 <p>you can read <a href="http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/ImageView.html" rel="nofollow">this</a>. I think you are talking about this in xml:</p> <p><code>android:background</code> -> A drawable to use as the background, it could be just a color in HEX notation or a drawable. </p> <p><code>android:src</code> -> Sets a drawable as the content of this ImageView. </p> <p>However in java you can use <code>setImageDrawable(Drawable drawable)</code> for setting a drawable as the content of this ImageView.</p>