Display click-through overlay on Android, e.g. baseline grid

Question

I want to see if my application conforms with the Material Design guidelines regarding metrics and adjust where required. For that I'd wish to have a 8dp square grid or 4dp baseline grid drawn over my whole window without intercepting touch events, so that I could tap and scroll as usual (think of "Show layout bounds" mode in dev options). It should look something like this:

baseline overlay

Questions:

How do I put such view on the top of everything and make it "click-through"?
Or maybe there are already tools / libraries / snippets for achieving this? UPD This one is answered, thank you! Question 1 remains open for curiosity reasons

Not an appropriate question for SO but see: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.faizmalkani.keylines&hl=en — Morrison Chang, May 14 '15 at 21:39

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 14 '15 at 21:41

2

This is what I use

Note: I have no affiliation to the author of the app, it's just what I use extensively in my own development.

answered May 14 '15 at 21:41

Elli White

1,440
1
12
21

Thank you! Will compare to the app named above – Actine May 14 '15 at 21:43
Oh, and it is open source! Nifty! – Actine May 14 '15 at 21:50

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 14 '15 at 21:56

UPD2: The app referenced by @john actually has their sources open. Looks like this snippet does it. So simple.

final WindowManager.LayoutParams lp = new WindowManager.LayoutParams(
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
        WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_SYSTEM_OVERLAY,
        WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_LAYOUT_IN_SCREEN,
        PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT
);

final WindowManager wm = (WindowManager) getSystemService(WINDOW_SERVICE);

wm.addView(myOverlayView, lp);

Display click-through overlay on Android, e.g. baseline grid

2 Answers2