Added in API level 1

Surface

---

Kotlin |Java

open class Surface : Parcelable

kotlin.Any
↳	android.view.Surface

Handle onto a raw buffer that is being managed by the screen compositor.

A Surface is generally created by or from a consumer of image buffers (such as a android.graphics.SurfaceTexture, android.media.MediaRecorder, or android.renderscript.Allocation), and is handed to some kind of producer (such as OpenGL, MediaPlayer, or android.hardware.camera2.CameraDevice#createCaptureSession) to draw into.

Note: A Surface acts like a weak reference to the consumer it is associated with. By itself it will not keep its parent consumer from being reclaimed.

Summary

Nested classes
open	OutOfResourcesException Exception thrown when a Canvas couldn't be locked with Surface#lockCanvas, or when a SurfaceTexture could not successfully be allocated.

Constants
static Int	CHANGE_FRAME_RATE_ALWAYS Change the frame rate even if the transition is going to be non-seamless, i.
static Int	CHANGE_FRAME_RATE_ONLY_IF_SEAMLESS Change the frame rate only if the transition is going to be seamless.
static Int	FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_DEFAULT There are no inherent restrictions on the frame rate of this surface.
static Int	FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_FIXED_SOURCE This surface is being used to display content with an inherently fixed frame rate, e.
static Int	ROTATION_0 Rotation constant: 0 degree rotation (natural orientation)
static Int	ROTATION_180 Rotation constant: 180 degree rotation.
static Int	ROTATION_270 Rotation constant: 270 degree rotation.
static Int	ROTATION_90 Rotation constant: 90 degree rotation.

Inherited constants

From class Parcelable Int CONTENTS_FILE_DESCRIPTOR Descriptor bit used with describeContents(): indicates that the Parcelable object's flattened representation includes a file descriptor. Int PARCELABLE_WRITE_RETURN_VALUE Flag for use with writeToParcel: the object being written is a return value, that is the result of a function such as "Parcelable someFunction()", "void someFunction(out Parcelable)", or "void someFunction(inout Parcelable)". Some implementations may want to release resources at this point.

Public constructors
Surface(from: SurfaceControl) Create a Surface associated with a given SurfaceControl.
Surface(surfaceTexture: SurfaceTexture!) Create Surface from a SurfaceTexture.

Public methods
open Unit	clearFrameRate() Clears the frame rate which was set for this surface.
open Int	describeContents()
open Boolean	isValid() Returns true if this object holds a valid surface.
open Canvas!	lockCanvas(inOutDirty: Rect!) Gets a Canvas for drawing into this surface.
open Canvas!	lockHardwareCanvas() Gets a Canvas for drawing into this surface.
open Unit	readFromParcel(source: Parcel!)
open Unit	release() Release the local reference to the server-side surface.
open Unit	setFrameRate(frameRate: Float, compatibility: Int, changeFrameRateStrategy: Int) Sets the intended frame rate for this surface.
open Unit	setFrameRate(frameRate: Float, compatibility: Int) Sets the intended frame rate for this surface.
open String	toString()
open Unit	unlockCanvas(canvas: Canvas!)
open Unit	unlockCanvasAndPost(canvas: Canvas!) Posts the new contents of the Canvas to the surface and releases the Canvas.
open Unit	writeToParcel(dest: Parcel, flags: Int)

Protected methods
open Unit	finalize()

Properties
static Parcelable.Creator<Surface!>	CREATOR

Constants

CHANGE_FRAME_RATE_ALWAYS

Added in API level 31

static val CHANGE_FRAME_RATE_ALWAYS: Int

Change the frame rate even if the transition is going to be non-seamless, i.e. with visual interruptions for the user. Non-seamless switches might be used when the benefit of matching the content's frame rate outweighs the cost of the transition, for example when displaying long-running video content.

Value: 1

CHANGE_FRAME_RATE_ONLY_IF_SEAMLESS

Added in API level 31

static val CHANGE_FRAME_RATE_ONLY_IF_SEAMLESS: Int

Change the frame rate only if the transition is going to be seamless.

Value: 0

FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_DEFAULT

Added in API level 30

static val FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_DEFAULT: Int

There are no inherent restrictions on the frame rate of this surface. When the system selects a frame rate other than what the app requested, the app will be able to run at the system frame rate without requiring pull down. This value should be used when displaying game content, UIs, and anything that isn't video.

