The following assumes that you have already basic knowledge in Android development.

Please see the Android development to learn about Android programming.

This tutorial demonstrates the usage of the Properties Animation API.

Create a new Android project called de.vogella.android.animation with the activity called AnimationExampleActivity. The layout file should be called main.xml. Change this file to the following code.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/test"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/Button01"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:onClick="startAnimation"
            android:text="Rotate" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/Button04"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:onClick="startAnimation"
            android:text="Group" >
        </Button>

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/Button03"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:onClick="startAnimation"
            android:text="Fade" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/Button02"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:onClick="startAnimation"
            android:text="Animate" />

    </LinearLayout>

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/imageView1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:src="@drawable/icon" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textView1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_above="@+id/imageView1"
        android:layout_alignRight="@+id/imageView1"
        android:layout_marginBottom="30dp"
        android:text="Large Text"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />

</RelativeLayout> 

Create the following menu resource.

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

    <item
        android:id="@+id/item1"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
        android:title="Game">
    </item>

</menu> 

Change your activity to the following.

package de.vogella.android.animation;

import android.animation.AnimatorSet;
import android.animation.ObjectAnimator;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Paint;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class AnimationExampleActivity extends Activity {

  
/** Called when the activity is first created. */
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

  }

  public void startAnimation(View view) {
    float dest = 0;
    ImageView aniView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.imageView1);
    switch (view.getId()) {

    case R.id.Button01:
      dest = 360;
      if (aniView.getRotation() == 360) {
        System.out.println(aniView.getAlpha());
        dest = 0;
      }
      ObjectAnimator animation1 = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(aniView,
          "rotation", dest);
      animation1.setDuration(2000);
      animation1.start();
      // Show how to load an animation from XML
      // Animation animation1 = AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(this,
      // R.anim.myanimation);
      // animation1.setAnimationListener(this);
      // animatedView1.startAnimation(animation1);
      break;

    case R.id.Button02:
      // Shows how to define a animation via code
      // Also use an Interpolator (BounceInterpolator)
      Paint paint = new Paint();
      TextView aniTextView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView1);
      float measureTextCenter = paint.measureText(aniTextView.getText()
          .toString());
      dest = 0 - measureTextCenter;
      if (aniTextView.getX() < 0) {
        dest = 0;
      }
      ObjectAnimator animation2 = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(aniTextView,
          "x", dest);
      animation2.setDuration(2000);
      animation2.start();
      break;

    case R.id.Button03:
      // Demonstrate fading and adding an AnimationListener

      dest = 1;
      if (aniView.getAlpha() > 0) {
        dest = 0;
      }
      ObjectAnimator animation3 = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(aniView,
          "alpha", dest);
      animation3.setDuration(2000);
      animation3.start();
      break;

    case R.id.Button04:

      ObjectAnimator fadeOut = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(aniView, "alpha",
          0f);
      fadeOut.setDuration(2000);
      ObjectAnimator mover = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(aniView,
          "translationX", -500f, 0f);
      mover.setDuration(2000);
      ObjectAnimator fadeIn = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(aniView, "alpha",
          0f, 1f);
      fadeIn.setDuration(2000);
      AnimatorSet animatorSet = new AnimatorSet();

      animatorSet.play(mover).with(fadeIn).after(fadeOut);
      animatorSet.start();
      break;

    default:
      break;
    }

  }

  @Override
  public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.mymenu, menu);
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
  }

  @Override
  public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    Intent intent = new Intent(this, HitActivity.class);
    startActivity(intent);
    return true;
  }
} 

Create a new activity called HitActivity.

package de.vogella.android.animation;

import java.util.Random;

import android.animation.Animator;
import android.animation.AnimatorListenerAdapter;
import android.animation.AnimatorSet;
import android.animation.ObjectAnimator;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;

public class HitActivity extends Activity {
  private ObjectAnimator animation1;
  private ObjectAnimator animation2;
  private Button button;
  private Random randon;
  private int width;
  private int height;
  private AnimatorSet set;

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.target);
    width = getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getWidth();
    height = getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getHeight();
    randon = new Random();

    set = createAnimation();
    set.start();
    set.addListener(new AnimatorListenerAdapter() {

      @Override
      public void onAnimationEnd(Animator animation) {
        int nextX = randon.nextInt(width);
        int nextY = randon.nextInt(height);
        animation1 = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(button, "x", button.getX(),
            nextX);
        animation1.setDuration(1400);
        animation2 = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(button, "y", button.getY(),
            nextY);
        animation2.setDuration(1400);
        set.playTogether(animation1, animation2);
        set.start();
      }
    });
  }

  public void onClick(View view) {
    String string = button.getText().toString();
    int hitTarget = Integer.valueOf(string) + 1;
    button.setText(String.valueOf(hitTarget));
  }

  private AnimatorSet createAnimation() {
    int nextX = randon.nextInt(width);
    int nextY = randon.nextInt(height);
    button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);
    animation1 = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(button, "x", nextX);
    animation1.setDuration(1400);
    animation2 = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(button, "y", nextY);
    animation2.setDuration(1400);
    AnimatorSet set = new AnimatorSet();
    set.playTogether(animation1, animation2);
    return set;
  }
} 

If you run this example and press the different Buttons, the animation should start. Via the ActionBar you can navigate to your other activity.

During a Fragment transaction you can define animations which should be used based on the Property Animation API via the setCustomAnimations() method.

You can also use several standard animations provided by Android via the setTransition() method call. These are defined via the constants starting with FragmentTransaction.TRANSIT_FRAGMENT_*.

Both methods allow you to define an entry animation and an exist animation.

Jake Wharton created a library which allow to use the Properties Animation API also in Android releases before Android 4.0.

You find more information on the project website: NineOldAndroids

Please help me to support this article:

Before posting questions, please see the vogella FAQ. If you have questions or find an error in this article please use the www.vogella.com Google Group. I have created a short list how to create good questions which might also help you.