Android Glide Image Library – Building Image Gallery App

Loading an image from internet is pretty easier using Volley library. But here is a much better solution than volley i.e Glide image library. When compared to volley, Glide wins in lot of scenarios in terms of performance and usability. Below are the advantages of Glide over volley

> Supports fetching, decoding, and displaying video stills, images, and animated GIFs
> Placeholder can be added before the loading the media
> Loads thumbnail (blurred) first and then loads the high resolution image like in WhatsApp or Facebook.
> Crossfading effects between the media
> Supports image arbitrary transformations like loading image in circular shape or any other shape.
> Better Memory and disk caching mechanisms
> Works well with both Volley and OkHttp libraries

This article explains how to build a simple image gallery app where all the images will be loaded from internet. First all the thumbnail images displayed in a grid manner and upon selecting the single image, a fullscreen image slider will be launched.

How to Use It?

Integrating Glide in your project is very easy. First add the glide dependency to your build.gradle.

dependencies {
    // glide
    compile 'com.github.bumptech.glide:glide:3.7.0'
}

Second load the image into ImageView using below code snippet.

String imgUrl = "https://api.androidhive.info/images/glide/medium/deadpool.jpg";

ImageView imageView = (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.thumbnail);

Glide.with(mContext).load(imgUrl)
                .thumbnail(0.5f)
                .crossFade()
                .diskCacheStrategy(DiskCacheStrategy.ALL)
                .into(imageView);

Sample JSON

To build the gallery app, I have created a sample JSON which contains the image urls required. Each image is highly compressed and resized in three different resolutions i.e Higher, medium and smaller. For the grid display, we load the medium resolution image and for the fullscreen image slider, we load the higher resolution image.

JSON link: https://api.androidhive.info/json/glide.json

[{
	"name": "Deadpool",
	"url": {
		"small": "https://api.androidhive.info/images/glide/small/deadpool.jpg",
		"medium": "https://api.androidhive.info/images/glide/medium/deadpool.jpg",
		"large": "https://api.androidhive.info/images/glide/large/deadpool.jpg"
	},
	"timestamp": "February 12, 2016"
},
{
	"name": "Batman vs Superman",
	"url": {
		"small": "https://api.androidhive.info/images/glide/small/bvs.png",
		"medium": "https://api.androidhive.info/images/glide/medium/bvs.png",
		"large": "https://api.androidhive.info/images/glide/large/bvs.png"
	},
	"timestamp": "March 25, 2016"
}]

Now let’s start building the image gallery app.

Building Image Gallery App

1. Create a new project in Android Studio from File ⇒ New Project. When it prompts you to select the default activity, select Blank Activity and proceed.

2. Open build.gradle and add Glide, Volley and RecyclerView dependencies. Volley is used to download the gallery json by making HTTP call. RecyclerView is used to show the gallery images in a Grid fashion.

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.2.1'
    compile 'com.android.support:design:23.2.1'
    compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:23.2.1'

    // RecyclerView
    compile 'com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:23.1.1'

    // volley
    compile 'com.android.volley:volley:1.0.0'

    // Glide
    compile 'com.github.bumptech.glide:glide:3.7.0'
}

3. Create three packages named activity, adapter, app, model and helper and place your MainActivity.java under activity package. These packages helps in keeping your project organized.

4. Create a class named AppController.java under app package. This is a singleton class in which we initialize the volley’s core objects.

package info.androidhive.glide.app;

import android.app.Application;
import android.text.TextUtils;

import com.android.volley.Request;
import com.android.volley.RequestQueue;
import com.android.volley.toolbox.Volley;

public class AppController extends Application {

    public static final String TAG = AppController.class
            .getSimpleName();

    private RequestQueue mRequestQueue;

    private static AppController mInstance;

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        mInstance = this;
    }

    public static synchronized AppController getInstance() {
        return mInstance;
    }

    public RequestQueue getRequestQueue() {
        if (mRequestQueue == null) {
            mRequestQueue = Volley.newRequestQueue(getApplicationContext());
        }

        return mRequestQueue;
    }

    public <T> void addToRequestQueue(Request<T> req, String tag) {
        // set the default tag if tag is empty
        req.setTag(TextUtils.isEmpty(tag) ? TAG : tag);
        getRequestQueue().add(req);
    }

    public <T> void addToRequestQueue(Request<T> req) {
        req.setTag(TAG);
        getRequestQueue().add(req);
    }

    public void cancelPendingRequests(Object tag) {
        if (mRequestQueue != null) {
            mRequestQueue.cancelAll(tag);
        }
    }
}

5. Open AndroidManifest.xml and add the AppController to <application> tag. Also add the INTERNET permission as we need to make HTTP calls.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="info.androidhive.glide">

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

    <application
        android:name=".app.AppController"
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
        <activity android:name=".activity.MainActivity">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

Now our project is ready with all the dependencies added. Let’s start adding the grid gallery first.

