How to handle checkbox status manually?

Question

I need to control a CheckBoxPreference manually; I have to check a condition in my own data to determine if the preference can be set or not.

How can I do it? My current code is as follows, but it doesn't seem to work.

CheckBoxPreference buyPref = (CheckBoxPreference) findPreference("pref_billing_buy");
buyPref.setOnPreferenceClickListener(new OnPreferenceClickListener() {
public boolean onPreferenceClick(Preference preference) {   
   if (something) {
     return true; // checkbox should be checked
   } else {
     return false; // checkbox should be unchecked
   }

Should I always return false and then use

buyPref.setChecked(true);

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 12 '11 at 18:42

You should always return true if the click was handled. From the API:

public abstract boolean onPreferenceClick (Preference preference)

Since: API Level 1

Called when a Preference has been clicked.

Parameters

preference - The Preference that was clicked.

Returns

True - if the click was handled.

So your code should read:

CheckBoxPreference buyPref = (CheckBoxPreference) findPreference("pref_billing_buy");
buyPref.setOnPreferenceClickListener(new OnPreferenceClickListener() {
public boolean onPreferenceClick(Preference preference) {   
   if (buyPref.isChecked()) {
     // checkbox is checked, do something
   } else {
     // checkbox not checked, do something else
   }
   return true; 
}

The preference manager should handle whether the item is checked or not, but if you want to do it yourself:

CheckBoxPreference buyPref = (CheckBoxPreference) findPreference("pref_billing_buy");
buyPref.setOnPreferenceClickListener(new OnPreferenceClickListener() {
public boolean onPreferenceClick(Preference preference) { 
   // this will toggle the checkbox 
   buyPref.setChecked(!buyPref.isChecked());
   return true; 
}

I need to do the following - user clicks on the preference checkbox, if action is successful, then checkbox should be checked, otherwise - should be unchecked. — LA_, Jul 12 '11 at 18:59
Does your code above mean that I can not cancel standard checkbox behaviour and control the status myself? — LA_, Jul 12 '11 at 19:00
No, it means you can. If you set a new OnPreferenceClickListener, it should override the default action of the checkbox being checked. My code gives a few examples of handling the checkbox. — John Leehey, Jul 12 '11 at 19:04

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 24 '14 at 14:57

I think you want something like this:

final CheckBoxPreference buyPref = (CheckBoxPreference) findPreference("logs");
buyPref.setOnPreferenceChangeListener(new OnPreferenceChangeListener()
{
    @Override
    public boolean onPreferenceChange(final Preference preference,
        final Object newValue)
    {
        boolean condition = false;
        // set condition true or false here according to your needs.
        buyPref.setChecked(condition);
        Editor edit = preference.getEditor();
        edit.putBoolean("pref_billing_buy", condition);
        edit.commit();
        return false;
    }
});

You want to always return false from this so that Android doesn't attempt to write the preference itself. See the documentation for OnPreferenceChangeListener for more info.

Note that all of this will happen on the UI thread, so if you need to do anything long-running, I would throw it in an AsyncTask with a ProgressDialog so that the user doesn't get frustrated.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 12 '11 at 17:47

1

You can use this to check if the checkboxes are checked or not

if(buyPref.isChecked())

{ 
//Do What you want

} else { Do something else }

To set a checkbox,

buypref.setChecked(true);

Hope it helps!

Cheers Nithin

answered Jul 12 '11 at 17:47

nithinreddy

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Thanks, @Nithin. However I need to control the status at `onPreferenceClick`. – LA_ Jul 12 '11 at 17:52
1

just cast `preference` to `CheckBoxPreference` – jakebasile Jul 12 '11 at 17:56
@Jake, could you please post an example? – LA_ Jul 12 '11 at 18:03
I don't understand you LA_! Can you please describe? What are you looking for? If its just to check an option, or checking if a checkbox is checked, then you can use the methods as i specified. There are lot such options here http://developer.android.com/reference/android/preference/CheckBoxPreference.html – nithinreddy Jul 12 '11 at 18:39
As I've described in another comment - I need to do the following - user clicks on the preference checkbox, if my action is successful, then checkbox should be checked, otherwise - should be unchecked. – LA_ Jul 12 '11 at 19:12
@LA_ posted my answer from some older code I had. It should do what you want. – jakebasile Jul 12 '11 at 19:24

How to handle checkbox status manually?

3 Answers3