How to Create Intro Slider for Android App

A Intro Slider or Welcome Slider can take your app into another level. A intro slider on your Android app is one of the great ways to present the most important and major features of your app. In this article I am going to show you how to add an intro slider to your app where user can swipe through few slides before getting into app.

To demonstrate what is intro slider, I will create a sample app with couple of intro slides with a next and skip buttons. Below are the step I will discuss with you in this post.

Intro slider is build by ViewPager, so you can swap screen by fingers too. In real time android app intro slider display to user one time only, But in this post I am not including one time display function. You can use share preference to show intro slider only once on app launch.

If the user launches the app on second time, he should directly go to main screen. To achieve this, we use SharedPreferences to store a boolean value indicating first time launch.

1) Create Color code for slider
2) Create Introduction Of App
3) Create four Welcome Slider layout files
4) Create ViewPager on activity_welcome.xml
5) Control slider movement and make notification bar transparent
6) Run App on device

 

Login & Download source code

Creating New Project

Create a new project name as welcomeslider in Android Studio from File ⇒ New Project. When it prompts you to select the default activity, select Empty Activity and proceed.

Create Color code for slider

First I will select four background color for slider. You can choose your favorite color that match with your app theme. It’s completely upto you how you design the intro screens considering the type of app you are building.

For this example, I am placing a big image in centre and few texts below it. At the bottom, number of dots are placed indicating the number of slides it has.For every screen we need three colors i.e background color and two dot colors when it is active / inactive.

Open colors.xml located under res ⇒ values and add the below color values. You can see after adding the colors, I have kept them into arrays array_dot_active and array_dot_inactive, so that we can load them easily in our activity.

colors.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <color name="colorPrimary">#3F51B5</color>
    <color name="colorPrimaryDark">#303F9F</color>
    <color name="colorAccent">#FF4081</color>

    <!-- Screens background color-->
    <color name="bg_screen1">#d11141</color>
    <color name="bg_screen2">#00aedb</color>
    <color name="bg_screen3">#03396c</color>
    <color name="bg_screen4">#be29ec</color>

    <!-- dots inactive colors -->
    <color name="dot_dark_screen1">#d1395c</color>
    <color name="dot_dark_screen2">#14a895</color>
    <color name="dot_dark_screen3">#2278d4</color>
    <color name="dot_dark_screen4">#a854d4</color>

    <!-- dots active colors -->
    <color name="dot_light_screen1">#f98da5</color>
    <color name="dot_light_screen2">#8cf9eb</color>
    <color name="dot_light_screen3">#93c6fd</color>
    <color name="dot_light_screen4">#e4b5fc</color>

    <array name="array_dot_active">
        <item>@color/dot_light_screen1</item>
        <item>@color/dot_light_screen2</item>
        <item>@color/dot_light_screen3</item>
        <item>@color/dot_light_screen4</item>
    </array>

    <array name="array_dot_inactive">
        <item>@color/dot_dark_screen1</item>
        <item>@color/dot_dark_screen2</item>
        <item>@color/dot_dark_screen3</item>
        <item>@color/dot_dark_screen4</item>
    </array>
</resources>

 

Write Introduction of App

Open strings.xml located under res ⇒ values and add the below string values. Here I am mentioning a title and description for each slide.

<resources>
    <string name="app_name">Welcome Slider</string>
    <string name="title_activity_welcome">Home Screen</string>
    <string name="next">NEXT</string>
    <string name="skip">SKIP</string>
    <string name="start">GOT IT</string>

    <string name="slide_1_title">Cycling!</string>
    <string name="slide_1_desc">My passion for cycling never that much amazing before!</string>

    <string name="slide_2_title">Bike Ride</string>
    <string name="slide_2_desc">I love long drive bike ride with my friends!</string>

    <string name="slide_3_title">Pool Swimming</string>
    <string name="slide_3_desc">I can spend hours in swimmng pool with some food!</string>

    <string name="slide_4_title">Rowing</string>
    <string name="slide_4_desc">Wonder thunder ride in rowing in river always amazing!</string>

    <string name="welcomescreen"> Welcome to Home Screen</string>

</resources>

dimens.xml

<resources>
    <!-- Default screen margins, per the Android Design guidelines. -->
    <dimen name="activity_horizontal_margin">16dp</dimen>
    <dimen name="activity_vertical_margin">16dp</dimen>
    <dimen name="fab_margin">16dp</dimen>
    <dimen name="dots_height">30dp</dimen>
    <dimen name="dots_margin_bottom">20dp</dimen>
    <dimen name="img_width_height">120dp</dimen>
    <dimen name="slide_title">30dp</dimen>
    <dimen name="slide_desc">16dp</dimen>
    <dimen name="desc_padding">40dp</dimen>
</resources>

