Floating Action Buttons (FABs) are essential elements in modern Android app design. They serve as a prominent action button that floats above the UI. This blog post will guide you on how to implement a Custom Floating Action Button that is not only easy to use but also customizable to fit your app’s aesthetic.

What is the Custom Floating Action Button?

The Custom Floating Action Button replaces the standard FAB from Google’s Support Library. It allows you to go beyond the limitations of the default button by offering usability and customization options such as adding text, changing shapes, and styling.

This library, however, is no longer supported, so users are encouraged to consider alternatives.

Setup Instructions

To get started, you should add the following dependencies to your project.

Project-Level Gradle File

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

Module-Level Gradle File

Depending on your project setup (Groovy or Kotlin), add the following line:

Gradle (Groovy)

implementation 'com.robertlevonyan.view:CustomFloatingActionButton:LATEST_VERSION'

Kotlin

implementation(com.robertlevonyan.view:CustomFloatingActionButton:$LATEST_VERSION)

Maven

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.robertlevonyan.view</groupId>
    <artifactId>CustomFloatingActionButton</artifactId>
    <version>LATEST_VERSION</version>
    <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

Usage Instructions

To use the Custom Floating Action Button, define it in your XML layout as follows:

<com.robertlevonyan.views.customfloatingactionbutton.FloatingActionButton
    android:id="@+id/custom_fab"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="bottom|end"
    />

More Layout Options

The Custom Floating Action Button comes with various layout configurations:

• Circle Layout
• Rounded Square Layout
• Square Layout

Attributes for Customization

You have various attributes you can customize:

• app:fabType: Set to circle (default), square, or roundedSquare
• app:fabSizes: Choose between normal (default) and mini
• app:fabElevation: Adjust the elevation for a shadow effect
• app:fabColor: Change the button color
• app:fabIcon: Use custom icons

How to Customize Programmatically

Now, let’s put on our coding hats! Once you instantiate the FloatingActionButton, you can customize it through code. Here’s an analogy to help you understand this section better: think of a Floating Action Button as a blank canvas that you can paint in a way that represents your app’s personality.

// Set button type
floatingActionButton.fabType = FabType.FAB_TYPE_CIRCLE;

// Set button size
floatingActionButton.fabSize = FabSize.FAB_SIZE_MINI;

// Set button properties
floatingActionButton.fabColor = myFabColor;
floatingActionButton.fabIcon = myFabIconDrawable;

Setting Up Listeners

You can also set listeners for menu expansion. Here’s how you can do that:

floatingLayout.setOnMenuExpandedListener(new 
    FloatingLayout.OnMenuExpandedListener() {
        @Override
        public void onMenuExpanded() {
            // Code when expanded
        }

        @Override
        public void onMenuCollapsed() {
            // Code when collapsed
        }
    }
);

Troubleshooting

If you run into issues while implementing this custom FAB, consider the following troubleshooting ideas:

• Ensure you have the correct dependency version in your Gradle files.
• Check if your XML layout property values are correctly set.
• Verify your API level is compatible with the library’s requirements.

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