How to make any view to draw to canvas?

Question

I have a short question:

Suppose I have a (mutable) bitmap that I need to modify (add images, texts, etc...) .

Instead of messing around with many special cl

Answer 1

Yeah, you can do this. Keep in mind, since you're not attaching it to a layout, you'll need to lay it out manually before drawing it:

view.layout(0, 0, viewWidth, viewHeight);

And unless you just know exactly what you want for those width and height parameters, you may also want to measure it first:

int widthSpec = MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec (ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED;
int heightSpec = MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec (400, MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED;
view.measure(widthSpec, heightSpec);
view.layout(0, 0, view.getMeasuredWidth(), view.getMeasuredHeight());

EDIT:

If you already know the width and height you need:

//Lay the view out with the known dimensions
view.layout (0, 0, rect.width(), rect.height());

//Translate the canvas so the view is drawn at the proper coordinates
canvas.save();
canvas.translate(rect.left, rect.top);

//Draw the View and clear the translation
view.draw(canvas);
canvas.restore();

EDIT again:

Yes, tested. You can try this yourself:

public class DrawingActivity extends Activity {
    public void onCreate (Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        //Set a Rect for the 200 x 200 px center of a 400 x 400 px area
        Rect rect = new Rect();
        rect.set(100, 100, 300, 300);

        //Allocate a new Bitmap at 400 x 400 px
        Bitmap bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(400, 400, Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
        Canvas canvas = new Canvas(bitmap);

        //Make a new view and lay it out at the desired Rect dimensions
        TextView view = new TextView(this);
        view.setText("This is a custom drawn textview");
        view.setBackgroundColor(Color.RED);
        view.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);

        //Measure the view at the exact dimensions (otherwise the text won't center correctly)
        int widthSpec = View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(rect.width(), View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY);
        int heightSpec = View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(rect.height(), View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY);
        view.measure(widthSpec, heightSpec);

        //Lay the view out at the rect width and height
        view.layout(0, 0, rect.width(), rect.height());

        //Translate the Canvas into position and draw it
        canvas.save();
        canvas.translate(rect.left, rect.top);
        view.draw(canvas);
        canvas.restore();

        //To make sure it works, set the bitmap to an ImageView
        ImageView imageView = new ImageView(this);
        imageView.setLayoutParams(new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT));
        setContentView(imageView);
        imageView.setScaleType(ImageView.ScaleType.CENTER);
        imageView.setImageBitmap(bitmap);
    }
}