Adding the Grid Gallery View

6. Open the layout files of your main activity and add the recyclerView. For my main activity I have two layout files activity_main.xml and content_main.xml

The activity_main.xml contains the general AppBar and Toolbar.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    tools:context=".activity.MainActivity">

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
            app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay" />

    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

    <include layout="@layout/content_main" />

</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

The content_main.xml contains the recyclerView to load the images in grid.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"
    tools:context="info.androidhive.glide.activity.MainActivity"
    tools:showIn="@layout/activity_main">

    <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
        android:id="@+id/recycler_view"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:scrollbars="vertical" />

</RelativeLayout>

7. Under helper package, create a class named SquareLayout.java. This class helps the images to display in square ratio in grid view.

package info.androidhive.glide.helper;

import android.annotation.TargetApi;
import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Build;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.widget.RelativeLayout;

/**
 * Created by Lincoln on 05/04/16.
 */
class SquareLayout extends RelativeLayout {

    public SquareLayout(Context context) {
        super(context);
    }

    public SquareLayout(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
    }

    public SquareLayout(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyleAttr) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr);
    }

    @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
    public SquareLayout(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyleAttr, int defStyleRes) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr, defStyleRes);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onMeasure(int widthMeasureSpec, int heightMeasureSpec) {
        // Set a square layout.
        super.onMeasure(widthMeasureSpec, widthMeasureSpec);
    }
}

8. Under res ⇒ layout, create a layout named gallery_thumbnail.xml. This layout contains an ImageView to display the thumbnail image in gallery view.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<info.androidhive.glide.helper.SquareLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/thumbnail"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:adjustViewBounds="true"
        android:scaleType="centerCrop" />
</info.androidhive.glide.helper.SquareLayout>

9. Under adapter package, create a class named GalleryAdapter.java This is a adapter class which inflates the gallery_thumbnail.xml and renders the images in recyclerView.

package info.androidhive.glide.adapter;

import android.content.Context;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.view.GestureDetector;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ImageView;

import com.bumptech.glide.Glide;
import com.bumptech.glide.load.engine.DiskCacheStrategy;

import java.util.List;

import info.androidhive.glide.R;
import info.androidhive.glide.model.Image;

/**
 * Created by Lincoln on 31/03/16.
 */

public class GalleryAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<GalleryAdapter.MyViewHolder> {

    private List<Image> images;
    private Context mContext;

    public class MyViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        public ImageView thumbnail;

        public MyViewHolder(View view) {
            super(view);
            thumbnail = (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.thumbnail);
        }
    }


    public GalleryAdapter(Context context, List<Image> images) {
        mContext = context;
        this.images = images;
    }

    @Override
    public MyViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View itemView = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext())
                .inflate(R.layout.gallery_thumbnail, parent, false);

        return new MyViewHolder(itemView);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(MyViewHolder holder, int position) {
        Image image = images.get(position);

        Glide.with(mContext).load(image.getMedium())
                .thumbnail(0.5f)
                .crossFade()
                .diskCacheStrategy(DiskCacheStrategy.ALL)
                .into(holder.thumbnail);
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return images.size();
    }

    public interface ClickListener {
        void onClick(View view, int position);

        void onLongClick(View view, int position);
    }

    public static class RecyclerTouchListener implements RecyclerView.OnItemTouchListener {

        private GestureDetector gestureDetector;
        private GalleryAdapter.ClickListener clickListener;

        public RecyclerTouchListener(Context context, final RecyclerView recyclerView, final GalleryAdapter.ClickListener clickListener) {
            this.clickListener = clickListener;
            gestureDetector = new GestureDetector(context, new GestureDetector.SimpleOnGestureListener() {
                @Override
                public boolean onSingleTapUp(MotionEvent e) {
                    return true;
                }

                @Override
                public void onLongPress(MotionEvent e) {
                    View child = recyclerView.findChildViewUnder(e.getX(), e.getY());
                    if (child != null && clickListener != null) {
                        clickListener.onLongClick(child, recyclerView.getChildPosition(child));
                    }
                }
            });
        }

