Android SeekBar with Examples

In android, SeekBar is an extension of ProgressBar control with a draggable thumb. The SeekBar allow users to touch the thumb and drag left or right to set the current progress levels.

The android SeekBar is a one of the useful UI element and it provide a user interface to select the integer values within the defined range.

Following is the pictorial representation of using a SeekBar in android applications.

By using draggable thumb in SeekBar we can slide left or right to choose a value between 0 and maximum integer value which we defined using android:max attribute. An example of SeekBar is our device Brightness control or volume control.

In android, by using SeekBar.OnSeekBarChangeListener listener we can notify the client, when the progress level of seekbar has been changed.

Create Android SeekBar in XML Layout File

In android, we can create SeekBar in XML layout file using <SeekBar> element with different attributes like as shown below.

<SeekBar android:id="@+id/seekBar1"
    android:layout_width=" wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:max="100"
    android:indeterminate="false"
    android:progress="50" />

If you observe above code snippet, we defined a seekbar (<SeekBar>) with different attributes, those are

Attribute	Description
android:id	It is used to uniquely identify the control
android:indeterminate	It is used to show the cyclic animation in seekbar without an indication of progress.
android:max	It is used to set the maximum value of seekbar.
android:progress	It is used to set the default progress value between 0 and max. It must be an integer value.

In anroid, the SeekBar supports two types of modes to show the progress, those are Determinate and Indeterminate.

Android SeekBar with Determinate Mode

Generally, we use the Determinate progress mode in seekbar when we want to show the quantity of progress has occurred. For example, the percentage of file downloaded, number of records inserted into database, etc.

Following is the example which shows a Determinate seekbar that is 50% completes.

<SeekBar
    android:id="@+id/seekBar1"
    android:layout_width="300dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:max="100"
    android:progress="50" />

The above code snippet will show the SeekBar like as shown below

Generally, when the progress value reaches 100 then the progress bar is full. By using android:max attribute we can adjust this value. 

Android SeekBar with Indeterminate Mode

Generally, we use the Indeterminate progress mode in seekbar when we don’t know how long an operation will take or how much work has done.

In indeterminate mode the actual progress will not be shown, only the cyclic animation will be shown to indicate that some progress is happing.

Following is the example to set Indeterminate progress mode in XML layout file.

<SeekBar android:id="@+id/seekBar1"
    android:layout_width="300dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:max="100"
    android:indeterminate="true"
    android:progress="0" />

The above code snippet will show the SeekBar like as shown below.

This is how we can define the Progress modes in SeekBar based on our requirements in android applications.

Android SeekBar Control Attributes

Following are the some of commonly used attributes related to SeekBar control in android applications.

Attribute	Description
android:id	It is used to uniquely identify the control
android:max	It is used to specify the maximum value of the progress can take
android:progress	It is used to specify default progress value.
android:background	It is used to set the background color for progress bar.
android:indeterminate	It is used to enable indeterminate progress mode.
android:padding	It is used to set the padding for left, right, top or bottom of progress bar.
android:progressDrawable	It is used to set the custom drawable xml for the progress mode of a seekbar.
android:thumb	It is used to set the thumb icon on seekbar to drag left or right.

Android SeekBar Control Example

Following is the example of defining a SeekBar control and TextView control in RelativeLayout to get the progress changes in seekbar using SeekBar changed listener event.

Create a new android application using android studio and give names as SeekBarExample. In case if you are not aware of creating an app in android studio check this article Android Hello World App.

Now open an activity_main.xml file from \res\layout path and write the code like as shown below

activity_main.xml

<?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">
    <SeekBar
        android:id="@+id/seekBar1"
        android:layout_width="300dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="40dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="200dp"
        android:max="100"
        android:indeterminate="false"
        android:progress="0" />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textview1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/seekBar1"
        android:layout_below="@+id/seekBar1"
        android:layout_marginTop="40dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="130dp"
        android:textSize="20dp"
        android:textStyle="bold"/>
</RelativeLayout>

If you observe above code we created a one SeekBar control and one TextView control in XML Layout file.

Once we are done with creation of layout with required controls, we need to load the XML layout resource from our activity onCreate() callback method, for that open main activity file MainActivity.java from \java\com.tutlane.seekbarexample path and write the code like as shown below.

MainActivity.java

package com.tutlane.seekbarexample;import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;import android.os.Bundle;import android.widget.SeekBar;import android.widget.TextView;
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    private SeekBar sBar;
    private TextView tView;
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        sBar = (SeekBar) findViewById(R.id.seekBar1);
        tView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textview1);
        tView.setText(sBar.getProgress() + "/" + sBar.getMax());
        sBar.setOnSeekBarChangeListener(new SeekBar.OnSeekBarChangeListener() {
            int pval = 0;
            @Override
            public void onProgressChanged(SeekBar seekBar, int progress, boolean fromUser) {
                pval = progress;
            }
            @Override
            public void onStartTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
            //write custom code to on start progress
            }
            @Override
            public void onStopTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
                tView.setText(pval + "/" + seekBar.getMax());
            }
        });
    }
}

If you observe above code we are calling our layout using setContentView method in the form of R.layout.layout_file_name in our activity file. Here our xml file name is activity_main.xml so we used file name activity_main and we are trying to show the progress of task in seek bar on progress change event.

Generally, during the launch of our activity, onCreate() callback method will be called by android framework to get the required layout for an activity.

Output of Android SeekBar Example

When we run above example using android virtual device (AVD) we will get a result like as shown below.

If you observe above result, we are able to start showing the progress of task in seek bar when we click on it in android application.

This is how we can use SeekBar control in android applications to show the progress of task or work based on our requirements.