TimePicker in PreferenceScreen

Solution 1:

There is no TimePreference built into Android. However, creating your own is fairly easy. Here's one I did:

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.res.TypedArray;
import android.preference.DialogPreference;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TimePicker;

public class TimePreference extends DialogPreference {
    private int lastHour=0;
    private int lastMinute=0;
    private TimePicker picker=null;

    public static int getHour(String time) {
        String[] pieces=time.split(":");

        return(Integer.parseInt(pieces[0]));
    }

    public static int getMinute(String time) {
        String[] pieces=time.split(":");

        return(Integer.parseInt(pieces[1]));
    }

    public TimePreference(Context ctxt, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(ctxt, attrs);

        setPositiveButtonText("Set");
        setNegativeButtonText("Cancel");
    }

    @Override
    protected View onCreateDialogView() {
        picker=new TimePicker(getContext());

        return(picker);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onBindDialogView(View v) {
        super.onBindDialogView(v);

        picker.setCurrentHour(lastHour);
        picker.setCurrentMinute(lastMinute);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDialogClosed(boolean positiveResult) {
        super.onDialogClosed(positiveResult);

        if (positiveResult) {
            lastHour=picker.getCurrentHour();
            lastMinute=picker.getCurrentMinute();

            String time=String.valueOf(lastHour)+":"+String.valueOf(lastMinute);

            if (callChangeListener(time)) {
                persistString(time);
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected Object onGetDefaultValue(TypedArray a, int index) {
        return(a.getString(index));
    }

    @Override
    protected void onSetInitialValue(boolean restoreValue, Object defaultValue) {
        String time=null;

        if (restoreValue) {
            if (defaultValue==null) {
                time=getPersistedString("00:00");
            }
            else {
                time=getPersistedString(defaultValue.toString());
            }
        }
        else {
            time=defaultValue.toString();
        }

        lastHour=getHour(time);
        lastMinute=getMinute(time);
    }
}

Solution 2:

I have modified the code from first answer:

• it stores selected time in long form (milliseconds) which is easier to work with (using Calendar) then string
• it automatically shows selected time in summary field in user's format (12 or 24 hour)

Updated code:

public class TimePreference extends DialogPreference {
    private Calendar calendar;
    private TimePicker picker = null;

    public TimePreference(Context ctxt) {
        this(ctxt, null);
    }

    public TimePreference(Context ctxt, AttributeSet attrs) {
        this(ctxt, attrs, android.R.attr.dialogPreferenceStyle);
    }

    public TimePreference(Context ctxt, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(ctxt, attrs, defStyle);

        setPositiveButtonText(R.string.set);
        setNegativeButtonText(R.string.cancel);
        calendar = new GregorianCalendar();
    }

    @Override
    protected View onCreateDialogView() {
        picker = new TimePicker(getContext());
        return (picker);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onBindDialogView(View v) {
        super.onBindDialogView(v);
        picker.setCurrentHour(calendar.get(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY));
        picker.setCurrentMinute(calendar.get(Calendar.MINUTE));
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDialogClosed(boolean positiveResult) {
        super.onDialogClosed(positiveResult);

        if (positiveResult) {
            calendar.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, picker.getCurrentHour());
            calendar.set(Calendar.MINUTE, picker.getCurrentMinute());

            setSummary(getSummary());
            if (callChangeListener(calendar.getTimeInMillis())) {
                persistLong(calendar.getTimeInMillis());
                notifyChanged();
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected Object onGetDefaultValue(TypedArray a, int index) {
        return (a.getString(index));
    }

    @Override
    protected void onSetInitialValue(boolean restoreValue, Object defaultValue) {

        if (restoreValue) {
            if (defaultValue == null) {
                calendar.setTimeInMillis(getPersistedLong(System.currentTimeMillis()));
            } else {
                calendar.setTimeInMillis(Long.parseLong(getPersistedString((String) defaultValue)));
            }
        } else {
            if (defaultValue == null) {
                calendar.setTimeInMillis(System.currentTimeMillis());
            } else {
                calendar.setTimeInMillis(Long.parseLong((String) defaultValue));
            }
        }
        setSummary(getSummary());
    }

    @Override
    public CharSequence getSummary() {
        if (calendar == null) {
            return null;
        }
        return DateFormat.getTimeFormat(getContext()).format(new Date(calendar.getTimeInMillis()));
    }
} 

Solution 3:

For those whom the implementation of a custom Preference isn't so obvious (like it wasn't for me), you have to add this to your preferences.xml or whatever you're calling it.

You'll end up with something like this:

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

    <EditTextPreference
        android:key="editTextPref_Key"
        android:title="@string/editTextPref_title"/>
    <com.example.myapp.TimePreference
        android:key="timePrefA_Key"
        android:title="@string/timePrefA_title"/>    
    <com.example.myapp.TimePreference
        android:key="timePrefB_Key"
        android:title="@string/timePrefB_title"/>

</PreferenceScreen>

Assuming you added the TimePreference to your own root package:
(src/com/example/myapp/TimePreference.java)