Value: 0

FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_FIXED_SOURCE

Added in API level 30

static val FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_FIXED_SOURCE: Int

This surface is being used to display content with an inherently fixed frame rate, e.g. a video that has a specific frame rate. When the system selects a frame rate other than what the app requested, the app will need to do pull down or use some other technique to adapt to the system's frame rate. The user experience is likely to be worse (e.g. more frame stuttering) than it would be if the system had chosen the app's requested frame rate. This value should be used for video content.

Value: 1

ROTATION_0

Added in API level 1

static val ROTATION_0: Int

Rotation constant: 0 degree rotation (natural orientation)

Value: 0

ROTATION_180

Added in API level 1

static val ROTATION_180: Int

Rotation constant: 180 degree rotation.

Value: 2

ROTATION_270

Added in API level 1

static val ROTATION_270: Int

Rotation constant: 270 degree rotation.

Value: 3

ROTATION_90

Added in API level 1

static val ROTATION_90: Int

Rotation constant: 90 degree rotation.

Value: 1

Public constructors

Surface

Added in API level 29

Surface(from: SurfaceControl)

Create a Surface associated with a given SurfaceControl. Buffers submitted to this surface will be displayed by the system compositor according to the parameters specified by the control. Multiple surfaces may be constructed from one SurfaceControl, but only one can be connected (e.g. have an active EGL context) at a time.

Parameters
from	SurfaceControl: The SurfaceControl to associate this Surface with This value cannot be null.

Surface

Added in API level 14

Surface(surfaceTexture: SurfaceTexture!)

Create Surface from a SurfaceTexture. Images drawn to the Surface will be made available to the SurfaceTexture, which can attach them to an OpenGL ES texture via android.graphics.SurfaceTexture#updateTexImage. Please note that holding onto the Surface created here is not enough to keep the provided SurfaceTexture from being reclaimed. In that sense, the Surface will act like a weak reference to the SurfaceTexture.

Parameters
surfaceTexture	SurfaceTexture!: The SurfaceTexture that is updated by this Surface.

Exceptions
android.view.Surface.OutOfResourcesException	if the surface could not be created.

Public methods

clearFrameRate

Added in API level 34

open fun clearFrameRate(): Unit

Clears the frame rate which was set for this surface.

This is equivalent to calling setFrameRate(float,int,int) using 0 for frameRate.

Note that this only has an effect for surfaces presented on the display. If this surface is consumed by something other than the system compositor, e.g. a media codec, this call has no effect.

See Also

• #setFrameRate(float, int, int)

describeContents

Added in API level 1

open fun describeContents(): Int

Return
Int	a bitmask indicating the set of special object types marshaled by this Parcelable object instance. Value is either 0 or android.os.Parcelable#CONTENTS_FILE_DESCRIPTOR

isValid

Added in API level 1

open fun isValid(): Boolean

Returns true if this object holds a valid surface.

Return
Boolean	True if it holds a physical surface, so lockCanvas() will succeed. Otherwise returns false.

lockCanvas

Added in API level 1

open fun lockCanvas(inOutDirty: Rect!): Canvas!

Gets a Canvas for drawing into this surface. After drawing into the provided Canvas, the caller must invoke unlockCanvasAndPost to post the new contents to the surface.

Parameters

inOutDirty

Rect!: A rectangle that represents the dirty region that the caller wants to redraw. This function may choose to expand the dirty rectangle if for example the surface has been resized or if the previous contents of the surface were not available. The caller must redraw the entire dirty region as represented by the contents of the inOutDirty rectangle upon return from this function. The caller may also pass null instead, in the case where the entire surface should be redrawn.

Return
Canvas!	A canvas for drawing into the surface.

Exceptions
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException	If the inOutDirty rectangle is not valid.
android.view.Surface.OutOfResourcesException	If the canvas cannot be locked.

lockHardwareCanvas

Added in API level 23

open fun lockHardwareCanvas(): Canvas!

Gets a Canvas for drawing into this surface. After drawing into the provided Canvas, the caller must invoke unlockCanvasAndPost to post the new contents to the surface. Unlike lockCanvas(android.graphics.Rect) this will return a hardware-accelerated canvas. See the unsupported drawing operations for a list of what is and isn't supported in a hardware-accelerated canvas. It is also required to fully cover the surface every time lockHardwareCanvas() is called as the buffer is not preserved between frames. Partial updates are not supported.

