Android Drag and Drop example

This example show how to implement Drag and Drop on Android, to move ImageView between two LinearLayout.


To use Drag and Drop on Android, minSdkVersion in AndroidManifest.xml have to be 11 or higher.

Create /res/values/arrays.xml to define drawables in our ImageViews.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>

    <array name="resicon">
        <item>@android:drawable/ic_dialog_alert</item>
        <item>@android:drawable/ic_dialog_dialer</item>
        <item>@android:drawable/ic_dialog_email</item>
        <item>@android:drawable/ic_dialog_info</item>
        <item>@android:drawable/ic_dialog_map</item>
    </array>

</resources>

/res/layout/activity_main.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:padding="4dp"
    tools:context="com.example.androiddraganddrop.MainActivity" >

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:autoLink="web"
        android:text="http://android-er.blogspot.com/"
        android:textStyle="bold" />

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical" >

        <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="2"
            android:background="#202020"
            android:orientation="horizontal" >

            <LinearLayout
                android:id="@+id/area1"
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:layout_margin="4dp"
                android:background="#404040"
                android:orientation="vertical" >
            </LinearLayout>

            <LinearLayout
                android:id="@+id/area2"
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:layout_margin="4dp"
                android:background="#606060"
                android:orientation="vertical" >
            </LinearLayout>
        </LinearLayout>

        <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:orientation="vertical" >

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/prompt"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:background="@android:color/black"
                android:textColor="@android:color/white"
                android:gravity="bottom" />
        </LinearLayout>
    </LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

MainActivity.java

package com.example.androiddraganddrop;

import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.text.method.ScrollingMovementMethod;
import android.content.ClipData;
import android.content.res.TypedArray;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.DragEvent;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.DragShadowBuilder;
import android.view.View.OnDragListener;
import android.view.View.OnLongClickListener;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

 LinearLayout area1, area2;
 TextView prompt;

 @Override
 protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
  area1 = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.area1);
  area2 = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.area2);

  prompt = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.prompt);
  // make TextView scrollable
  prompt.setMovementMethod(new ScrollingMovementMethod());
  //clear prompt area if LongClick
  prompt.setOnLongClickListener(new OnLongClickListener(){

   @Override
   public boolean onLongClick(View v) {
    prompt.setText("");
    return true;
   }});

  TypedArray arrayResources = getResources().obtainTypedArray(
    R.array.resicon);

  for (int i = 0; i < arrayResources.length(); i++) {
   ImageView imageView = new ImageView(this);
   imageView.setImageDrawable(arrayResources.getDrawable(i));
   imageView.setOnLongClickListener(myOnLongClickListener);
   area1.addView(imageView);
  }

  arrayResources.recycle();
  
  area1.setOnDragListener(myOnDragListener);
  area2.setOnDragListener(myOnDragListener);
 }

 OnLongClickListener myOnLongClickListener = new OnLongClickListener() {

  @Override
  public boolean onLongClick(View v) {
   ClipData data = ClipData.newPlainText("", "");
   DragShadowBuilder shadowBuilder = new View.DragShadowBuilder(v);
   v.startDrag(data, shadowBuilder, v, 0);
   //v.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
   return true;
  }

 };

 OnDragListener myOnDragListener = new OnDragListener() {
  
  @Override
  public boolean onDrag(View v, DragEvent event) {
   
   String area;
   if(v == area1){
    area = "area1";
   }else if(v == area2){
    area = "area2";
   }else{
    area = "unknown";
   }
   
   switch (event.getAction()) {
   case DragEvent.ACTION_DRAG_STARTED:
    prompt.append("ACTION_DRAG_STARTED: " + area  + "\n");
    break;
   case DragEvent.ACTION_DRAG_ENTERED:
    prompt.append("ACTION_DRAG_ENTERED: " + area  + "\n");
    break;
   case DragEvent.ACTION_DRAG_EXITED:
    prompt.append("ACTION_DRAG_EXITED: " + area  + "\n");
    break;
   case DragEvent.ACTION_DROP:
    prompt.append("ACTION_DROP: " + area  + "\n");
    View view = (View)event.getLocalState();
    LinearLayout oldParent = (LinearLayout)view.getParent();
    oldParent.removeView(view);
    LinearLayout newParent = (LinearLayout)v;
    newParent.addView(view);
    break;
   case DragEvent.ACTION_DRAG_ENDED:
    prompt.append("ACTION_DRAG_ENDED: " + area  + "\n");
   default:
    break;
   }
   return true;
  }

 };
}

Download the files.

More example of Drag and Drop
- Drag and Drop items between ListView
- Improved Drag and Drop items between ListView
- Drag and Drop items between ListView, with OnDragListener on ListView cells
- Drag and Drop between ListView and GridView