How to set the android background and keep the admob advertisement visible

Question

I have a android application that is using fragments. It has approximately two items in the menu bar. The first activity (main activity is working fine.) When I switch to the second tab, everything is working fine. Then when I try to change the background to black on my second fragment Activity I lose my advertisement. If I click where the advertisement "should be" it opens my browser so the ad is still there, just is not visible anymore.

When I remove "android:background="@android:color/black" from the "activity_contact.xml", my advertisement becomes visible again. Why is this happening, and how can I change the background for my fragment activity and keep my admob ad visible? I also have been breaking my neck in an attempt to get "View getView()" to work for my ArrayAdapter, but it just will not work. I've tried with and without "@Override". Is this because I'm using a fragment?

Any help is appreciated.

MainActivity.jar/

package com.books4nooks.tashasays;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser;
import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException;
import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserFactory;

import android.annotation.TargetApi;
import android.app.ActionBar;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.net.ConnectivityManager;
import android.net.NetworkInfo;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemClickListener;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.RelativeLayout;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdRequest;
import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdSize;
import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView;

public class MainActivity extends FragmentActivity implements
        ActionBar.OnNavigationListener {

    /**
     * The serialization (saved instance state) Bundle key representing the
     * current dropdown position.
     */
    private static final String STATE_SELECTED_NAVIGATION_ITEM = "selected_navigation_item";
    private AdView adView;
    private static final String AD_UNIT_ID = "xxx";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        // Create the adView.
        adView = new AdView(this);
        adView.setAdUnitId(AD_UNIT_ID);
        adView.setAdSize(AdSize.SMART_BANNER);

        // Add the AdView to the view hierarchy. The view will have no size
        // until the ad is loaded.

        RelativeLayout layout = (RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.container);


        layout.addView(adView);

        // Create an ad request. Check logcat output for the hashed device ID to
        // get test ads on a physical device.
        AdRequest adRequest = new AdRequest.Builder()
            .build();

        // Start loading the ad in the background.
        adView.loadAd(adRequest);

        // Set up the action bar to show a dropdown list.
        final ActionBar actionBar = getActionBar();
        actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);
        actionBar.setNavigationMode(ActionBar.NAVIGATION_MODE_LIST);


        // Set up the dropdown list navigation in the action bar.
        actionBar.setListNavigationCallbacks(
        // Specify a SpinnerAdapter to populate the dropdown list.
                new ArrayAdapter<String>(getActionBarThemedContextCompat(),
                        android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,
                        android.R.id.text1, new String[] {
                                getString(R.string.title_section1),
                                getString(R.string.title_section2),
                                 }), this);
    }

      @Override
      public void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        if (adView != null) {
          adView.resume();
        }
      }

      @Override
      public void onPause() {
        if (adView != null) {
          adView.pause();
        }
        super.onPause();
      }

      /** Called before the activity is destroyed. */
      @Override
      public void onDestroy() {
        // Destroy the AdView.
        if (adView != null) {
          adView.destroy();
        }
        super.onDestroy();
      }

    /**
     * Backward-compatible version of {@link ActionBar#getThemedContext()} that
     * simply returns the {@link android.app.Activity} if
     * <code>getThemedContext</code> is unavailable.
     */
    @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH)
    private Context getActionBarThemedContextCompat() {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH) {
            return getActionBar().getThemedContext();
        } else {
            return this;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        // Restore the previously serialized current dropdown position.
        if (savedInstanceState.containsKey(STATE_SELECTED_NAVIGATION_ITEM)) {
            getActionBar().setSelectedNavigationItem(
                    savedInstanceState.getInt(STATE_SELECTED_NAVIGATION_ITEM));
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
        // Serialize the current dropdown position.
        outState.putInt(STATE_SELECTED_NAVIGATION_ITEM, getActionBar()
                .getSelectedNavigationIndex());
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);               
        return true;
    }

    @Override
      public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
        // action with ID action_settings was selected
        case R.id.action_settings:
          finish();
          android.os.Process.killProcess(android.os.Process.myPid());
          super.onDestroy();
          break;
        default:
          break;
        }

        return true;
      } 

    @Override
    public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(int position, long id) {
        // When the given dropdown item is selected, show its contents in the
        // container view.
        Fragment fragment = new DummySectionFragment();
        Bundle args = new Bundle();
        args.putInt(DummySectionFragment.ARG_SECTION_NUMBER, position + 1);
        fragment.setArguments(args);
        getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
                .replace(R.id.container, fragment).commit();
        return true;
    }


    /**
     * A dummy fragment representing a section of the app, but that simply
     * displays dummy text.
     */
    public static class DummySectionFragment extends Fragment {
        /**
         * The fragment argument representing the section number for this
         * fragment.
         */
        public static final String ARG_SECTION_NUMBER = "section_number";
        private RSSFeed myRssFeed = null;

        List headlines;
        List links;
        ListView getListText;
        TextView feedTitle;
        TextView feedDescribtion;
        TextView feedPubdate;
        TextView feedLink;
        View rootView;


        public DummySectionFragment() {
        }

        @Override
        public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_main_dummy, container, false);

