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Glance Canonical Layouts

Android (Google)OfficialCreated by Google LLCDistributed by Android (Google)

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Software development
  • Apache-2.0
  • Low risk
  • Has scripts

From the author

Use this skill to create home screen widgets using Jetpack Glance Canonical Layouts from the Android Platform Samples project, or when asked to implement standard widget layout patterns (including Check List, Image Grid, Snap Scrolling, and Standard Toolbar).
— the description by Google LLC

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a collection of reference implementations for Android home screen widgets using Jetpack Glance. It includes pre-built canonical layout patterns such as check lists, image grids, toolbars, and snap-scrolling layouts. Users can integrate these patterns into their Android projects by copying the provided reference files, configuring the widget provider, and registering the receiver in the Android manifest.

What it does

  • Provides source code for standard widget layout patterns like Action List, Check List, and Image Grid.
  • Offers guidance on configuring widget providers with SizeMode.Exact.
  • Includes necessary XML definitions for app widget providers.
  • Supplies supporting utility classes for theme, color, and action handling.
  • Details dependency requirements for Jetpack Glance and image loading libraries.
  • Provides troubleshooting steps for common issues like background color rendering.

When to use it

  • When you need to implement a standard widget layout pattern in an Android app using Jetpack Glance.
  • When you require a consistent design structure for home screen widgets.
  • When you need to integrate specific features like snap scrolling or search toolbars into your widget.
  • When you are setting up a new Glance-based widget and want to follow established reference implementations.

Advantages

  • Reduces development time by providing ready-to-use layout templates.
  • Ensures consistency with recommended Android widget design patterns.
  • Provides clear instructions on manifest registration and dependency management.
  • Includes modular components that can be adapted to specific app requirements.

Usage examples

“How do I implement a check list widget in my Android app?”
The agent will provide the CheckListAppWidget.kt, CheckListLayout.kt, and associated XML files, along with instructions to register the receiver in your AndroidManifest.xml.
“Create a search toolbar widget for my app.”
The agent will guide you to copy the SearchToolBarAppWidget.kt and SearchToolBarLayout.kt files and configure the widget provider with the required size mode.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/android/glance-canonical-layouts/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip glance-canonical-layouts.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Google LLC

To implement a widget Canonical Layout that follows the recommended design patterns:

  1. The project MUST use Jetpack Glance.

  2. You MUST locate the requested layout from the list under Canonical Layout Reference Files.

  3. Copy the layout reference files into your project's target app module (e.g., src/main/java/ and src/main/res/) in one step to implement the exact design and reduce the number of tool calls.

  4. You MUST set override val sizeMode: SizeMode = SizeMode.Exact in the widget provider class.

  5. Validate that your project compiles, updating sample package declarations, import paths, and class names to match the target app's package name.

  6. Clean your project's widget code, removing unused classes (for example, unused buttons).

  7. You MUST register the widget receiver in AndroidManifest.xml inside <application> after <activity>, ensuring android:resource="@xml/..." matches the filename of the copied Widget Info XML. Otherwise, the widget won't appear in the widget picker:

<br />

<receiver android:name=".glance.MyReceiver"
    android:exported="true">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.appwidget.action.APPWIDGET_UPDATE" />
    </intent-filter>
    <meta-data
        android:name="android.appwidget.provider"
        android:resource="@xml/my_app_widget_info" />
</receiver>

<br />

Dependencies

Add Jetpack Glance dependencies to the app module's build.gradle.kts (dependencies block):

  • androidx.glance:glance-appwidget:1.2.0 or higher

  • androidx.glance:glance-material3:1.2.0 or higher

  • androidx.glance:glance-appwidget-preview:1.2.0 or higher

  • androidx.glance:glance-preview:1.2.0 or higher

Use version 1.3.0-alpha02 or higher with compileSdk = 37 and Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) 9.1.0 or higher (for example, agp = "9.1.0" in gradle/libs.versions.toml) when implementing Snap Scrolling.

If copying sample data repositories that load bitmaps with Coil (such as FakeImageGridDataRepository.kt, FakeImageTextListDataRepository.kt, or FakeTextWithImageRepository.kt), also add an image loading library dependency such as io.coil-kt:coil (e.g., implementation("io.coil-kt:coil:2.7.0")) if one doesn't already exist.

