Concise Way of Writing New Dialogpreference Classes

Issues trying to create a custom dialog preference that gets a time period

When (in which method) should I access the number pickers to harvest the values okay'ed? 

Your TimePeriodPreference class need to implements the DialogInterface.OnClickListener and Override the onClick method like this.

Override
public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which){

if(which == DialogInterface.BUTTON_POSITIVE) {
    // do your stuff to handle positive button

 }else if(which == DialogInterface.BUTTON_NEGATIVE){
    // do your stuff to handle negative button
 }
}

And then you can access the number picker when the Ok button (BUTTON_POSITIVE) is clicked.

EDIT:

Why are the number pickers in my custom dialog preference missing the familiar +- controls? 

You need to set a Max and Minimum value to the picker like this, to display the increment and decrement values.

NumberPicker np = (NumberPicker)findViewById(R.id.picker);
np.setMaxValue(100);
np.setMinValue(0);

You need to set the default values for the picker in onCreateDialogView. Only here the dialog view will be created.

    @Override
protected View onCreateDialogView() {
    View dialogView =  super.onCreateDialogView();
      // set the default values to the view
      NumberPicker hourPicker = (NumberPicker) dialogView.findViewById(R.id.hour_picker);
      hourPicker.setMinValue(0);
      hourPicker.setMaxValue(23);
      return dialogView;
}

Note: getDialog() will be valid only when you show the dialog.

I need to have a custom dialog in Preferences

Implement a DialogPreference for your custom layout and add that preference to your preference screen

Here is a good explanation of how to do this:
Concise way of writing new DialogPreference classes?

Android Edit Text Preference with own layout with no newValue on onPreferenceChange

To answer my own question:

First of all, in PreferenceScreen, you need to state:
<full.path.to.your.OwnLayoutClass
android:name="whatevever"
android:dialogLayout="@layout/your_own_layout" />

your_own_layout can be anything you'd like, linearlayout with of buttons, editTexts, according to your wishes.

Essential is the class representing your own preference Dialog. Here is a simple example of how to do it:

public class YourOwnLayoutClass extends DialogPreference {

    private LinearLayout mView;

    public YourOwnLayoutClass(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
        setPersistent(false);
        setDialogLayoutResource(R.layout.your_own_layout);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onBindDialogView(View view) {
        super.onBindDialogView(view);
        mView = (LinearLayout) view;
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDialogClosed(boolean positiveResult) {
        super.onDialogClosed(positiveResult);

        if (positiveResult) {
            // get value from editFields, do whatever you want here :)
            // you can acces them through mView variable very easily
        }
    }
}

Important references:
I need to have a custom dialog in Preferences

Concise way of writing new DialogPreference classes?

Android: launch a custom Preference from a PreferenceActivity

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