Develop Reference

Android Grey Out LinearLayout

I have a linear layout which contains a set of child views (mixture of text, images and other layouts).
I want to grey out the linear layout and all the child views so they look disabled (similar to how a button works).
Is this possible to achieve? I know i can set a colour filter when painting on the canvas, is there something similar for layouts?

Another way is to call setEnabled() on each child (for example if you want to do some extra check on child before disabling), check out this answer:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/7069377/4840812

You can use Frame-layout
Using TEST ONE you can achieve above text view like disabled. You can set root layout clickable false for actually disable views inside layout.
TEST TWO is for understanding purpose. Like you need to manage order of view to show effect.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<!--THIS IS TEST ONE-->
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="100dp"
android:layout_marginTop="150dp"
android:background="#000000"
android:gravity="center"
android:text="TEST DATA"
android:textColor="#android:color/white"
android:textSize="30sp" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:background="#DAD6D6D6"
android:gravity="center"
android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Data"
android:textColor="#color/colorAccent"
android:textSize="30sp" />
</LinearLayout>
<!--THIS IS TEST TWO-->
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:layout_marginTop="300dp"
android:background="#DAD6D6D6"
android:gravity="center"
android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Data"
android:textColor="#color/colorAccent"
android:textSize="30sp" />
</LinearLayout>
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="100dp"
android:layout_marginTop="400dp"
android:background="#000000"
android:gravity="center"
android:text="TEST DATA"
android:textColor="#android:color/white"
android:textSize="30dp" />
</FrameLayout>

To achieve your layout you can use the RelativeLayout. In RelativeLayout you can use the 2 different views or LinearLayout. In first layout you can add views according to your need, and In second layout you can set the alpha colorcode for disable the layout.
Please try below code:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_centerInParent="true">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:gravity="center">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/demo_img_1" />
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/demo_img_1"
android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"/>
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#color/trans"/>
</RelativeLayout>
Here is output for code:

How can I Embed text inside image?

I want to display a custom text (mainly person info) inside an image like it's shown above. How can I do it in android? For example, I have a known size of this image (it differs from device to device) and want to display it with the different text size inside it in the special place.

You can use, for example, RelativeLayout.
Make your ImageView be match_parent and use some container for your text lines in bottom of parent RelativeLayout.
Example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<ImageView
android:scaleType="fitXY"
app:srcCompat="#drawable/ic_launcher_background"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" />
<LinearLayout
android:padding="20dp"
android:background="#92fffaaa"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp">
<TextView
android:textSize="20sp"
android:text="Some test text"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
Result:

Try this (adjust dimensions as your requirement)
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="200dp"
android:layout_height="150dp">
<ImageView
android:scaleType="centerCrop"
android:src="#drawable/your_image"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" />
<LinearLayout
android:background="#64000000"
android:padding="8dp"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView
android:text="Title"
android:textColor="#ffffff"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<TextView
android:text="Sub Title"
android:textColor="#ffffff"
android:textSize="14sp"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>

I've done something similar previously.
Use Framelayout.
Add ImageView in frame layout with match_parent constraints.
Add LinearLayout having background="#80000000" and layout_gravity="center" in FrameLayout which contains your two TextViews.
Let me know in case this does not work.

How to make scrollable Items within a scrollable listview?

I have small database which populates data into a listview which uses other layout as provided below to show the data.
What happens is if the 1st field's text is more than two lines, the text starts hiding. So I thought i would make that listview's each row scrollable. Though it shows a scroll bar but nothing happens.
This is the layout which is used by listview
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ScrollView
android:layout_height="75dp"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="75dp"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/desc_d"
android:layout_width="165dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
android:text="Description"
android:gravity="center"
android:textAppearance="#android:style/TextAppearance.Large"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/cate_d"
android:layout_width="70dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_toEndOf="#id/desc_d"
android:text="others"
android:textAppearance="#android:style/TextAppearance.Large" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/date_d"
android:layout_width="70dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_toEndOf="#id/cate_d"
android:text="16/11/2017"
android:textAppearance="#android:style/TextAppearance.Large" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/amt_d"
android:layout_width="80dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_toEndOf="#id/date_d"
android:text="100000"
android:textAppearance="#android:style/TextAppearance.Large" />
</RelativeLayout>
</ScrollView>
My MainActivity layout has a listview which is also scrollable and uses above layout.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ScrollView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:descendantFocusability="beforeDescendants"
android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
android:keepScreenOn="false"
android:scrollbarAlwaysDrawHorizontalTrack="false"
android:scrollbarAlwaysDrawVerticalTrack="false"
tools:context="apps.harry.expensedata.MainActivity">
<Button
android:id="#+id/add_expense_btn"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginStart="24dp"
android:layout_marginTop="24dp"
android:onClick="addExpenseClick"
android:text="#string/button_1"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/view_expense_btn"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
android:layout_marginTop="24dp"
android:onClick="viewClick"
android:text="#string/button_2"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#+id/add_expense_btn"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/relativeLayout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="406dp"
android:layout_marginTop="84dp"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
tools:layout_editor_absoluteX="0dp">
<ListView
android:id="#+id/list_view"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
tools:layout_editor_absoluteX="8dp"
tools:layout_editor_absoluteY="248dp" />
</RelativeLayout>
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
</ScrollView>
Here's the screen shot of the APP
As you can see there's a scroll bar available for each row in that layout, but nothing happens when I scroll.Please suggest me how this could be achieved.

