Applying style to views dynamically in java code

In my answer to Applying style to views dynamically in java code on Jun 25 at 18:51, I thought setting a style to a view dynamically would be as simple as passing the style to the constructor of your view. A couple of minutes ago, I had a notification and a comment (Thank you for it) saying that this does not work. I had a freaking -1 ):

My first solution was to override the constructors and pass the style as a third parameter to the View(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int) constructor in this manner:

public StyledButton(Context context) {
    super(context, null, R.style.Button_PrayerTimeButton);
//... whatever
}

public StyledButton(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
    super(context, attrs, R.style.Button_PrayerTimeButton);
//... whatever
}

public StyledButton(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
    super(context, attrs, R.style.Button_PrayerTimeButton);
//... whatever
}

So, obviously this did not work although according to the documentation of the third parameter of the constructor:

The default style to apply to this view. If 0, no style will be applied (beyond what is included in the theme). This may either be an attribute resource, whose value will be retrieved from the current theme, or an explicit style resource.

Anyway, now that an explicit style resource is another dead end, I had to find a work around!
And here it is: Instead of supplying a style to the constructor (which again doesn't work for some unknown native reason), you have to supply an attribute and define that attribute in your theme as follows:

styles.xml:

<resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="android:Theme.Light">
        <item name="@attr/gangnamStyle">@style/myDefaultStyle</item>
    </style>

    <attr name="gangnamStyle" format="reference" />

    <style name="myDefaultStyle" parent="@android:style/Widget.Button">
        <item name="android:background">#f00</item>
    </style>

</resources>

StyledButton.java:

public class StyledButton extends Button {

 public StyledButton(Context context) {
  super(context, null, R.attr.gangnamStyle);
 }

 public StyledButton(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
  super(context, attrs, R.attr.gangnamStyle);
 }

 public StyledButton(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
  super(context, null, R.attr.gangnamStyle);
 }
}

Finally, you just have to set the theme of the Activity or Application to your Theme (in this case AppBaseTheme) :

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppBaseTheme" >

And that's it! Enjoy


Click here for Sample Project + Source Code (download)