Canonical layout reference files

Action list layout (action_list)
Check list layout (check_list)
Expressive toolbar layout (expressive_toolbar)
Image grid layout (image_grid)
Image text list layout (image_text_list)
Long text layout (long_text)
Search toolbar layout (search_toolbar)
Full-bleed image layout and snap scrolling (snap_scrolling)
Standard toolbar layout (standard_toolbar)
Text with image layout (text_with_image)

Troubleshooting

  1. Background Colors : Use GlanceModifier.background(Color) directly for solid background colors rather than ColorProvider, otherwise the background will be transparent.

  2. When using ColorProvider (outside of the background), avoid import errors :

    1. Import type: import androidx.glance.unit.ColorProvider

    2. Use fully qualified creator: androidx.glance.color.ColorProvider(dayColor, nightColor)

Checklist

  • [ ] Did you register the widget in the AndroidManifest?

  • [ ] Did you copy the corresponding Widget Info XML file and leave the given values including minWidth, minHeight, and minResizeHeight unchanged?

  • [ ] Did you use the given Glance Theme color values from the corresponding Layout Composable file?

  • [ ] Did you use dimension resource references for android:minWidth and android:minHeight in appwidget-provider XML definitions?

  • [ ] Did you override val sizeMode: SizeMode = SizeMode.Exact in the widget provider class?

Files

references/text/layout/LongTextLayout.kt

/*
 * Copyright 2023 The Android Open Source Project
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
package com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.glance.layout.text.layout

import androidx.annotation.DrawableRes
import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.Dp
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.DpSize
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.TextUnit
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.sp
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.times
import androidx.glance.GlanceModifier
import androidx.glance.GlanceTheme
import androidx.glance.ImageProvider
import androidx.glance.LocalContext
import androidx.glance.LocalSize
import androidx.glance.action.Action
import androidx.glance.action.clickable
import androidx.glance.appwidget.components.CircleIconButton
import androidx.glance.appwidget.components.Scaffold
import androidx.glance.appwidget.components.TitleBar
import androidx.glance.layout.Alignment
import androidx.glance.layout.Column
import androidx.glance.layout.fillMaxSize
import androidx.glance.layout.padding
import androidx.glance.text.Text
import androidx.glance.text.TextStyle
import com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.R
import com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.glance.layout.text.layout.WidgetTextDimensions.captionFontSizeAndMaxLines
import com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.glance.layout.text.layout.WidgetTextDimensions.widgetPadding
import com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.glance.layout.text.layout.WidgetTextDimensions.primaryTextFontSizeAndMaxLines
import com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.glance.layout.utils.ActionUtils.actionStartDemoActivity
import com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.glance.layout.utils.FontUtils.calculateFontSizeAndMaxLines
import com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.glance.layout.utils.MediumWidgetPreview
import com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.glance.layout.utils.SmallWidgetPreview

/**
 * A layout focused on presenting text only content.
 *
 * A longer text with a short caption are displayed in a [Scaffold] under an app-specific title bar.
 *
 * This serves as an implementation suggestion, but should be customized to fit your product's
 * needs.
 *
 * @param title the text to be displayed as title of the widget, e.g. name of your widget or app.
 * @param titleIconRes a tintable icon that represents your app or brand, that can be displayed
 * with the provided [title]. In this sample, we use icon from a drawable resource, but you should
 * use an appropriate icon source for your use case.
 * @param titleBarActionIconRes resource id of a tintable icon that can be displayed as
 * an icon button within the title bar area of the widget. For example, a search icon.
 * @param titleBarActionIconContentDescription description of the [titleBarActionIconRes] button
 * to be used by the accessibility services.
 * @param titleBarAction action to be performed on click of the [titleBarActionIconRes] button.
 * @param data the text and caption to be displayed in the widget.
 * @param action action to be performed on click of the main content.
 */
@Composable
fun LongTextLayout(
  title: String,
  @DrawableRes titleIconRes: Int,
  @DrawableRes titleBarActionIconRes: Int? = null,
  titleBarActionIconContentDescription: String? = null,
  titleBarAction: (() -> Unit)? = null,
  data: LongTextLayoutData,
  action: Action? = null,
) {
  val showTitleBar = LongTextLayoutSize.fromLocalSize() != LongTextLayoutSize.XSmall
  val scaffoldTopPadding = if (showTitleBar) {
    0.dp
  } else {
    widgetPadding
  }

