Android and QML - Adding Splash Screen

manifest, Splash, Android, QML

Let me show you a small example of adding Splash Screen to an application written in Qt. In this case, the Splash Screen will be added to the application using the Android ecosystem, that is, through its manifest. Adding a manifest has been described here.

One option for creating a Splash Screen in Qt/QML is to write code in QML/C++, but the disadvantage of this way is that you will see a black screen of the application until the application is fully loaded. Therefore, you must load the application using Java, through its manifest.

Let's make such a splash

The structure of the project will look as follows

main.qml

I'll start with the most boring - this is the content of the QML file of the application, which we will expect to download when the application starts. Nothing remarkable, the usual "Hello World"

import QtQuick 2.12
import QtQuick.Window 2.12

Window {
    id: window
    visible: true
    width: 480
    height: 640
    title: qsTr("Hello World")

    Text {
        text: qsTr("Splash Screen")
        anchors.centerIn: parent
    }
}

AndroidManifest.xml

And now we’ll fix the manifest in which you need to specify the resource file of the application theme, which will be called apptheme.xml

<activity android:configChanges="orientation|uiMode|screenLayout|screenSize|smallestScreenSize|layoutDirection|locale|fontScale|keyboard|keyboardHidden|navigation|mcc|mnc|density" 
          android:theme="@style/AppTheme" 
          android:name="org.qtproject.qt5.android.bindings.QtActivity" 
          android:label="-- %%INSERT_APP_NAME%% --" 
          android:screenOrientation="unspecified" 
          android:launchMode="singleTop">

Next, add information about the splash screen file

<!-- Splash screen -->
<meta-data android:name="android.app.splash_screen_drawable" android:resource="@drawable/splash"/>
<!-- Splash screen -->

These files must be added to the res/values and res/drawable directories

splash.xml

In the Splash Screen there is an application icon, it is also located in the drawable directory.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item>
        <shape android:shape="rectangle" >
            <solid android:color="#FFFFFFFF"/>
        </shape>
    </item>
    <item>
         <bitmap android:src="@drawable/icon"
        android:gravity="center" />
    </item>
</layer-list>

apptheme.xml

Here we disable the title bar, and also set the background of the application window.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="@android:style/Theme.DeviceDefault.Light.NoActionBar">
        <item name="android:windowBackground">@drawable/splash</item>
    </style>
</resources>

Result

As a result, this will be enough to get the application with Splash Screen.