hello, Aaron!

how can I help you today?

hey Mark, no list of questions today, but I would like to get your feedback on a couple things I've added, to see if there's a better way to do them

OK

first, I animated an animation to the refresh button in my toolbar, and did this by giving it an ImageView actionViewClass in XML, and then getting ahold of that view and using an objectAnimator on it:

I did it this way because I could NOT find a way to grab the view that the icon is normally inflated into, when it is specified as an icon in XML. As far as I can tell, the API does not offer any way to do that

correct

but as a consequence, I have to handle clicks on the button with a listener that operates outside the normal menu affordances, which seems not great

is there a better option than the way I have it now?

you mean, besides not having the animation? not really

OK

the action bar isn't really designed for that

if you switch to Toolbar, you have a bit more flexibility

do you have an alternate suggestion for how to indicate work is happening, when the button is clicked? IOW do you see a problem with animating that icon from a UX standpoint? I wanted to indicate work is happening after it's clicked

also, since I am extending AppCompatActivity, isn't that a Toolbar by default? pretty sure that's what it's called in the Layout Inspector

possibly, but I don't think you have access to it, unless you put the Toolbar in your layout yourself and use setSupportActionBar()

or, just use the Toolbar directly and don't bother with action bar support

I don't have a problem with showing refresh feedback in general

and if you want to do so in an action bar, your solution is about the best that you have

particularly for your app, pull-to-refresh is probably a more popular pattern

and the pull-to-refresh libraries usually have a loading state as part of their support, from what I've seen

I have that too, but I had included the regular button as an accessible alternative

so, you have pull-to-refresh? can you tell it to show its loading state manually?

if so, I'd do that, so you have consistency, and then perhaps move the refresh option into the overflow menu

it's a SwipeRefreshLayout - maybe - I haven't actually looked into it

that seems reasonable

anyway, this is not too important, mainly was just wanting to know about the animation implementation. I'll look at the Toolbar a bit and decide

with Toolbar, you can add arbitrary child views

and you manage those no different than you would any other widget in your UI

if nothing else, it makes what you are doing perhaps feel less odd

OK, that makes sense

thanks,

alternatively, wrap your existing stuff in an ActionProvider

another way to make what you're doing feel less odd

OK, interesting, not familiar with that, I will read up on it

the other thing I wanted to ask about is also UX related, I have gotten some conflicting opinions from other people I've discussed with, just wanted to get your take,

I implemented a splash screen (that is "reactive" and clears itself when data has finished loading, so it doesn't add any unnecessary delay): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPdLVd4zL40

the goal with this was to mask the normal blank white screen and empty RecyclerView when the app first loads, and also provide a hint that work is happening

it's fairly smooth except for a bit of jank right as the activity trasnsitions, but rather than performance, just more interested to know your take on that from a UX standpoint

having some sort of loading state: good

having it be a separate activity/fragment: less good

for example, some people think that showing the skeleton RecyclerView actually helps to indicate work happening, and provides a less jarring transition

hmm, I see

a typical approach is to have an "empty view" that you show on the same screen that has your list

I read several different articles about splash screens and all of them did it with a separate activity

I see

in your case, it's technically more of a "loading view" than an "empty view", but the principle still holds

so, have your LAUNCHER drive straight to the initial real screen

in the layout, have your animated image along with the RecyclerView, with the RecyclerView visibility set to INVISIBLE or GONE

when you get your data, either just toggle the visibilities or run an animation

roger that, it hadn't really occurred to me to do it that way, but seems better

some apps/screens need three things: a loading state, the normal state, and an empty state (if there is no data to show)

in your case, other than connectivity errors or Reddit having a *really* bad day, the empty state shouldn't happen, I think

I need to reread those articles and try to understand why they were all suggesting a separate activity, I didn't really question it at the time but now that you have suggested doing it with just toggling views, I am not sure why they'd do it otherwise

in some cases, where the user goes is not known until after the data is loaded, in which case you need something to show first

yeah that makes sense.

OK, that's all I've got, very helpful, thanks a lot!

and if the loading state is some crazy complicated thing (e.g., playback of a video baked into the app), you might put that in a separate activity/fragment just from a code maintenance standpoint

OK

waiting in case you are still typing

no, sorry, I'm done

alright, thanks

have a good weekend!

you too!