  Scaffold(
    backgroundColor = GlanceTheme.colors.widgetBackground,
    horizontalPadding = widgetPadding,
    modifier = GlanceModifier
      .maybeClickable(action)
      .padding(
        bottom = widgetPadding,
        top = scaffoldTopPadding
      ),
    titleBar = {
      if (showTitleBar) {
        TitleBarContent(
          titleIconRes,
          title,
          titleBarAction,
          titleBarActionIconRes,
          titleBarActionIconContentDescription
        )
      }
    },
  ) {
    TextStack(
      data = data,
      verticalAlignment = if (showTitleBar) {
        Alignment.Bottom
      } else Alignment.CenterVertically
    )
  }
}

@Composable
private fun TitleBarContent(
  titleIconRes: Int,
  title: String,
  titleBarAction: (() -> Unit)?,
  titleBarActionIconRes: Int?,
  titleBarActionIconContentDescription: String?,
) {
  TitleBar(
    startIcon = ImageProvider(titleIconRes),
    title = title.takeIf { showTitle() } ?: "",
    iconColor = GlanceTheme.colors.primary,
    textColor = GlanceTheme.colors.onSurface,
    actions = {
      if (titleBarAction != null && titleBarActionIconRes != null) {
        CircleIconButton(
          imageProvider = ImageProvider(titleBarActionIconRes),
          contentDescription = titleBarActionIconContentDescription,
          contentColor = GlanceTheme.colors.secondary,
          backgroundColor = null, // transparent
          onClick = titleBarAction
        )
      }
    }
  )
}

@Composable
private fun TextStack(
  data: LongTextLayoutData,
  verticalAlignment: Alignment.Vertical,
) {
  Column(
    modifier = GlanceModifier.fillMaxSize(),
    verticalAlignment = verticalAlignment
  ) {
    val primaryTextFontSizeAndMaxLines = primaryTextFontSizeAndMaxLines(data.text)
    val captionFontSizeAndMaxLines =
      captionFontSizeAndMaxLines(primaryTextFontSizeAndMaxLines.first)
    // Caption
    Text(
      text = data.caption,
      style = TextStyle(
        fontSize = captionFontSizeAndMaxLines.first,
        color = GlanceTheme.colors.secondary
      ),
      maxLines = captionFontSizeAndMaxLines.second
    )
    // Primary text
    Text(
      text = data.text,
      style = TextStyle(
        color = GlanceTheme.colors.onSurface,
        fontSize = primaryTextFontSizeAndMaxLines.first
      ),
      maxLines = primaryTextFontSizeAndMaxLines.second
    )
  }
}

private enum class LongTextLayoutSize {
  XSmall,
  Normal;

  companion object {
    @Composable
    fun fromLocalSize(): LongTextLayoutSize {
      return if (LocalSize.current.height <= 180.dp) {
        XSmall
      } else {
        Normal
      }
    }
  }
}

@Composable
private fun showTitle(): Boolean {
  return LocalSize.current.width >= 260.dp
}

private fun GlanceModifier.maybeClickable(action: Action?): GlanceModifier {
  return if (action != null) {
    this.clickable(action)
  } else {
    this
  }
}

/**
 * Information to be displayed in a [com.example.platform.ui.appwidgets.glance.layout.text.layout.LongTextLayout].
 *
 * @param key a unique identifier for the data being displayed as primary content e.g. article ID,
 * in an "article of the day" widget. This may not be necessary for your use case; in this sample,
 * we use this key to differentiate between placeholder and real data when demonstrating clicks.
 * @param text a required text representing primary information being conveyed to the user via the
 * widget; suitable for text of about 65 characters.
 * @param caption shorter text accompanying the primary [text] - that can fit in one line; e.g.
 * author's name in an "article of the day" widget.
 */
data class LongTextLayoutData(
  val key: String,
  val text: String,
  val caption: String,
)

internal object WidgetTextDimensions {
  val widgetPadding = 16.dp
  private val titleBarHeight: Dp
    @Composable get() = if (LongTextLayoutSize.fromLocalSize() == LongTextLayoutSize.XSmall) {
      0.dp
    } else {
      56.dp
    }

  /** Height and width in dp available to main content (excluding title bar, padding, spacing). */
  val contentSize: DpSize
    @Composable get() {
      val size = LocalSize.current

      return DpSize(
        width = size.width - (2 * widgetPadding),
        height = size.height - widgetPadding - titleBarHeight
      )
    }