            TextView dummyTextView = (TextView) rootView
                    .findViewById(R.id.section_label);
            dummyTextView.setText(Integer.toString(getArguments().getInt(
                    ARG_SECTION_NUMBER)));
            if (dummyTextView.getText().equals("1"))
            {
                rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.activity_main, container, false);
                setRetainInstance(true);
                startReadRss();
            }

            if (dummyTextView.getText().equals("2"))
            {
                rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.activity_contact, container, false);
                setRetainInstance(true);
                Button btnSubmit = (Button) rootView.findViewById(R.id.button1);                    

                btnSubmit.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void onClick(final View v)
                    {
                        View getBodyLayout = (View)getView().findViewById(R.id.emailBody); //Find the layout
                        EditText getBodyText = (EditText) getBodyLayout.findViewById(R.id.emailBody); //Access the object from the layout
                        String gotBodyText = getBodyText.getText().toString(); //Get value and convert to a string
                        sendContact(rootView, gotBodyText);
                    }
                    });
            }

            return rootView;
        }

        public boolean isNetworkAvailable() {
            ConnectivityManager connectivityManager = (ConnectivityManager) getActivity().getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
            NetworkInfo activeNetworkInfo = connectivityManager.getActiveNetworkInfo();
            return activeNetworkInfo != null && activeNetworkInfo.isConnected();
        }

        public class RssLoadingTask extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void> {

            @Override
            protected void onPostExecute(Void result) {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                displayRss();
            }

            @Override
            protected void onPreExecute() {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                preReadRss();
            }

            @Override
            protected void onProgressUpdate(Void... values) {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                //super.onProgressUpdate(values);
            }

            @Override
            protected Void doInBackground(Void... arg0) {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                readRss();
                return null;
            }

        }

        public InputStream getInputStream(URL url)
        {
            try
            {
                return url.openConnection().getInputStream();
            }
            catch (IOException e)
            {
                return null;
            }
        }

         private void startReadRss(){
             if (isNetworkAvailable())
                new RssLoadingTask().execute();
             else
                 Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Sorry, your internet connection is currently available.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
               }

           private void preReadRss()
           {

               Toast.makeText(this.getActivity(), "Reading RSS, Please wait.", 0).show();
           }

           private void readRss(){

            // Initializing instance variables
               headlines = new ArrayList();
               links = new ArrayList();

               try {
                    URL url = new URL("http://msn.com/feed/");

                    XmlPullParserFactory factory = XmlPullParserFactory.newInstance();
                    factory.setNamespaceAware(false);
                    XmlPullParser xpp = factory.newPullParser();

                    //Retrieve the XML from an input stream
                    xpp.setInput(getInputStream(url), "UTF_8");

                    boolean insideItem = false;

                    //Returns the type of current event: START_TAG, END_TAG, etc..

                    int eventType = xpp.getEventType();

                    while (eventType != XmlPullParser.END_DOCUMENT) {
                        if (eventType == XmlPullParser.START_TAG) {

                            if (xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("item")) {
                                insideItem = true;
                            }
                            else if (xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("title")) {
                                if (insideItem)
                                    headlines.add(xpp.nextText()); //extract the headline
                            }
                            else if (xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("link")) {
                                if (insideItem)
                                    links.add(xpp.nextText());
                            }
                        } else if (eventType==XmlPullParser.END_TAG && xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("item")) {
                            insideItem = false;
                        }
                        eventType = xpp.next(); //move to next element
                    }


         } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
          // TODO Auto-generated catch block
          e.printStackTrace();
         } catch (XmlPullParserException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
           }

           private void displayRss(){

            // Binding data
               ArrayAdapter adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(getActivity(), R.layout.customlist, headlines);
                View getListLayout = (View)getView().findViewById(R.id.lView); //Find the layout
                getListText = (ListView) getListLayout.findViewById(R.id.lView); //Access the object from the layout
                getListText.setAdapter(adapter);

                   getListText.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {
//
                                @Override
                                public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> arg0, View v, int position, long arg3) {
                                    Uri uri = Uri.parse((String) links.get(position));
                                    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, uri);
                                    startActivity(intent);
                               }
                               });
            }

        public void sendContact(View view, String emailBody)
        {

            Intent sendEmail = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SENDTO, Uri.fromParts("mailto", "admin@msn.com", null));
            sendEmail.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, "Subject line");
            sendEmail.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, emailBody);
            try {
            startActivity(Intent.createChooser(sendEmail, "Send e-mail."));
            }
            catch (android.content.ActivityNotFoundException ex) {
                Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "There are no email clients installed.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
        }
    }
}

activity_contact.xml/

    <com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView
        android:id="@+id/adView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        ads:adSize="SMART_BANNER"
        ads:adUnitId="xxx" >
    </com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView>

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/txtName"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_below="@+id/adView"
        android:layout_marginTop="25dp"
        android:ems="10"
        android:hint="Enter your name." >

        <requestFocus />
    </EditText>

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/emailBody"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_below="@+id/txtName"
        android:layout_marginTop="34dp"
        android:ems="10"
        android:hint="Enter your message."
        android:inputType="textMultiLine"
        android:maxLines="7" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button1"
        style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_below="@+id/emailBody"
        android:text="Submit" />

</RelativeLayout>

activity_main.xml/

    <com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView
        android:id="@+id/adView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        ads:adSize="SMART_BANNER"
        ads:adUnitId="xxxx" >

</com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView>

<ListView
android:id="@+id/lView"
android:layout_below="@+id/adView"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"    />

Answer 1

I just came across this question:

Android AdMob: addView doesn't show ad until return to activity

Try using mAdView.bringToFront() in onAdLoaded(). Hopefully that will pull the adview above the background and make it redraw.