Android Html.fromHtml(String) doesn't work for text

Question

I am trying to add lines with different colors to my TextView using html tags.

For whatever reason,

    Html.fromHtml("<font color='#145A14'>text</font>");

won't show up colored in the TextView.

the problem was when i did textView.append("\n"+Html.formHtml("text"); the \n character created the new line, but the formed html with the color was not received by the textview -- it instead used its default color. I had to use the html linebreak for new lines: Html.fromHtml("text "); — Chris
– Chris, Commented Jun 20, 2011 at 17:50
I suggest you write your comment as an answer and accept your own answer. It will make it easier for others to see the solution. — Simon Forsberg
– Simon Forsberg, Commented Nov 21, 2012 at 14:13
Check out for working example javatechig.com/2013/04/07/how-to-display-html-in-android-view — Nilanchala
– Nilanchala, Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 20:46

Anirudh Sharma · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-21 10:47:55Z

61

Html.fromHtml("<font color='#145A14'>text</font>");

Instead of above please use following

Html.fromHtml("<![CDATA[<font color='#145A14'>text</font>]]>");

This worked for me and I am sure it will also work for you.

Let me know in case of any issue.

edited Mar 21, 2016 at 10:47

Anirudh Sharma

7,97413 gold badges43 silver badges45 bronze badges

answered Nov 3, 2012 at 7:14

Bipin Vayalu

3,1752 gold badges28 silver badges45 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Hanry Over a year ago

@PratikButani You can get the string in separate string and finally can set from html. ex> strtoformat = "variablename" and then can load as Html.fromHtml(strtoformat); simple :-)

user533787 Over a year ago

It working android os 4.3 but It's not working android os 5 and above.

Nazarii Moshenskyi Over a year ago

@user533787 use HtmlCompat and it will be backward compatible

Andreas Rudolph · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-16 14:42:00Z

26

My answer involves guesswork about your code, but here goes:

When you use the font tag: DO NOT include an alpha channel so that your hex string looks like "#ff123456". If you use Integer.toHexString(), you will have an alpha channel in that result.

It worked when i used substring(2) on my hex string from rescource.

To sum up:

text.setText(Html.fromHtml("<font color='#123456'>text</font>"));

will work, but:

text.setText(Html.fromHtml("<font color='#ff123456'>text</font>"));

won't!

answered Aug 16, 2012 at 14:42

Andreas Rudolph

1,23619 silver badges29 bronze badges

1 Comment

vanomart Over a year ago

this good answer, however note that it would not work also for android:textAllCaps="true". This is probably some kind of bug in Android.

xstmpx · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-01 03:57:17Z

24

Make sure to turn off any modifiers like:

android:textAllCaps="true"

answered Mar 1, 2016 at 3:57

xstmpx

6466 silver badges22 bronze badges

2 Comments

Ilya Gazman Over a year ago

The default is true with the latest appCompact, so you need to manually set it to false.

Lavekush Over a year ago

what is the reason behind this?

Philip Sheard · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-19 05:44:52Z

5

The fromHtml method is extremely limited in terms of the HTML tags that it supports, and font is not one of them. See http://commonsware.com/blog/Android/2010/05/26/html-tags-supported-by-textview.html for an unofficial list. I did some research on this myself, and I found that fromHtml is based on an obscure and poorly documented rendering engine.

edited Jun 19, 2011 at 5:44

answered Jun 19, 2011 at 5:35

Philip Sheard

5,8335 gold badges30 silver badges42 bronze badges

3 Comments

antonyt Over a year ago

That list seems to include both the font tag and the color attribute as ones supported by the Html.fromHtml() method?

sven Over a year ago

+1 for providing the link with the supported tags and their attributes.

Phlip Over a year ago

that list doesn't cover and , which some tablets support in practice...