  // Upper and lower bounds for the caption.
  internal val minCaptionFontSize = 12.sp // low - GM3 Label Medium
  internal val maxCaptionFontSize = 14.sp // high - GM3 Label Large

  // Upper bound for primary text.
  internal val maxPrimaryTextFontSize = 28.sp // GM3 Headline Medium

  // For a font size 16 of primary text, we want caption to be of size 14.
  internal const val captionToPrimaryTextRatio = 0.875f

  @Composable
  fun primaryTextFontSizeAndMaxLines(text: String): Pair<TextUnit, Int> {
    val size = LocalSize.current
    // Primary text and caption share 70:30 height within the area available for texts.
    val availableHeightForPrimaryText = Dp(0.70f * contentSize.height.value)
    // In this layout, texts take up entire horizontal space except the paddings on the sides.
    val availableWidthForPrimaryText = size.width - (widgetPadding * 2)

    return calculateFontSizeAndMaxLines(
      context = LocalContext.current,
      text = text,
      availableWidth = availableWidthForPrimaryText,
      availableHeight = availableHeightForPrimaryText,
      minFontSize = (minCaptionFontSize.value / captionToPrimaryTextRatio).sp,
      maxFontSize = maxPrimaryTextFontSize
    )
  }

  fun captionFontSizeAndMaxLines(primaryFontSize: TextUnit): Pair<TextUnit, Int> {
    val estimatedFontSize = primaryFontSize.value * captionToPrimaryTextRatio
    val captionMaxLines = 1 // Caption is always 1 line.
    return estimatedFontSize.coerceAtMost(maxCaptionFontSize.value).sp to captionMaxLines
  }
}

/**
 * Previews of the long text layout with shorter caption and longer main text
 *
 * Previewing them at standard & min-max sizes allows us to adjust font sizes if needed. Use the
 * Preview annotation to view the widget at specific width / height.
 */
@SmallWidgetPreview
@MediumWidgetPreview
@Composable
private fun ShortCaptionSuperLongTextPreview() {
  LongTextLayoutPreview(
    text = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Cursus mattis molestie a iaculis at erat pellentesque adipiscing commodo elit at imperdiet dui accumsan sit amet.",
    caption = "Ut mollis",
  )
}


/**
 * Previews of the long text layout with longer caption and shorter main text
 *
 * Previewing them at standard & min-max sizes allows us to adjust font sizes if needed. Use the
 * Preview annotation to view the widget at specific width / height.
 */
@SmallWidgetPreview
@MediumWidgetPreview
@Composable
private fun LongCaptionShortTextPreview() {
  LongTextLayoutPreview(
    text = "Comparatively small text",
    caption = "Ipsum faucibus ut mollis amet cursus",
  )
}

/**
 * Previews of the long text layout with medium sized caption and main text
 *
 * Previewing them at standard & min-max sizes allows us to adjust font sizes if needed. Use the
 * Preview annotation to view the widget at specific width / height.
 */
@SmallWidgetPreview
@MediumWidgetPreview
@Composable
private fun MediumTextPreview() {
  LongTextLayoutPreview(
    text = "This allows for a longer text string. Specifically because the focus in this, layout is on the primary text.",
    caption = "Ut mollis amet cursus",
  )
}

@Composable
private fun LongTextLayoutPreview(text: String, caption: String) {
  val context = LocalContext.current

  LongTextLayout(
    title = context.getString(R.string.sample_long_text_app_widget_name),
    titleIconRes = R.drawable.sample_text_icon,
    titleBarActionIconRes = R.drawable.sample_refresh_icon,
    titleBarActionIconContentDescription = context.getString(
      R.string.sample_refresh_icon_button_label
    ),
    titleBarAction = {},
    data = LongTextLayoutData(
      key = "1",
      text = text,
      caption = caption,
    ),
    action = actionStartDemoActivity("1"),
  )
}

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

What our scanner noticed· Low risk

  • Scripts that your agent may run

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Attribution and licence

Created by
Google LLC
Publisher
Android (Google) (Official)
Distributed by
Android (Google)
Source
android/skills · system/glance-canonical-layouts · commit bf68e2d
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE.txt)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google LLC or Android (Google).

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