Develop Reference

Constraint Layout Vertical Align Center - Two Child Views

I have two TextViews, one above the other. I would like the vertical middle of the two TextViews to be at the same position as the vertical middle of the ImageView. (This is so, regardless of the amount of text that may go into either TextView, everything will always look neat, vertically.)
I created what I need perfectly using two LinearLayouts (as the space above the title is the same as the space beneath the description):
But Android Studio was unable to covert it to ConstraintLayout successfully, as it just dumped the TextViews at the bottom of the layout. I've played with a lot of attributes, but could not quite arrive at the desired layout.
My question is similar to this one, except that I am trying to center_vertical align a pair of views rather than a single one - which means I have no view edge to align to the centre of the ImageView/container.
Is it possible to achieve what I'm after with ConstraintLayout? (I expect I may be able to do it with a single RelativeLayout, but I would like to use the layout_constraintDimensionRatio attribute on my ImageView which presumably leave me needing to use ConstraintLayout.)
In case it helps, here's the code for my aforementioned LinearLayout:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
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="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView"
android:layout_width="#dimen/resources_list_image_size"
android:layout_height="#dimen/resources_list_image_size"
android:layout_marginEnd="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:layout_marginRight="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
android:contentDescription="#string/resource_image"
android:scaleType="centerCrop"/>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textViewTitle"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textAppearance="#style/MyTextAppearanceMedium"
tools:text="Title" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textViewDescription"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textAppearance="#style/MyTextAppearanceSmall"
tools:text="Description" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
Update: Solution
Thanks to Ben P's answer, this is my final code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.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="wrap_content">
<!-- Add guideline to align imageView to. -->
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.Guideline
android:id="#+id/guideline"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical"
app:layout_constraintGuide_percent="0.3" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:contentDescription="#string/resource_image"
android:scaleType="centerCrop"
app:layout_constraintDimensionRatio="H,1:1"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="#id/guideline"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textViewTitle"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginStart="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:layout_marginLeft="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#id/textViewDescription"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#id/imageView"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
android:textAppearance="#style/MyTextAppearanceMedium"
app:fontFamily="#font/roboto_slab_regular"
app:layout_constraintVertical_chainStyle="packed"
tools:text="#string/enter_title_colon" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textViewDescription"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginStart="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:layout_marginLeft="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#id/imageView"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#id/textViewTitle"
app:fontFamily="#font/roboto_slab_light"
android:textAppearance="#style/MyTextAppearanceSmall"
tools:text="Description" />
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

It sounds like you could solve this problem by using a packed chain anchored to the top and bottom of the ImageView. You'll also need to use horizontal bias and a constrained width in order to get wrapping to work correctly.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.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">
<View
android:id="#+id/anchor"
android:layout_width="80dp"
android:layout_height="80dp"
android:layout_margin="64dp"
android:background="#caf"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/one"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_constraintVertical_chainStyle="packed"
app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0"
app:layout_constrainedWidth="true"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="#id/anchor"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#id/anchor"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#id/two"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/two"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0"
app:layout_constrainedWidth="true"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#id/one"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#id/anchor"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="#id/anchor"/>
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>
The important attributes here are:
app:layout_constraintVertical_chainStyle="packed" on the first view, which causes the two textviews to stack right on top of each other
app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0" on both views, which means that when the text is not long enough to reach the edge of the screen it will stick to the edge of the anchor view
app:layout_constrainedWidth="true" on both views, which prevents the textview from ever being wider than its constraints, and so the text wraps to a new line

If you want to use ConstraintLayout you could use something like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.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">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView"
android:layout_width="200dp"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:contentDescription="description"
android:scaleType="centerCrop"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/linearLayout"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="#+id/imageView"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#+id/imageView"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="#+id/imageView">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textViewTitle"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
tools:text="Title" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textViewDescription"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
tools:text="Description" />
</LinearLayout>
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