This is not a solution suggestion for your scrolling problem, but due to user experience you should consider to not habe scrollable list items inside a scrollable list.
See Material Guidelines for this. Here is a little excerpt.
List tiles may contain up to three lines of text, and text length may vary between tiles in the same list. To display more than three lines of text, use a card.
Place the most distinguishing content on the left of the tile and the least distinguishing content on the right.
Specifications:
The majority of space on a list tile should be dedicated to the primary action
Place the most distinguishing content towards the left of the tile
In tiles with multi-line content, place the most distinguishing content in the first line
Place supplemental actions on the right side

Try using maxLines and minLines as attributes for the TextView to accommodate all the data.

Make scrollView Height="wrap_content" instead of fixed size. maybe useful

Google defined in their guidelines do not use scrollview inside of scrollview and it is more then simply guidelines it doesnt work properly. and you see that case. Tbe solution is set to your listitem height as wrap_content and the best practices is as was mentioned above do not use listitems with more than 2-3 lines of text. take a look into materisl design guide to see the dimensions of list items

I would suggest you to can change your custom list item height to wrap_content and then you don't need scrolling.
<?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="match_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="10dp">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/decription"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:gravity="center"
android:hint="decription" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/whatFor"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:gravity="center"
android:hint="whatFor" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/date"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:gravity="center"
android:hint="date" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/amount"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:gravity="center"
android:hint="amount" />
</LinearLayout>
Your output will be like below image.
I hope your issue will be resolved and if you still have any query then please ask.

Android- How to create 4 square buttons in one row with icons on top of them?

Im trying to create an app which will have 4 square buttons in one row with an icon on top of these buttons. Which is the best way to approach this? I'm trying to do something like this as shown in the image
Thank You

Set your drawable image on place of #mipmap/ic_launcher_round
<?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="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginRight="4sp"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:weightSum="4">
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="4sp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:src="#mipmap/ic_launcher_round" />
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="4sp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:src="#mipmap/ic_launcher_round" />
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="4sp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:src="#mipmap/ic_launcher_round" />
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="4sp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:src="#mipmap/ic_launcher_round" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Have you Tried Table Layout? Although you can use any Layout, I suggest you stick to one Parent layout like the relative layout and then multiple child layouts to manage to UI elements.

Thanks for the solutions everyone. The image i posted was edited on photoshop. Now I did it in android studio using linear layout

How can I create this layout in Android?

I've been trying to recreate this layout in Android Studio (API 19) without success.
I added at the top part of the image what I need without texts on it, the part below has some explanations.
Every time I tried (no matter LinearLayout or GridLayout), the text in the middle broke the design if it is long or if I do not set real DP size (like using wrap_content), if the text has a fixed size I must adapt it to every screen size on both, vertical and horizontal, which I don't want, because I must update a lot of files it every time I make changes on layouts, and if it has wrap_content and the text is long the switch goes off of the screen.
I made this "design" with Photoshop of what I need to recreate on Android Studio on a layout (xml only, not programmatically), if possible I'd like LinearLayout or GridLayout or both, I don't care how much sub-layouts are needed.
Additional: If someone knows how to get that switch style for older versions of Android, it'd be really good to get the same style on that too, but is not necessary.
Please help me, I really can't make it, thanks a lot.

With a Relative Layout this kind of design wont be a problem.
You will need to use the properties android:layout_alignParentRight and android:layout_alignParentLeft.
Your center textview will use android:layout_toRightOf and ndroid:layout_toLeftOf.
More informations : Relative layout documentation

Use following XML as your layout codes, this is exactly what you want on your designs
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/image"
android:layout_width="40dp"
android:layout_height="40dp"
android:src="#drawable/icon_paypal"
android:layout_margin="16dp"/>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/switchlayout"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/image"
android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Text 1"
android:textColor="#000"
/>
<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Text 2"
android:textColor="#ccc"
/>
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/switchlayout"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_marginRight="16dp"
android:paddingLeft="16dp"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_height="72dp">
<Switch
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
</LinearLayout>

Use Follow XML code. it will fit in any screen
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="60dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight=".2"
android:gravity="center">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="40dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/app_icon" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight=".6">
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight=".2"
android:gravity="center">
<Switch
android:layout_width="40dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>