        @Override
        public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(RecyclerView rv, MotionEvent e) {

            View child = rv.findChildViewUnder(e.getX(), e.getY());
            if (child != null && clickListener != null && gestureDetector.onTouchEvent(e)) {
                clickListener.onClick(child, rv.getChildPosition(child));
            }
            return false;
        }

        @Override
        public void onTouchEvent(RecyclerView rv, MotionEvent e) {
        }

        @Override
        public void onRequestDisallowInterceptTouchEvent(boolean disallowIntercept) {

        }
    }
}

10. Finally open MainActivity.java and do the below changes

> Download the json by making volley http request. fetchImages() method is used for this purpose

> Parse the json and add the models to array list.

> Pass the array list to recyclerView’s adapter class.

package info.androidhive.glide.activity;

import android.app.ProgressDialog;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.support.v7.widget.DefaultItemAnimator;
import android.support.v7.widget.GridLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;
import android.util.Log;

import com.android.volley.Response;
import com.android.volley.VolleyError;
import com.android.volley.toolbox.JsonArrayRequest;

import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONException;
import org.json.JSONObject;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import info.androidhive.glide.R;
import info.androidhive.glide.adapter.GalleryAdapter;
import info.androidhive.glide.app.AppController;
import info.androidhive.glide.model.Image;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private String TAG = MainActivity.class.getSimpleName();
    private static final String endpoint = "https://api.androidhive.info/json/glide.json";
    private ArrayList<Image> images;
    private ProgressDialog pDialog;
    private GalleryAdapter mAdapter;
    private RecyclerView recyclerView;

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

        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

        recyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.recycler_view);

        pDialog = new ProgressDialog(this);
        images = new ArrayList<>();
        mAdapter = new GalleryAdapter(getApplicationContext(), images);

        RecyclerView.LayoutManager mLayoutManager = new GridLayoutManager(getApplicationContext(), 2);
        recyclerView.setLayoutManager(mLayoutManager);
        recyclerView.setItemAnimator(new DefaultItemAnimator());
        recyclerView.setAdapter(mAdapter);

        /* recyclerView.addOnItemTouchListener(new GalleryAdapter.RecyclerTouchListener(getApplicationContext(), recyclerView, new GalleryAdapter.ClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view, int position) {
                Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
                bundle.putSerializable("images", images);
                bundle.putInt("position", position);

                FragmentTransaction ft = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
                SlideshowDialogFragment newFragment = SlideshowDialogFragment.newInstance();
                newFragment.setArguments(bundle);
                newFragment.show(ft, "slideshow");
            }

            @Override
            public void onLongClick(View view, int position) {

            }
        }));*/

        fetchImages();
    }

    private void fetchImages() {

        pDialog.setMessage("Downloading json...");
        pDialog.show();

        JsonArrayRequest req = new JsonArrayRequest(endpoint,
                new Response.Listener<JSONArray>() {
                    @Override
                    public void onResponse(JSONArray response) {
                        Log.d(TAG, response.toString());
                        pDialog.hide();

                        images.clear();
                        for (int i = 0; i < response.length(); i++) {
                            try {
                                JSONObject object = response.getJSONObject(i);
                                Image image = new Image();
                                image.setName(object.getString("name"));

                                JSONObject url = object.getJSONObject("url");
                                image.setSmall(url.getString("small"));
                                image.setMedium(url.getString("medium"));
                                image.setLarge(url.getString("large"));
                                image.setTimestamp(object.getString("timestamp"));

                                images.add(image);

                            } catch (JSONException e) {
                                Log.e(TAG, "Json parsing error: " + e.getMessage());
                            }
                        }

                        mAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
                    }
                }, new Response.ErrorListener() {
            @Override
            public void onErrorResponse(VolleyError error) {
                Log.e(TAG, "Error: " + error.getMessage());
                pDialog.hide();
            }
        });

        // Adding request to request queue
        AppController.getInstance().addToRequestQueue(req);
    }
}

If you run the app, you can see the images displayed in grid manner. Be sure that your device is connected to internet.

Fullscreen Image Slideshow

Now we’ll see how to build a fullscreen image slider with swiping functionality. We use a DialogFragment and ViewPager for this purpose.