Cabezas · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-10 16:45:44Z

4

I use this code

Html.fromHtml(convertToHtml("<font color='#145A14'>text</font>"));

public String convertToHtml(String htmlString) {

    StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
    stringBuilder.append("<![CDATA[");
    stringBuilder.append(htmlString);
    stringBuilder.append("]]>");
    return stringBuilder.toString();
}

answered Mar 10, 2016 at 16:45

Cabezas

10.9k9 gold badges73 silver badges72 bronze badges

Comments

Konstantin Burov · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-19 10:21:04Z

2

That looks like a very dark color, are you sure that your screen is capable to display such colors, so you can distinguish them from black? The code snippet looks good, I've tried similar code many times and it worked like a charm. Try it with somewhat brighter, i.e. #ff0000 (red), to verify that it works:

TextView text = ... // find or instantinate your text view.
text.setText(Html.fromHtml("<font color='#ff0000'>text</font>"));

edited Jun 19, 2011 at 10:21

answered Jun 19, 2011 at 5:07

Konstantin Burov

69.3k16 gold badges117 silver badges93 bronze badges

Comments

Devendra Anurag · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-18 15:00:26Z

2

textView.setText(Html.fromHtml("<font color='blue'>text</font>"));

edited Apr 18, 2012 at 15:00

user142162

answered Apr 18, 2012 at 14:39

Devendra Anurag

211 bronze badge

Comments

Derlin · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-25 15:56:31Z

2

txt_description1.setText(Html.fromHtml("<font color='rgb'>"+str_description1+"</font>"));

If you do not want a single static color and want to directly reflect from editor you can use "rgb". It will reflect the exact color what you have set in editor, just set in textview and concat it with textview value. And you are all set to go.

edited Nov 25, 2017 at 15:56

Derlin

9,9112 gold badges34 silver badges57 bronze badges

answered Feb 19, 2016 at 7:55

Naina

595 bronze badges

Comments

Lenny T · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-01 17:52:33Z

1

Make sure your RGB value is CAPITALIZED. Android can understand #00FF00 but not #00ff00.

answered Oct 1, 2013 at 17:52

Lenny T

4093 silver badges6 bronze badges

Comments

Houcine · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-17 16:16:34Z

1

try this and it should works

 textView.setText(Html.fromHtml("<font color=\"#145A14\">text</font>"));

edited Dec 17, 2013 at 16:16

answered Jun 19, 2011 at 9:30

Houcine

24.2k13 gold badges59 silver badges84 bronze badges

1 Comment

Houcine Over a year ago

First thing : i think that my answer is the same as others, so you have voted down for my answer .Second thing : notice that i've used \"#145A14\" and NOT '#145A14' .

Garg · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-13 11:56:45Z

0

Yeah I agree, it doesn't work sometimes.

As an alternative, I use in xml for Textview:

android:textColorLink="yourColor"

works like a charm ;)

edited Jan 13, 2016 at 11:56

Garg

2,7312 gold badges39 silver badges49 bronze badges

answered Dec 24, 2015 at 6:15

abhishekm473

1091 gold badge2 silver badges10 bronze badges

1 Comment

Andrei Chernyshev Over a year ago

it will not work if the spanable got converted to string somehow took and hour for me to figure it out. use textView.setText(Html.fromHtml("text")); and then append and prepend any other strings inside the fromHTML brakets.

Garg · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-24 07:59:06Z

0

For color text with hyperlink URL:

textView.setText(Html.fromHtml("You agree to our <font color='#F20000'><a href='https://www.yoururl.com'> Terms of Service</a></font> and <font color='#F20000'><a href='https://www.yoururl.com'>Privacy Policy</a></font>", Html.FROM_HTML_MODE_LEGACY), TextView.BufferType.SPANNABLE);

This worked for me and I am sure it will also work for all.

answered Dec 24, 2019 at 7:59

Garg

2,7312 gold badges39 silver badges49 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Android Html.fromHtml(String) doesn't work for <font color='#'>text</font>

12 Answers 12

3 Comments

1 Comment

2 Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

12 Answers 12

3 Comments

1 Comment

2 Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related