I am trying to replicate the below layout (Boxes with Text and a line going outwards on a dedicated section) on Android
As evident, these boxes can be implemented as individual views (or drawable) to have the shape as
.
It is apparent that these boxes need to have some flexibility for the "wires" going out of them, most importantly deciding the "turning" point of the line. I have thought of a few approaches to achieve this:
Achieve the entire layout just by using image drawable and positioning the text boxes at exact places
Implement this with a dedicated view to have full flexibility of positioning the text boxes at any position and be compatible with all screen sizes.
I am inclined towards trying #2, but can't get my head around where to start. At first, I am not able to decide on whether I should be using a ViewGroup as the base class and add a TextView and a plain view as a child or should I be using a single View to implement this? The second thing I am concerned about, is whether I am overthinking it and there is an easy way to achieve the same thing (Just to save time, nothing else)?
Any help/guiding material is deeply appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I think that approach #2 will be better longer term. Because of the nature of the image, you will have to maintain the aspect ratio; otherwise, the person is stretched. Because you are maintaining the aspect ratio (at least the person-part), the placement of each text box and end point can be expressed as a percentage distance from an edge or the center lines.
Assuming the image you show is the entire image, the belly end point can be set at, say, 45% of of distance from the left edge and, also let's say, 42% of the distance from the top. The text boxes can be placed likewise. Once the text boxes and end point are place, the lines simply connect them. Now the image can stretch to any size to support multiple screen sizes and, as long as the aspect ratio is respected, and look good.
Take a look at ConstraintLayout and its percentage guidelines and barriers. There is also some radial placement which may help. You may still have to support the layout with a little code, but ConstraintLayout should be able to get you 95% of the way to a solution.
Edit: I meant to mention biases as well which may be the most helpful to you. Here is an example of using biases for a checkerboard solution that may be useful.
Related
I am trying to create an android app where I have a single relatively big button in the middle (the light blue in the picture) and it is surrounded by other smaller buttons as shown in the picture (some of small buttons might be visible or invisible based on some criteria).
I started with the RelativLayout setting the big on in the center and making the rest placed in relation to it, but it is a miss and the central button get shifted and doesn't stay in the center. I tried placing them in FrameLayout and used margin to adjust their locations, that worked the best however, the spacing changes on different screen resolutions.
So what is the best way to achieve such layout that will look consistent on any device?
Android's Percent Support Library allows you to use proportions to lay out your views, which may allow you to get closer to your goal.
http://developer.android.com/tools/support-library/features.html#percent
I'm stuck and I think wisdom (aka experience) is the only solution.
I need to be able to have boxes on a screen with data inside each box. The number of boxes on the screen needs to be able to change and the boxes need to scale accordingly (as well as the text data inside of them) to allow for the additional boxes.
Example: I might start with only 8 boxes which are evenly spaced and displaying data at a reasonable font scale.
As I add more boxes I need the rest of the boxes to scale down and allow everything on one screen.
I am currently attempting to use a TableLayout, but I'm not certain how to make everything scale correctly. Also, I'm generating everything programmatically by extending the TableLayout. Can someone point me in the right direction. Is there a better layout method that I'm not seeing? I'm sure I'm not the first person to need this, so are there examples available that I'm just not finding by searching?
The eventual solution was to build my own scaling function which took screen pixel dimensions and calculated the appropriate margin offsets to use on a relative layout. It requires a complete redraw each time the scaling factor changes, which is annoyingly resource intensive.
I am attempting to make an 8x8 matrix of coloured squares on a black background in a layout that is limited to portrait only. I need the squares to all be equal in size, and the overall matrix to be 60% of the screen's width and of equal height. I also need to control the colour of each square dynamically as a result of my code, call it a pattern setting code if you will. Here is an example of what I need the final product to look like:
Screen example
I have been researching different ways of doing this and was hoping for some advice on the best approach. Here are some ideas I had:
1) Use GridLayout (not GridView) and set the background of each cell to the required colour. This shouldn't be difficult to control with java, but how do I enforce the correct dimensions? Would I need to fill each grid cell with something of a certain size, or can I use layout_weight attributes to control the dimensions?
2) Use a combination of RelativeLayout and LinearLayout with ImageView and display locally saved images of coloured squares. Can I use layout_weight to control the size of these images, and if these images were too small would they be stretched to fill their required dimensions? (I'm thinking of larger tablet screens.)
What I really need from someone is some sample code to implement a very simple version of what I need (for example one square in the centre of the screen that I can colour-control dynamically). Obviously I can then expand it to my specific requirements. If more details or code are required I will happily post them.
Perhaps you could just create a custom View object, and render the appropriate bitmap in the onDraw method? Seems like overkill to use layout objects, unless you're planning to do more than just render squares of colour?
Edit: Alternatively, I once used the info in the following posting to programmatically build a layout grid. It's not exactly what you need (it generates as many horizontal 'cells' as are necessary), but should make for insightful reading on manipulating layout dimensions:
Line-breaking widget layout for Android
I am looking for a way in Android how to place some transparent buttons over a (background) image so I have good control to position the buttons and they stay were they meant to be also if the screen is much larger.
As you can imagine the image contains also the button art...
The best thing would be if I could position the buttons by using percentage, but sadly this is not possible in Android.
This is my current base of the code:
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#drawable/art_main_background" >
As an alternative, I could also extract the button art and place them over the image, but this would lead to the same problem, how can I control the position if the buttons are not in a 'linear' kind of order, i.e. rather random.
You should definitely make the button art separate pieces, and then place them in as ImageButtons. You can use a FrameLayout to stack them on top of the image (actually, if it's set as a background image, you shouldn't even need the FrameLayout) but I think you'll have more problems than that if I understand you correctly.
Are you trying to make a single image as your controls, and just map buttons to specific positions? Considering the number of variations in screen resolutions and sizes, this is just a bad idea on Android. Consider rethinking your layout to be a bit more flexible. If you do need absolute positioning, you can use a FrameLayout, and just specify left and top margins to position them, but keep in mind what might fit perfectly on one resolution won't necessarily fit into another properly.
If you can post a sample of what you've got in mind, we might be able to give you some ideas.
I am fairly new to android and am having some problems with a layout. Below is an approximation of what I want the layout to look like. (I would like the list to be below the screen at first so that the user can scroll down to see it.) However my code as it currently stands makes all of the views on the left only take up a quarter the screen instead of half, as depicted, even though I have all widths set to fill_parent.
Also, this layout seems to mess up the coordinate system on my custom view. Normally this wouldn't be much of an issue, but in this case I am using that view to draw a picture and the picture ends up in the wrong place. Does anybody have any idea how to resolve these issues?
Could you show the XML file you are using? This would be helpful. Also, the coordinate system of a View does not change based on the layout.