11. Create a layout named image_fullscreen_preview.xml under res ⇒ layout. This layout is used to display the image in fullscreen view.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/RelativeLayout1"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@android:color/black">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/image_preview"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:scaleType="fitCenter" />

</RelativeLayout>

12. Under activity package, create a class named SlideshowDialogFragment.java. This is a fragment class which extends DialogFragment.

package info.androidhive.glide.activity;

import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.DialogFragment;
import android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter;
import android.support.v4.view.ViewPager;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

import com.bumptech.glide.Glide;
import com.bumptech.glide.load.engine.DiskCacheStrategy;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import info.androidhive.glide.R;
import info.androidhive.glide.model.Image;


public class SlideshowDialogFragment extends DialogFragment {
    private String TAG = SlideshowDialogFragment.class.getSimpleName();
    private ArrayList<Image> images;
    private ViewPager viewPager;
    private MyViewPagerAdapter myViewPagerAdapter;
    private TextView lblCount, lblTitle, lblDate;
    private int selectedPosition = 0;

    static SlideshowDialogFragment newInstance() {
        SlideshowDialogFragment f = new SlideshowDialogFragment();
        return f;
    }

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                             Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_image_slider, container, false);
        viewPager = (ViewPager) v.findViewById(R.id.viewpager);
        lblCount = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.lbl_count);
        lblTitle = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.title);
        lblDate = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.date);

        images = (ArrayList<Image>) getArguments().getSerializable("images");
        selectedPosition = getArguments().getInt("position");

        Log.e(TAG, "position: " + selectedPosition);
        Log.e(TAG, "images size: " + images.size());

        myViewPagerAdapter = new MyViewPagerAdapter();
        viewPager.setAdapter(myViewPagerAdapter);
        viewPager.addOnPageChangeListener(viewPagerPageChangeListener);

        setCurrentItem(selectedPosition);

        return v;
    }

    private void setCurrentItem(int position) {
        viewPager.setCurrentItem(position, false);
        displayMetaInfo(selectedPosition);
    }

    //	page change listener
    ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener viewPagerPageChangeListener = new ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener() {

        @Override
        public void onPageSelected(int position) {
            displayMetaInfo(position);
        }

        @Override
        public void onPageScrolled(int arg0, float arg1, int arg2) {

        }

        @Override
        public void onPageScrollStateChanged(int arg0) {

        }
    };

    private void displayMetaInfo(int position) {
        lblCount.setText((position + 1) + " of " + images.size());

        Image image = images.get(position);
        lblTitle.setText(image.getName());
        lblDate.setText(image.getTimestamp());
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setStyle(DialogFragment.STYLE_NORMAL, android.R.style.Theme_Black_NoTitleBar_Fullscreen);
    }

    //	adapter
    public class MyViewPagerAdapter extends PagerAdapter {

        private LayoutInflater layoutInflater;

        public MyViewPagerAdapter() {
        }

        @Override
        public Object instantiateItem(ViewGroup container, int position) {

            layoutInflater = (LayoutInflater) getActivity().getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
            View view = layoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.image_fullscreen_preview, container, false);

            ImageView imageViewPreview = (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.image_preview);

            Image image = images.get(position);

            Glide.with(getActivity()).load(image.getLarge())
                    .thumbnail(0.5f)
                    .crossFade()
                    .diskCacheStrategy(DiskCacheStrategy.ALL)
                    .into(imageViewPreview);

            container.addView(view);

            return view;
        }

        @Override
        public int getCount() {
            return images.size();
        }

        @Override
        public boolean isViewFromObject(View view, Object obj) {
            return view == ((View) obj);
        }


        @Override
        public void destroyItem(ViewGroup container, int position, Object object) {
            container.removeView((View) object);
        }
    }
}

13. Open MainActivity.java and add the click event to recyclerView in onCreate() method. (This code is already provided in above step, just uncomment it)

        recyclerView.addOnItemTouchListener(new GalleryAdapter.RecyclerTouchListener(getApplicationContext(), recyclerView, new GalleryAdapter.ClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view, int position) {
                Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
                bundle.putSerializable("images", images);
                bundle.putInt("position", position);

                FragmentTransaction ft = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
                SlideshowDialogFragment newFragment = SlideshowDialogFragment.newInstance();
                newFragment.setArguments(bundle);
                newFragment.show(ft, "slideshow");
            }

            @Override
            public void onLongClick(View view, int position) {

            }
        }));

Run the app once more and try tapping on thumbnail image. You should see the fullscreen image slider with swiping functionality enabled.

Ravi Tamada

Hi there! I am Founder at androidhive and programming enthusiast. My skills includes Android, iOS, PHP, Ruby on Rails and lot more. If you have any idea that you would want me to develop? Let’s talk: ravi@androidhive.info