Painting text over background image is dim

Question

I'm painting text over a background image on a canvas. I move the image interactively (like a Ouija board pointer). I've set the canvas to black, the pointer is red and I want to write white text over it so that the pointer has a player's name on it.

In Android 2.3.4 it appears as solid white text on top of the red pointer which is pretty clear, but I'd like to use any color. In Android 4.1.2 I can barely see the white text. Here's my code:

    public Pointer(Context context) {
    super(context);

    paintBg = new Paint();
    paintBg.setColor(Color.BLACK);
    paintName = new Paint();
    paintName.setColor(Color.WHITE);
    paintName.setTextSize(50); // set text size
    paintName.setStrokeWidth(5);
    paintName.setTextAlign(Paint.Align.CENTER);

    this.setImageResource(res); // pointer.png in res/drawable folder
    Drawable d = getResources().getDrawable(res);
    h = d.getIntrinsicHeight();
    w = d.getIntrinsicWidth();

    canvas = new Canvas();
    canvas.drawPaint(paintBg);//make background black

    // float imageScale = width / w; // how image size scales with screen
}


@Override
public void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {

    y = this.getHeight() / 2; // center of screen
    x = this.getWidth() / 2;
    int left = Math.round(x - 0.8f * w);
    int right = Math.round(x + 0.8f * w);

    canvas.save();
    canvas.rotate((direction + 180) % 360, x, y); // rotate to normal
    canvas.drawText(s, x, y + 20, paintName); // draw name

    canvas.restore();
    canvas.rotate(direction, x, y); // rotate back
    super.onDraw(canvas);
}

What changed in 4.1.2 that would affect this, or am I doning something incorrectly? Thanks for your help with this as it's driving me crazy.

Edit to include screen shots:

Android 2.3.4

Android 4.1.2

Note how the white text appears to be on top in 2.3.4 while it appears below or muddy in 4.1.2.

As free3dom pointes out it is related to alpha. I do change alpha because if I don't, the text does not appear on top of the arrow. It appears that the ImageView having the pointer image is always on top - could this be what's going on? Here is how I handle setting alpha:

    public static void setAlpha(View view, float alpha, int duration) {
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 11) {
    final AlphaAnimation animation = new AlphaAnimation(alpha, alpha);
    animation.setDuration(duration);
    animation.setFillAfter(true);
    view.startAnimation(animation);
 } else                          //for 11 and above
    view.setAlpha(alpha);
}

Maybe it has something to do with using this.setImageResource(res) to set the image resource? According to android developer guide, I can only set alpha to the single view and everything in the view is changed. Yet if I lower the alpha, the arrow image seems to become transparent enough to allow me to see the text.

Answer 1

You set a stroke width, but never indicate that stroke should be used for the Paint.

Try adding

paintName.setStyle( FILL_AND_STROKE );