You can use this layout:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<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">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView2"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:background="#color/colorAccent"
android:text="I am 5% of the screen height"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#+id/textView3"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="#+id/textView3"
app:layout_constraintHeight_percent="0.05"
app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="1.0"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="#+id/textView3"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="#+id/imageView2" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView3"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
app:layout_constraintHeight_percent="0.15"
android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
android:background="#color/colorPrimary"
android:text="I am 15% of the screen height (And the image is 20% screen size in height) "
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="#+id/imageView2"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#+id/imageView2"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/textView2" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView2"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
app:layout_constraintHeight_percent="0.20"
app:layout_constraintDimensionRatio="1:1"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:srcCompat="#drawable/rose" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
It will look like this:
One important thing about this layout:
You can control your aspect ratio (for the image) with app:layout_constraintDimensionRatio="x:y" and by passing "1:1" make it square
And by the way - I am using support library for no reason on this example, you can use androidx

Android ConstraintLayout: Views not respecting margins

I am attempting to create a layout where various pieces of data are separated by a line (View), but the design requires an equal top and bottom spacing from the line. I am trying to use margins to accomplish this, but I am not getting the results I expected. Based on the official documentation, as long as the constraints are set for the margin direction, they should be respected. For some reason the top margin gives us the correct spacing, however the bottom margin does not give any spacing at all. I have created a sample containing only the pertinent layout axml to reproduce, along with a large enough margin to visualize the issue:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
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"
android:padding="20dp">
<TextView android:text="NAME"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/account_name_label"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
/>
<TextView android:text="Your Name"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/account_name"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/account_name_label"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
/>
<View
android:id="#+id/line1"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/account_name"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#+id/account_joined_label"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="1dp"
android:background="#000000"
android:layout_marginTop="100dp"
android:layout_marginBottom="100dp"
/>
<TextView android:text="JOINED"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/account_joined_label"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/line1"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
/>
<TextView android:text="January 1, 2019"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/account_joined"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/account_joined_label"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
/>
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
The above results in the following, visually:
Now, I can add the android:layout_marginTop="100dp" to the first TextView after the line View to "fix" this, however I want to reuse the styles for the line View, without having to worry about remembering to add a top margin to whatever happens to be the first View after the line View. What am I missing?
Update: Here is what the layout SHOULD look like:

You need to connect the bottom of account_joined to the bottom of parent and the bottom of account_joined_label to the top of account_joined. So you can try this one:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
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"
android:padding="20dp">
<TextView android:text="NAME"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/account_name_label"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"/>
<TextView android:text="Your Name"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/account_name"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/account_name_label"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent" />
<View
android:id="#+id/line1"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/account_name"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#+id/account_joined_label"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="1dp"
android:background="#000000"
android:layout_marginTop="100dp"
android:layout_marginBottom="100dp"/>
<TextView android:text="JOINED"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/account_joined_label"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/line1"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#+id/account_joined" />
<TextView android:text="January 1, 2019"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/account_joined"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/account_joined_label"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent" />
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Some info before the code:
When you use something like android:layout_marginTop="100dp" you are making your layout to a non-responsive one.
Why: In android, different phones got dofferent screen size and what may look good on 1 device with 100dp margin may not look good on another device.
So if possible try not to use large values as fixed sizes, the next part of the question will explain how to handle this.
Here is where the fun begins:
You can simply use Guidelines to fix your margin problems - it will be responsive to all screen sizes and won't have hardcoded value like 120dp.
All you have to do is to constraint "NAME" to the top constraint and "JOINED" to the bottom constraint like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<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">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/account_name_label"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
android:text="NAME"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="#+id/guideline9" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/account_name"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
android:text="Your Name"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/account_name_label" />
<View
android:id="#+id/line1"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="1dp"
android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
android:background="#000000"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#+id/account_joined_label"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/account_name" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/account_joined_label"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
android:text="JOINED"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#+id/guideline8"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/account_joined"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
android:text="January 1, 2019"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#+id/account_joined_label"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent" />
<android.support.constraint.Guideline
android:id="#+id/guideline8"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
app:layout_constraintGuide_percent="0.85" />
<android.support.constraint.Guideline
android:id="#+id/guideline9"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
app:layout_constraintGuide_percent="0.15" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
And it will look like this:
Now don't be scared, your layout looks ok - it's just my lame lame skills in editing photos (check this on your device).
The important thing is that you can change the look of your layout by changing the value of this line in your guidelines:
app:layout_constraintGuide_percent="0.15"
If anything was not understandable feel free to ask.

