).format(new Date(cal.getTimeInMillis()));
}

and add

setSummary(getSummary());

to end of onSetInitialValue and onDialogClosed.