Develop Reference

android nested LinearLayout sizing

I am trying to achieve the following layout for my expandable listview.
Layout
Problem:
On android previewer the layout looks as expected:
refer to first image in attachment below.
However, when I run it on an emulator or a device the second TextView is not displayed.
refer to second image in attachment below
I have to set the height of the second ImageView (ivGroupIndicator) to match parent in order for the second TextView to display. But this stretches the expandable arrow icon.
refer to last image in attachment below
Images
Here is my layout.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="50dp"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="25dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:src="#drawable/ci_hand_cursor"
android:layout_gravity="center" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingLeft="5dp"
android:paddingTop="5dp"
android:layout_weight="0.8">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/route_name"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Dhelhi Belhi"
android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:textColor="#color/colorPrimaryText"
android:paddingBottom="2dp"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/route_schedule_date"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:text="20-September-2017"
android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
android:textSize="14sp"
android:textColor="#color/colorSecondaryText"
android:paddingBottom="5dp"/>
</LinearLayout>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/ivGroupIndicator"
android:layout_width="25dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#drawable/group_indicator"
android:layout_gravity="center"/>
</LinearLayout>
What am i missing here?

This should do the trick:
Use 0dp as height/width when using weights
Weight can just be 1 (not 0.8)
Use equal weights on the 2 text views so they share equal vertical space
Set gravity to center_vertical on text views so the text is centered.
set scale type on image so it doesn't stretch.
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="50dp"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="25dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:scaleType="centerInside"
android:src="#drawable/ci_hand_cursor" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingLeft="5dp"
android:paddingTop="5dp">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/route_name"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:text="Dhelhi Belhi"
android:textColor="#color/colorPrimaryText"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:textStyle="bold" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/route_schedule_date"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:text="20-September-2017"
android:textColor="#color/colorSecondaryText"
android:textSize="14sp" />
</LinearLayout>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/ivGroupIndicator"
android:layout_width="25dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:background="#drawable/group_indicator"
android:scaleType="centerInside" />
</LinearLayout>

The problem maybe is that you set the height of the parent layout to 50dp. Try to set it to wrap content, and use height=0dp and weight=1 for the vertical LinearLayout

How to align a nested LinearLayout to top

I have a RelativeLayout within a LinearLayout and for some reason I can not get rid off the padding between the text and divider line of the first row.
How is it possible to align the Text / LinearLayout to the top?
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/file_row_layout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:gravity="top"
android:baselineAligned="false">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/file_row_thumb"
android:layout_width="80dp"
android:layout_height="80dp"
android:layout_weight="0"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:paddingRight="10dp"
android:scaleType="fitStart" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/file_row_title"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="16dp" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/file_row_desc"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="12dp" />
</LinearLayout>
<ImageButton
android:scaleType="fitStart"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
android:layout_marginRight="10dp"
android:layout_weight="0"
android:background="?android:selectableItemBackground"
android:onClick="showFilePopup"
android:src="#drawable/ic_more_vert" />
Studio preview shows dotted line. Is it responsible for the padding?

Add these 2 lines to your TextView:
android:height="16dp"
android:gravity="bottom|clip_vertical"
That will push the text to the top of it's view. If you want to have it actually touching the view above, you can reduce height.
Here are a couple of screenshots:
1st with height=16
And an exaggerated one with height=14
And here's a link to give you other various XML attributes for TextView
developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/TextView.html

Can Anyone Tell Me Why This Text Is Not Centering In Android Studio?

I'm attempting to align the text as you would expect to see if you were in a word pad and set your alignment to center, the middle of each line would be in the center of the screen and each margin to the left and right would be equidistant. However, using gravity does not appear to be working as the text is still starting from the left. Could someone shed light as to why? Here's the xml.
<LinearLayout 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="3dp"
android:paddingRight="3dp"
android:paddingTop="3dp"
android:paddingBottom="3dp"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:background="#111111"
tools:context="eqlogic.annswingsandthings.AboutUs">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:id="#+id/chalkBoard"
android:src="#drawable/ann_chalkboard_img"
android:layout_weight="0.5"/>
<ScrollView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0.5"
android:id="#+id/scrollView"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal">
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_margin="2dp"
android:textColor="#999999"
android:text="#string/AboutUsText"
android:textSize="24sp"
android:id="#+id/textView"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:singleLine="false" />
</ScrollView>
</LinearLayout>

You are not setting the gravity, use:
android:gravity="center"
Full tag:
<TextView
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_margin="2dp"
android:textColor="#999999"
android:text="#string/AboutUsText"
android:textSize="24sp"
android:id="#+id/textView"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:singleLine="false" />

Set also android:gravity parameter in ScrollView to center.
For testing the effects of different layout parameters I recommend to use different background color for every element, so you can see how your layout changes with parameters like gravity, layout_gravity or others.

