Progress Bars in Android: An Overview

Learn everything about implementing progress bars in Android applications in our latest blog post! From explaining ProgressBar attributes to practical implementation in a sample project – dive into the world of user interaction and enhance your app experience.

What is an Android ProgressBar?

An Android ProgressBar is a graphical display indicator representing progress. A progress bar in Android displays a bar indicating the progress of a task. The progress bar in Android is useful as it gives the user an idea of when the task will be completed. Using a ProgressBar is good practice for user experience as it indicates the progress status of the given task (e.g., downloading an image) to the user.

Attributes of the Android ProgressBar

Some important attributes describing a ProgressBar are:

• android:max: This sets the maximum value of the ProgressBar. By default, the maximum value of the progress bar is 100.
• android:indeterminate: A boolean value indicating whether the time is determinate or not. If set to “false,” the actual progress is shown; otherwise, when set to “true,” a cyclic animation is displayed to indicate progress.
• android:minHeight: Sets the height of the ProgressBar.
• android:minWidth: Sets the width of the ProgressBar.
• android:progress: Sets the number to increase the progress bar value by.
• style: By default, the progress bar is displayed as a spinning wheel. If we want it to be displayed as a horizontal bar, we need to set the attribute as follows: style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleHorizontal"

Sample Project Structure of the Android ProgressBar

This project consists of a single activity and a layout containing both types of progress bars.

Source Code of the Android ProgressBar

The activity_main.xml contains a RelativeLayout as the parent view, which includes both a horizontal ProgressBar and a circular ProgressBar, as well as a TextView to display the progress in numerical form.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:padding="16dp">

        <!-- Horizontal ProgressBar -->
        <ProgressBar
            android:id="@+id/horizontalProgressBar"
            style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleHorizontal"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:max="100"
            android:progress="0"
            android:layout_centerInParent="true"
            android:layout_marginBottom="16dp" />

        <!-- Circular ProgressBar -->
        <ProgressBar
            android:id="@+id/circularProgressBar"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@id/horizontalProgressBar"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:indeterminate="true"
            android:layout_marginTop="16dp" />

        <!-- TextView to display progress -->
        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/progressTextView"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@id/circularProgressBar"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
            android:text="Progress: 0%" />

    </RelativeLayout>

The progress bar is updated in the MainActivity.java using setProgress(). A handler is used to run the background thread, which continues until the progress status value reaches 100.

Conclusion

Implementing a progress bar in Android can enhance the user experience by providing a visual indication of the progress of a task. By understanding the various attributes and methods of the ProgressBar, developers can design a user-friendly interface that clearly and attractively represents progress.