Return
Canvas!	A canvas for drawing into the surface.

Exceptions
java.lang.IllegalStateException	If the canvas cannot be locked.

readFromParcel

Added in API level 1

open fun readFromParcel(source: Parcel!): Unit

release

Added in API level 14

open fun release(): Unit

Release the local reference to the server-side surface. Always call release() when you're done with a Surface. This will make the surface invalid.

setFrameRate

Added in API level 31

open fun setFrameRate(
    frameRate: Float, 
    compatibility: Int, 
    changeFrameRateStrategy: Int
): Unit

Sets the intended frame rate for this surface.

On devices that are capable of running the display at different refresh rates, the system may choose a display refresh rate to better match this surface's frame rate. Usage of this API won't introduce frame rate throttling, or affect other aspects of the application's frame production pipeline. However, because the system may change the display refresh rate, calls to this function may result in changes to Choreographer callback timings, and changes to the time interval at which the system releases buffers back to the application.

Note that this only has an effect for surfaces presented on the display. If this surface is consumed by something other than the system compositor, e.g. a media codec, this call has no effect.

Parameters
frameRate	Float: The intended frame rate of this surface, in frames per second. 0 is a special value that indicates the app will accept the system's choice for the display frame rate, which is the default behavior if this function isn't called. The frameRate parameter does not need to be a valid refresh rate for this device's display - e.g., it's fine to pass 30fps to a device that can only run the display at 60fps. Value is 0.0 or greater
compatibility	Int: The frame rate compatibility of this surface. The compatibility value may influence the system's choice of display frame rate. This parameter is ignored when frameRate is 0. Value is android.view.Surface#FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_DEFAULT, or android.view.Surface#FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_FIXED_SOURCE
changeFrameRateStrategy	Int: Whether display refresh rate transitions caused by this surface should be seamless. A seamless transition is one that doesn't have any visual interruptions, such as a black screen for a second or two. This parameter is ignored when frameRate is 0. Value is android.view.Surface#CHANGE_FRAME_RATE_ONLY_IF_SEAMLESS, or android.view.Surface#CHANGE_FRAME_RATE_ALWAYS

Exceptions
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException	If frameRate, compatibility or changeFrameRateStrategy are invalid.

See Also

• #clearFrameRate()

setFrameRate

Added in API level 30

open fun setFrameRate(
    frameRate: Float, 
    compatibility: Int
): Unit

Sets the intended frame rate for this surface. Any switching of refresh rates is most probably going to be seamless.

Parameters
frameRate	Float: Value is 0.0 or greater
compatibility	Int: Value is android.view.Surface#FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_DEFAULT, or android.view.Surface#FRAME_RATE_COMPATIBILITY_FIXED_SOURCE

See Also

• #setFrameRate(float, int, int)

toString

Added in API level 1

open fun toString(): String

Return
String	a string representation of the object.

unlockCanvas

Added in API level 1
Deprecated in API level 17

open fun unlockCanvas(canvas: Canvas!): Unit

Deprecated: This API has been removed and is not supported. Do not use.

unlockCanvasAndPost

Added in API level 1

open fun unlockCanvasAndPost(canvas: Canvas!): Unit

Posts the new contents of the Canvas to the surface and releases the Canvas.

Parameters
canvas	Canvas!: The canvas previously obtained from lockCanvas.

writeToParcel

Added in API level 1

open fun writeToParcel(
    dest: Parcel, 
    flags: Int
): Unit

Parameters
dest	Parcel: The Parcel in which the object should be written. This value cannot be null.
flags	Int: Additional flags about how the object should be written. May be 0 or PARCELABLE_WRITE_RETURN_VALUE. Value is either 0 or a combination of android.os.Parcelable#PARCELABLE_WRITE_RETURN_VALUE, and android.os.Parcelable.PARCELABLE_ELIDE_DUPLICATES

Protected methods

finalize

Added in API level 1

protected open fun finalize(): Unit

Exceptions
java.lang.Throwable	the Exception raised by this method

Properties

CREATOR

Added in API level 1

static val CREATOR: Parcelable.Creator<Surface!>