Android – border for button

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The question:

How do I add a border to a button? Is it possible to do this without resorting to use of images?

The Solutions:

Below are the methods you can try. The first solution is probably the best. Try others if the first one doesn’t work. Senior developers aren’t just copying/pasting – they read the methods carefully & apply them wisely to each case.

Method 1

Step 1 : Create file named : my_button_bg.xml

Step 2 : Place this file in res/drawables.xml

Step 3 : Insert below code

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:shape="rectangle">
  <gradient android:startColor="#FFFFFF" 
    android:endColor="#00FF00"
    android:angle="270" />
  <corners android:radius="3dp" />
  <stroke android:width="5px" android:color="#000000" />
</shape>

Step 4: Use code “android:background=”@drawable/my_button_bg” where needed eg below:

<Button
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Your Text"
    android:background="@drawable/my_button_bg"
    />

Method 2

• Android Official Solution

Since Android Design Support v28 was introduced, it’s easy to create a bordered button using MaterialButton. This class supplies updated Material styles for the button in the constructor. Using app:strokeColor and app:strokeWidth you can create a custom border as following:

1. When you use androidx:

build.gradle

dependencies {
    implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.1.0'
    implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.0.0'
}

• Bordered Button:

<com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Colored"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="MATERIAL BUTTON"
    android:textSize="15sp"
    app:strokeColor="@color/green"
    app:strokeWidth="2dp" />

• Unfilled Bordered Button:

<com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="UNFILLED MATERIAL BUTTON"
    android:textColor="@color/green"
    android:textSize="15sp"
    app:backgroundTint="@android:color/transparent"
    app:cornerRadius="8dp"
    app:rippleColor="#33AAAAAA"
    app:strokeColor="@color/green"
    app:strokeWidth="2dp" />

2. When you use appcompat:

build.gradle

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.android.support:design:28.0.0'
}

style.xml

Ensure your application theme inherits from Theme.MaterialComponents instead of Theme.AppCompat.

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.MaterialComponents.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
</style>

• Bordered Button:

<android.support.design.button.MaterialButton
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="MATERIAL BUTTON"
    android:textSize="15sp"
    app:strokeColor="@color/green"
    app:strokeWidth="2dp" />

• Unfilled Bordered Button:

<android.support.design.button.MaterialButton
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="UNFILLED MATERIAL BUTTON"
    android:textColor="@color/green"
    android:textSize="15sp"
    app:backgroundTint="@android:color/transparent"
    app:cornerRadius="8dp"
    app:rippleColor="#33AAAAAA"
    app:strokeColor="@color/green"
    app:strokeWidth="2dp" />

Visual Result

Android - border for button

Method 3

Create a button_border.xml file in your drawable folder.

res/drawable/button_border.xml

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

    <solid android:color="#FFDA8200" />

    <stroke
        android:width="3dp"
        android:color="#FFFF4917" />

</shape>

And add button to your XML activity layout and set background android:background="@drawable/button_border".

<Button
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@drawable/button_border"
    android:text="Button Border" />

Method 4

create drawable/button_green.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:shape="rectangle">
  <gradient
    android:startColor="#003000"
    android:centerColor="#006000"
    android:endColor="#003000"
    android:angle="270" />
  <corners android:radius="5dp" />
  <stroke android:width="2px" android:color="#007000" />
</shape>

and point it out as @drawable/button_green:

<Button
        android:id="@+id/button1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:background="@drawable/button_green"
        android:text="Button" />

Method 5

Please look here about creating a shape drawable
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/drawable-resource.html#Shape

Once you have done this, in the XML for your button set android:background="@drawable/your_button_border"

Method 6

If your button does not require a transparent background, then you can create an illusion of a border using a Frame Layout. Just adjust the FrameLayout’s “padding” attribute to change the thickness of the border.

<FrameLayout
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:padding="1sp"
        android:background="#000000">
        <Button
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Your text goes here"
            android:background="@color/white"
            android:textColor="@color/black"
            android:padding="10sp"
            />
</FrameLayout>

I’m not sure if the shape xml files have dynamically-editable border colors. But I do know that with this solution, you can dynamically change the color of the border by setting the FrameLayout background.

Method 7

In your XML layout:

<Button
    android:id="@+id/cancelskill"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginLeft="25dp"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    android:background="@drawable/button_border"
    android:padding="10dp"
    android:text="Cancel"
    android:textAllCaps="false"
    android:textColor="#ffffff"
    android:textSize="20dp" />

In the drawable folder, create a file for the button’s border style:

<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="rectangle" >
    <stroke
        android:width="1dp"
        android:color="#f43f10" />
</shape>

And in your Activity:

    GradientDrawable gd1 = new GradientDrawable();
    gd1.setColor(0xFFF43F10); // Changes this drawbale to use a single color instead of a gradient
    gd1.setCornerRadius(5);
    gd1.setStroke(1, 0xFFF43F10);

    cancelskill.setBackgroundDrawable(gd1);

    cancelskill.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            cancelskill.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#ffffff"));
            cancelskill.setTextColor(Color.parseColor("#f43f10"));

            GradientDrawable gd = new GradientDrawable();

            gd.setColor(0xFFFFFFFF); // Changes this drawbale to use a single color instead of a gradient
            gd.setCornerRadius(5);
            gd.setStroke(1, 0xFFF43F10);
            cancelskill.setBackgroundDrawable(gd);

            finish();
        }
    });

Method 8

I know its about a year late, but you can also create a 9 path image
There’s a tool that comes with android SDK which helps in creating such image
See this link: http://developer.android.com/tools/help/draw9patch.html

PS: the image can be infinitely scaled as well

Method 9

<com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton
                android:id="@+id/addBtn"
                style="@style/Widget.MaterialComponents.Button.OutlinedButton"
                android:layout_width="150dp"
                android:layout_height="80dp"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:backgroundTint="@android:color/transparent"
                android:textColor="@color/blue"
                app:cornerRadius="8dp"
                app:strokeColor="@color/blue"
                app:strokeWidth="2dp"/>

Method 10

With the Material components library just use a MaterialButton with the Widget.MaterialComponents.Button.OutlinedButton style.

<com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton
   ....
   style="?attr/materialButtonOutlinedStyle"
   app:strokeColor="@color/colorPrimary"/>

Android - border for button

With Jetpack compose use an OutlinedButton:

OutlinedButton(
    onClick = { },
    border = BorderStroke(1.dp, Color.Blue),
) {
    Text(text = "BORDER")
}

Android - border for button

Method 11

In your drawable folder create a drawable file called gradient_btn
and paste the code below

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle">
<gradient android:startColor="#7BF8C6"
    android:centerColor="#9DECAD"
    android:endColor="#7BF8C6"
    android:angle="270" />
<corners
    android:topLeftRadius="15dp"
    android:topRightRadius="15dp"
    android:bottomLeftRadius="15dp"
    android:bottomRightRadius="15dp"
    />
<stroke android:width="3px" android:color="#000000" />

</shape>

Then in your Button code in xml call the file you created:

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button"
        android:background="@drawable/gradient_btn"/>

Output – Will be a button with gradient and border.

Note – You can change the Hexa decimal codes of the buttons as you wish and also you can change the stroke width.


All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0

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