How to retain button state after being pressed?

Question

When I click one of the buttons (forgot your code? or tick box), they display solid red colour and lead to a different activity. When I return to the previous activity, the button state has changed to default and is displaying orange colour. How do I retain the button's original state after being pressed?

Screenshots :

button_state.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item android:state_pressed="true" >
        <shape android:shape="rectangle"  >
            <corners android:radius="3dip" />
            <stroke android:width="1dip" android:color="#000000" />
            <gradient android:angle="-90" android:startColor="#FF0D00" android:endColor="#FF0D00"  />
        </shape>
    </item>
    <item android:state_focused="true">
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <corners android:radius="3dip" />
            <stroke android:width="1dip" android:color="#000000" />
            <solid android:color="#FF0D00"/>
        </shape>
    </item>
    <item >
        <shape android:shape="rectangle"  >
            <corners android:radius="3dip" />
            <stroke android:width="1dip" android:color="#000000" />
            <gradient android:angle="-90" android:startColor="#D8D8D8" android:endColor="#848484" />
        </shape>
    </item>
</selector>

Layout file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" tools:context=".SignInScreen"
    android:background="#619ec9"
    >

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="374dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
        android:text="Hello! Welcome to MLAD!"
        android:id="@+id/textView"
        android:textAlignment="center"
        android:textSize="30dp"
        android:layout_above="@+id/textView2"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
        android:layout_x="-28dp"
        android:layout_y="117dp"
        android:typeface="serif"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
        android:text="Please enter your 4 digit code:"
        android:id="@+id/textView2"
        android:layout_above="@+id/codeEntry"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:textSize="27dp"
        android:layout_x="5dp"
        android:layout_y="182dp"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <ImageButton

        android:layout_width="75dp"
        android:layout_height="75dp"
        android:id="@+id/tick"
        android:src="@drawable/black_tick"
        android:background="@drawable/button_state"
        android:layout_x="120dp"
        android:layout_y="296dp"
        android:layout_below="@+id/codeEntry"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:layout_marginTop="29dp" />

    <ImageButton
        android:layout_width="82dp"
        android:layout_height="82dp"
        android:id="@+id/help"
        android:src="@drawable/question"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
        android:background="@drawable/button_state"
        android:layout_x="232dp"
        android:layout_y="4dp" />

    <EditText
        android:maxLength="4"
        android:layout_width="283dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:inputType="number"
        android:ems="15"
        android:id="@+id/codeEntry"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/textView2"
        android:layout_alignStart="@+id/textView2"
        android:layout_alignRight="@+id/textView2"
        android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/textView2"
        android:layout_x="19dp"
        android:layout_y="246dp"
        android:background="@drawable/shape"
        android:textSize="27sp"
        android:hint="Enter Your Code Here"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        />


    <Button
        android:layout_width="119dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Create a new account"
        android:id="@+id/create_acc"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
        android:layout_toLeftOf="@+id/tick"
        android:layout_toStartOf="@+id/tick"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:background="@drawable/button_state"

        android:layout_x="3dp"
        android:layout_y="410dp"

        android:layout_alignTop="@+id/recover_code" />

    <Button
        android:onClick="goSecActivity"
        android:layout_width="105dp"
        android:layout_height="91dp"
        android:text="Forgot your code?"
        android:id="@+id/recover_code"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
        android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/tick"
        android:textSize="20sp"
        android:background="@drawable/button_state"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/tick"
        android:layout_x="222dp"
        android:layout_y="376dp"
        android:focusable="true"
        android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
        />

    <ImageView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/imageView"
        android:src="@mipmap/mlad_logo"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
        android:layout_toStartOf="@+id/help"
        android:scaleType="fitXY"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/textView2"
        android:alpha="0.1" />

</RelativeLayout>

Answer 1

If you mean for the lifetime of the application even after its destroyed then used a sharedPreference to remember the state. Set it before you leave to the other activity.

SharedPreferences prefs = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(); 
prefs.edit().putBoolean("red", true).apply();

that gets called right before you go to the new activity.

then have a if statement in your onResume code to do this:

SharedPreferences prefs = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(); 
boolean shouldBeRed=prefs.getBoolean("red",false)

if(shouldBeRed){
//change button to red here
}

but if you just need it while the user is in the app(so per session), just set a flag in onStop() and then in onResume() change the buttons color accordingly.

UPDATE: NOW i understand your issue the buttons state was not changing back to grey which is the normal state. Try removing this onelines from the button in your xml layout:

    android:focusableInTouchMode="true"

So make your button layout now look like this:

 <Button
    android:onClick="goSecActivity"
    android:layout_width="105dp"
    android:layout_height="91dp"
    android:text="Forgot your code?"
    android:id="@+id/recover_code"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
    android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/tick"
    android:textSize="20sp"
    android:background="@drawable/button_state"
    android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/tick"
    android:layout_x="222dp"
    android:layout_y="376dp"
    android:focusable="true"
    />

whats occurring is every time you return to the page since your focusable in touch mode its making the button focusable which is calling the focus state of your button_state.xml

from the docs:

focusableInTouchMode: Boolean that controls whether a view can take focus while in touch mode. If this is true for a view, that view can gain focus when clicked on, and can keep focus if another view is clicked on that doesn't have this attribute set to true.