Text wrapping in Constraint layout

Trying to make a really simple layout for a settings page using ConstraintLayout.
Simple text views to the left one below the other and a switch to the right to the center.
The layout I have works fine for newer devices, but as soon I switch to a Nexus 4 or older, the switch goes below/disappears from the view.
Here is my layout code,
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
android:id="#+id/locationLayout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="parent">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/locationTitle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
android:text="#string/location_title"
android:textStyle="bold"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="#id/guidelineLocationLayout"
app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.0"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
android:textSize="16sp"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/locationDescription"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/location_description"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/locationTitle"
app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.0"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="#id/locationTitle"
app:layout_constraintRight_toLeftOf="#id/guidelineLocationLayout"
android:textSize="12sp"
/>
<Switch
android:id="#+id/locationPermissionSwitch"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="#id/guidelineLocationLayout"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="parent"/>
<View
android:id="#+id/viewLocationLayout"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="1dip"
android:background="#d6d6d6"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/locationDescription"/>
<android.support.constraint.Guideline
android:id="#+id/guidelineLocationLayout"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical"
app:layout_constraintGuide_end="48dp" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
And here are how the constraints look like for the Pixel 2XL,
Here is how they look on a smaller device,
I have used 0dp width for the long description and defined left and right constraints, anything else I could do?

You can use barriers instead of guidelines because a Barrier references multiple widgets as input, and creates a virtual guideline based on the most extreme widget on the specified side.
According to the Documentation
Similar to a guideline, a barrier is an invisible line that you can
constrain views to. Except a barrier does not define its own position;
instead, the barrier position moves based on the position of views
contained within it. This is useful when you want to constrain a view
to the a set of views rather than to one specific view.
Hope this helps you. I've used barrier instead of guideline.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<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:id="#+id/locationLayout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="parent">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/locationTitle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
android:text="Save location to the song"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/locationDescription"
android:layout_width="261dp"
android:layout_height="32dp"
android:text="Your location is only requested when a new song is identified. Location details are never sent to the server"
android:textSize="12sp"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/locationTitle" />
<android.support.constraint.Barrier
android:id="#+id/barrier"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:barrierDirection="end"
app:constraint_referenced_ids="locationDescription,locationTitle" />
<Switch
android:id="#+id/locationPermissionSwitch"
android:layout_width="41dp"
android:layout_height="26dp"
android:layout_marginBottom="8dp"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#+id/barrier"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
<View
android:id="#+id/viewLocationLayout"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="1dip"
android:background="#d6d6d6"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/locationDescription" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

You need to change the constraints of the switch like this
<Switch
android:id="#+id/locationPermissionSwitch"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="#id/guidelineLocationLayout"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"/>
You are constraining the bottom of the switch to the top of the parent and top of the switch to the bottom of the parent. You have to change it to layout_constraintTop_toTopOf and layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf

Dynamic views in Constraint Layout

I have a RecyclerView with CardView as its items.
Below is the layout for my main activity.
<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"
tools:context="com.example.personal.newz.ui.MainActivity">
<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
android:id="#+id/rv"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"></android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView>
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
And below is the layout for my recycler view items
<android.support.v7.widget.CardView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:card_view="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:layout_margin="16dp"
card_view:cardCornerRadius="4dp"
>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<android.support.constraint.Guideline
android:id="#+id/vertical_guideline"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical"
app:layout_constraintGuide_percent="0.6" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/date_tv"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="16dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="8dp"
android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
tools:text="2 hours ago" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/source_tv"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="8dp"
android:textStyle="bold"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="#id/date_tv"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="#id/date_tv"
tools:text="BBC News" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/headline_tv"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="8dp"
android:layout_marginTop="32dp"
android:maxLines="2"
android:textStyle="bold"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toLeftOf="#id/vertical_guideline"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#id/date_tv"
tools:text="Apple admits slowing down older iphones" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/description_tv"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
android:maxLines="4"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="#id/date_tv"
app:layout_constraintRight_toLeftOf="#id/vertical_guideline"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#id/headline_tv"
tools:text="Customers have long suspected iPhones slow down over time. Now, Apple has confirmed some models do." />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/article_image"
android:layout_width="100dp"
android:layout_height="100dp"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias=".7"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="#id/vertical_guideline"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#id/source_tv"
tools:src="#drawable/placeholder" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/bookmark_image"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
android:src="#drawable/bookmark"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="#+id/share_image"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#+id/vertical_guideline"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#id/article_image"
app:layout_constraintHorizontal_chainStyle="packed"/>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/share_image"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/share_icon"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="#+id/bookmark_image"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#id/article_image" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
</android.support.v7.widget.CardView>
Now when I first start my app the individual cardview's width don't match to the parent and kind of behave like their width is wrap content. After a few seconds the width of all the cardviews adjusts itself to match the parent.

ConstraintLayout does not actually support match_parent for its children. If you try to use match_parent, sometimes it will work, and sometimes it will not. Android Studio is also sort of weird about match_parent, and sometimes will allow it and sometimes will automatically replace it with a hardcoded value that matches the last emulator you ran. Regardless, do not use match_parent for children of a ConstraintLayout.
Instead of android:layout_width="match_parent", use this:
android:layout_width="0dp"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
Instead of android:layout_height="match_parent", use this:
android:layout_height="0dp"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
When I make these changes to your RecyclerView tag, the problem goes away.

Distributing TextViews with layout_constraintVertical_weight

I am having a slight problem with layout_constraintVertical_weight, I am trying to get the two TextViews to share the amount of available vertical space in the assigned area but without me manually assigning this does not happen. I have tried adding in 0dp for the height but that doesn’t work, however it works flawlessly for the width. This is my XML:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- Layout for a single list item -->
<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="#dimen/list_item_height"
android:background="#color/tan_background">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/image"
android:layout_width="#dimen/list_item_height"
android:layout_height="#dimen/list_item_height"
android:src="#mipmap/ic_launcher" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/miwok_text_view"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="44dp"
android:background="#color/category_colors"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="#+id/image"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintVertical_weight="1"
tools:text="text1" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/default_text_view"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="44dp"
android:background="#color/category_numbers"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="#+id/image"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintVertical_weight="1"
tools:text="text2" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
This is an img of how the layout looks: https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZOs9y.png

You have to create a chain with layout_height being 0dp for this to work
in order to create a chain ALL views in the chain must contain a constraint to the previous AND the next item in that chain, and the first one and the last one must be aligned to the parent
in your case in order for this to work you have to do something like this:
<TextView
android:id="#+id/miwok_text_view"
android:layout_width="0dp"
--this should be 0dp otherwise it will not use weight
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:background="#color/category_colors"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="#+id/image"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
---this is what you have to add--
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#+id/default_text_view"
app:layout_constraintVertical_weight="1"
tools:text="text1" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/default_text_view"
android:layout_width="0dp"
-- again 0dp otherwise weight is ignored
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:background="#color/category_numbers"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="#+id/image"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
-- again add this to create a chain
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/miwok_text_view"
app:layout_constraintVertical_weight="1"
tools:text="text2" />
After the above changes weights should work correctly

I managed to get it done using a guideline. Here is the XML:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- Layout for a single list item -->
<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="#dimen/list_item_height"
android:background="#color/tan_background">
<android.support.constraint.Guideline
android:id="#+id/guideline"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
app:layout_constraintGuide_percent="0.5" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/image"
android:layout_width="#dimen/list_item_height"
android:layout_height="#dimen/list_item_height"
android:src="#mipmap/ic_launcher" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/miwok_text_view"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:background="#color/category_colors"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="#+id/guideline"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="#+id/image"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
tools:text="text1" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/default_text_view"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:background="#color/category_numbers"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="#+id/image"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/miwok_text_view"
tools:text="text2" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
Not sure it's the best way, but it works :)