Create four Welcome Slider layout xml files

Now I am going to create 4 layout file, each layout file will represent to one of the slider. So quickly create four xml layouts named welcome_side1.xml,  welcome_side2.xml,  welcome_side3.xml and  welcome_side4.xml   under res ⇒ layouts.

welcome_slider1.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"
    android:background="@color/bg_screen1">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <ImageView
            android:layout_width="@dimen/img_width_height"
            android:layout_height="@dimen/img_width_height"
            android:src="@mipmap/ic_directions_bike" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/slide_1_title"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"
            android:textSize="@dimen/slide_title"
            android:textStyle="bold" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
            android:paddingLeft="@dimen/desc_padding"
            android:paddingRight="@dimen/desc_padding"
            android:text="@string/slide_1_desc"
            android:textAlignment="center"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"
            android:textSize="@dimen/slide_desc" />

    </LinearLayout>


</RelativeLayout>

welcome_slider2.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"
    android:background="@color/bg_screen2">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <ImageView
            android:layout_width="@dimen/img_width_height"
            android:layout_height="@dimen/img_width_height"
            android:src="@mipmap/ic_motorcycle_white_48dp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/slide_2_title"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"
            android:textSize="@dimen/slide_title"
            android:textStyle="bold" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
            android:paddingLeft="@dimen/desc_padding"
            android:paddingRight="@dimen/desc_padding"
            android:text="@string/slide_2_desc"
            android:textAlignment="center"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"
            android:textSize="@dimen/slide_desc" />

    </LinearLayout>


</RelativeLayout>

welcome_slider3.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"
    android:background="@color/bg_screen3">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <ImageView
            android:layout_width="@dimen/img_width_height"
            android:layout_height="@dimen/img_width_height"
            android:src="@mipmap/ic_pool_white_48dp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/slide_3_title"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"
            android:textSize="@dimen/slide_title"
            android:textStyle="bold" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
            android:paddingLeft="@dimen/desc_padding"
            android:paddingRight="@dimen/desc_padding"
            android:text="@string/slide_3_desc"
            android:textAlignment="center"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"
            android:textSize="@dimen/slide_desc" />

    </LinearLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

welcome_slider4.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"
    android:background="@color/bg_screen4">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <ImageView
            android:layout_width="@dimen/img_width_height"
            android:layout_height="@dimen/img_width_height"
            android:src="@mipmap/ic_rowing_white_48dp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/slide_4_title"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"
            android:textSize="@dimen/slide_title"
            android:textStyle="bold" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
            android:paddingLeft="@dimen/desc_padding"
            android:paddingRight="@dimen/desc_padding"
            android:text="@string/slide_4_desc"
            android:textAlignment="center"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"
            android:textSize="@dimen/slide_desc" />

    </LinearLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

Create ViewPager on activity_welcome.xml

Open activity_welcome.xml and modify the code as below. Here I am adding ViewPager for slider, LinearLayout for bottom dots and two buttons for Skip and Next navigation.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:showIn="@layout/activity_welcome">


    <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
        android:id="@+id/view_pager"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/layoutDots"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="@dimen/dots_height"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_marginBottom="@dimen/dots_margin_bottom"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:orientation="horizontal"></LinearLayout>

    <View
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="1dp"
        android:alpha=".5"
        android:layout_above="@id/layoutDots"
        android:background="@android:color/white" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btn_next"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:background="@null"
        android:text="@string/next"
        android:textColor="@android:color/white" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btn_skip"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:background="@null"
        android:text="@string/skip"
        android:textColor="@android:color/white" />

</RelativeLayout>

 

Create WelcomeActivity.java to control slider movement

Create a new java file name as WelcomeActivity.java . I am going to create a PagerAdapter for the ViewPager and inflated all the layouts we created earlier.

Added click event listener to Skip and Next buttons. If next button is clicked, next slide will be shown. If Skip button is clicked, main activity will be launched directly.