Make your layout_width be fill_parent and use gravity instead of layout_gravity:
<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_margin="2dp"
android:textColor="#999999"
android:text="#string/AboutUsText"
android:textSize="24sp"
android:id="#+id/textView"
android:gravity="center"
android:singleLine="false" />

Set scrollview parameters Android:layout_width="match_parent" and Android:gravity="center".

android listView minimize a gap between text and subtext

minimize the gap that I have between two TextViews (main text and subtext) that are in a linear layout and vertical. I tried to pad the subtext to the top, change the hight of the subtext and change the top margin but the gap remains, and I just get a row with an unnecessary hight. My XML is attached
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:padding="10dp">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imgIcon"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:scaleType="fitStart"
android:layout_marginTop="5dp"
android:layout_marginRight= "10dp"
android:gravity="center_vertical" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/txtTitle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
android:textColor="#000000"
android:textSize="20sp"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/subString"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
/>
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
this is a picture of what it should look like
but what I actually have is a big gap between IMDB and account

Your screenshot isn't showing up, but one thing you can try that's worked for me before is to set the bottom margin of your title and top margin of your subString to negative; i.e.
<TextView
android:id="#+id/txtTitle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
android:layout_marginBottom="-10dp"
android:textColor="#000000"
android:textSize="20sp" />

Adding ScrollView to RelativeLayout changes position of wigdets

The following is the XML of my layout. It explicitly states that the title, time and description TextViews should be under the image of the alarm. However, as the screen shot shows, the TextViews have moved into the ImageView. Why does this happen and how can I fix this? The problem only started happening when I added the scrollview.
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ScrollView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" >
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/img_alarm"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/alarm"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:contentDescription="#string/content_description_layout_alarm"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/lbl_alarm_title"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="20dip"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/img_alarm"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/img_alarm"
android:text="#string/empty"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/lbl_alarm_time"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="20dip"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/img_alarm"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/img_alarm"
android:text="#string/empty"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/lbl_alarm_description"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/lbl_alarm_title"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/lbl_alarm_title"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/lbl_alarm_time"
android:maxLines="1"
android:ellipsize="marquee"
android:text="#string/empty"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_stop"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/lbl_alarm_description"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="5dip"
android:paddingLeft="20dip"
android:paddingRight="20dip"
android:text="#string/stop_layout_alarm"
android:gravity="center" />
</RelativeLayout>
</ScrollView>
Image

Cute app :)
hmm... not sure why it's doing it, looks like you have the right code, without busting out eclipse. but i've also had some weird bugs with relativelayout that i didn't understand and didn't have time to debug.
i do know of an alternative way you can accomplish what you're looking for -
have a scrollview that encases a linearlayout instead of a relative layout. Do these things:
For the linearlayout, you can set orientation = vertical so that it's still a top down order.
For the part where you need two textviews where one is aligned to the right and the other is aligned to the right, you need another inner linearlayout with its orientation=horizontal. then have one element align parent left, and the other align parent right. add a weightSum=1 attribute to this linearlayout and have each of the two textviews layout_width=0.5 so that each is half the width of the screen
Apply a weightSum=1 attribute to your outer most linearlayout, and see each element inside so that it's layout_weight sum adds up to 1. layout_weight will allow an element to take up that much % of real estate on the screen. like if you set your imageView to have android:layout_weight=0.8 then it'll take up 80% of the screen... since mathematically, (layout_weight/weightSum) = (.08/1) = 80%
try to use that mechanism instead, and if should work :) if it's confusing i can give code
example
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ScrollView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:weightSum="1">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/img_alarm"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dip"
android:src="#drawable/alarm"
android:layout_weight="0.7"
android:contentDescription="#string/content_description_layout_alarm"/>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0.1">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/lbl_alarm_title"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="20dip"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:text="#string/empty"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/lbl_alarm_time"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="20dip"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:text="#string/empty"
/>
</LinearLayout>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/lbl_alarm_description"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_weight="0.1"
android:maxLines="1"
android:ellipsize="marquee"
android:text="#string/empty"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_stop"
android:layout_weight="0.1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="5dip"
android:paddingLeft="20dip"
android:paddingRight="20dip"
android:text="#string/stop_layout_alarm"
android:gravity="center" />
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>
i hope this deserves at least an upvote for the effort :D