How to create custom RatingBar in Android

A RatingBar is an extension of SeekBar and ProgressBar that shows a rating in stars. The user can touch/drag or use arrow keys to set the rating when using the default size RatingBar.

In this tutorial, we show you how to create custom RatingBar and use it in Android.  

Here is a result of this tutorial:

This project is developed in Eclipse 4.2.0.

1. Make main layout with some components.

<LinearLayout

    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 

    android:layout_width="match_parent"

    android:layout_height="wrap_content"

    android:orientation="vertical"

    android:gravity="center">

        <Button

        android:id="@+id/button1"

        android:layout_width="fill_parent"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:layout_marginBottom="20dp"

        android:text="Rate 5 star for RatingBar"  

            />

        <RatingBar

           android:layout_width="wrap_content"

           android:layout_height="50dp"

           android:layout_marginBottom="20dp"

           style="@style/StarRatingBar"

           android:id="@+id/ratingbar_default"

           />  

        <TextView

        android:id="@+id/textView"

        android:layout_width="fill_parent"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:gravity="center"

        android:text="show state up checkbox"

        android:textColor="#CC00CC"

        android:textSize="20dp"

        /> 

</LinearLayout> 

By default the RatingBar have 5 stars icon to set the rating value and the step size default is 0.5. These default can be change by add some android attributes in xml layout like:

        android:numStars="4"

        android:stepSize="1.0"

We custom RatingBar by define a new style for it

<resources>

    <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Light" />

        <style name="StarRatingBar" parent="@android:style/Widget.RatingBar">

        <item name="android:progressDrawable">@drawable/star_rating_bar_full</item>

        <item name="android:minHeight">48dip</item>

        <item name="android:maxHeight">48dip</item>

    </style>

</resources>

Create star_rating_bar_full.xml in drawable folder

<?xmlversion="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item android:id="@+android:id/background"

          android:drawable="@drawable/star_ratingbar_full_empty"/>

    <item android:id="@+android:id/secondaryProgress"

          android:drawable="@drawable/star_ratingbar_full_empty"/>

    <item android:id="@+android:id/progress"

          android:drawable="@drawable/star_ratingbar_full_filled"/>

</layer-list>

res/drawable/star_ratingbar_empty.xml

<?xmlversion="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<!-- This is the rating bar drawable that is used to

 show a filled star. -->

<selector

xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

<itemandroid:state_pressed="true"

      android:state_window_focused="true"

      android:drawable="@drawable/star2" />

<itemandroid:state_focused="true"

      android:state_window_focused="true"

      android:drawable="@drawable/star2"/>

<itemandroid:state_selected="true"

      android:state_window_focused="true"

      android:drawable="@drawable/star2"/>

<itemandroid:drawable="@drawable/star2" />

</selector>

res/drawable/star_ratingbar_fillled.xml

<?xmlversion="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<selector

xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

<itemandroid:state_pressed="true"

      android:state_window_focused="true"

      android:drawable="@drawable/star3"/>

<itemandroid:state_focused="true"

      android:state_window_focused="true"

      android:drawable="@drawable/star1"/>

<itemandroid:state_selected="true"

      android:state_window_focused="true"

      android:drawable="@drawable/star1"/>

<itemandroid:drawable="@drawable/star1" />

</selector>

2. Code

2.1. When User click on RatingBar the selected rating value will be displayed in the textview

ratingBar_default.setOnRatingBarChangeListener(new RatingBar.OnRatingBarChangeListener(){

    @Override

    public void onRatingChanged(RatingBar ratingBar, float rating,

           boolean fromUser) {

           // TODO Auto-generated method stub

           text.setText("Rating: "+String.valueOf(rating));

}});

2.2. And if user clicks on the button, the value of RatingBar will set by 5 stars.

final Button button = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button1);

button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

     public void onClick(View v) {

       ratingBar_default.setRating(5);

       text.setText("Rating: "+String.valueOf(ratingBar_default.getRating())); 

     }

});

3.DEMO

3.1. Click on RatingBar

3.2. Click on Button

  

You can download all source code of this tutorial at here

Reference: http://kozyr.zydako.net/2010/05/23/pretty-ratingbar/