Also notification bar color should be change with slider movement. So to achieve this behavior I first check API version must be great than 21 than set windows setting.

package blueappsoftware.welcomeslider;

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter;
import android.support.v4.view.ViewPager;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.text.Html;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.view.Window;
import android.view.WindowManager;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class WelcomeActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private ViewPager viewPager;
    private MyViewPagerAdapter myViewPagerAdapter;
    private LinearLayout dotsLayout;
    private TextView[] dots;
    private int[] layouts;
    private Button btnSkip, btnNext;


    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        // Making notification bar transparent
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 21) {
            getWindow().getDecorView().setSystemUiVisibility(View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_STABLE | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_FULLSCREEN);
        }

        setContentView(R.layout.activity_welcome);

        viewPager = (ViewPager) findViewById(R.id.view_pager);
        dotsLayout = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.layoutDots);
        btnSkip = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btn_skip);
        btnNext = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btn_next);


        // layouts of all welcome sliders
        // add few more layouts if you want
        layouts = new int[]{
                R.layout.welcome_slide1,
                R.layout.welcome_slide2,
                R.layout.welcome_slide3,
                R.layout.welcome_slide4};

        // adding bottom dots
        addBottomDots(0);

        // making notification bar transparent
        changeStatusBarColor();

        myViewPagerAdapter = new MyViewPagerAdapter();
        viewPager.setAdapter(myViewPagerAdapter);
        viewPager.addOnPageChangeListener(viewPagerPageChangeListener);

        btnSkip.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                launchHomeScreen();
            }
        });

        btnNext.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                // checking for last page
                // if last page home screen will be launched
                int current = getItem(+1);
                if (current < layouts.length) {
                    // move to next screen
                    viewPager.setCurrentItem(current);
                } else {
                    launchHomeScreen();
                }
            }
        });
    }

    private void addBottomDots(int currentPage) {
        dots = new TextView[layouts.length];

        int[] colorsActive = getResources().getIntArray(R.array.array_dot_active);
        int[] colorsInactive = getResources().getIntArray(R.array.array_dot_inactive);

        dotsLayout.removeAllViews();
        for (int i = 0; i < dots.length; i++) {
            dots[i] = new TextView(this);
            dots[i].setText(Html.fromHtml("&#8226;"));
            dots[i].setTextSize(35);
            dots[i].setTextColor(colorsInactive[currentPage]);
            dotsLayout.addView(dots[i]);
        }

        if (dots.length > 0)
            dots[currentPage].setTextColor(colorsActive[currentPage]);
    }

    private int getItem(int i) {
        return viewPager.getCurrentItem() + i;
    }

    private void launchHomeScreen() {

        startActivity(new Intent(WelcomeActivity.this, MainActivity.class));
        finish();
    }

    //	viewpager change listener
    ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener viewPagerPageChangeListener = new ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener() {

        @Override
        public void onPageSelected(int position) {
            addBottomDots(position);

            // changing the next button text 'NEXT' / 'GOT IT'
            if (position == layouts.length - 1) {
                // last page. make button text to GOT IT
                btnNext.setText(getString(R.string.start));
                btnSkip.setVisibility(View.GONE);
            } else {
                // still pages are left
                btnNext.setText(getString(R.string.next));
                btnSkip.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void onPageScrolled(int arg0, float arg1, int arg2) {

        }

        @Override
        public void onPageScrollStateChanged(int arg0) {

        }
    };

    /**
     * Making notification bar transparent
     */
    private void changeStatusBarColor() {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) {
            Window window = getWindow();
            window.addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_DRAWS_SYSTEM_BAR_BACKGROUNDS);
            window.setStatusBarColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
        }
    }

    /**
     * View pager adapter
     */
    public class MyViewPagerAdapter extends PagerAdapter {
        private LayoutInflater layoutInflater;

        public MyViewPagerAdapter() {
        }

        @Override
        public Object instantiateItem(ViewGroup container, int position) {
            layoutInflater = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);

            View view = layoutInflater.inflate(layouts[position], container, false);
            container.addView(view);

            return view;
        }

        @Override
        public int getCount() {
            return layouts.length;
        }

        @Override
        public boolean isViewFromObject(View view, Object obj) {
            return view == obj;
        }


        @Override
        public void destroyItem(ViewGroup container, int position, Object object) {
            View view = (View) object;
            container.removeView(view);
        }
    }
}

 

Finally open AndroidManifest.xml and make WelcomeActivity as launcher activity. So that it will be shown as the first screen in the app.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="blueappsoftware.welcomeslider">

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
        <activity android:name=".WelcomeActivity">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_welcome">

        </activity>
    </application>


</manifest>

 

Now run the app on android device. Your Intro slider is ready to tell the story of your app.

Do you want more premium intro slider for your App?