Develop Reference

Android - Wrap buttons within view

I am trying to make buttons wrap in a LinearLayout in Android, but they are just continuing off to the right of the view (the word shown in the screenshot should be "HELLO", so I want the "O" to drop down to the next line).
I am adding the buttons programmatically, but even if I code them into the XML layout file, they still don't wrap. Here is the layout file with the LinearLayout container into which I am dynamically adding the buttons:
<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"
app:layout_constrainedWidth="true"
tools:context=".LetterTileView">
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/TilesContainer"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_constrainedWidth="true"
android:orientation="horizontal">
</LinearLayout>
And here is the code I am using to create and add the tile buttons:
Context context = this;
LinearLayout layout = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.TilesContainer);
LayoutParams params = new LayoutParams( LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT );
params.setMargins(50, 50, 0, 0);
for (int i=0;i<wordLength;i++) {
Button tileButton = new Button(this);
tileButton.setLayoutParams(params);
tileButton.setText(wordStringtoLetters[i]);
tileButton.setId(i);
tileButton.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.tile_button);
tileButton.setTextSize(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_SP, 36);
layout.addView(tileButton);
}
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I ended up using FlexboxLayout, which works great for this. Thanks to those who offered suggestions!

First of all, there is no need to use a ConstraintLayout you can use your LinearLayout as the parent layout.
Then for the purpose of displaying all buttons in one line, you have to set weight for the LinearLayout in XML and set weight for the views you add to it.
The xml file should look like:
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/TilesContainer"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:weightSum="5"
app:layout_constrainedWidth="true"
android:orientation="horizontal">
</LinearLayout>
And in code you should set weight for each view you by adding ,1.0f to LayoutParam :
Context context = this;
LinearLayout layout = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.TilesContainer);
LayoutParams params = new LayoutParams( LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,1.0f );
params.setMargins(50, 50, 0, 0);
for (int i=0;i<wordLength;i++) {
Button tileButton = new Button(this);
tileButton.setLayoutParams(params);
tileButton.setText(wordStringtoLetters[i]);
tileButton.setId(i);
tileButton.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.tile_button);
tileButton.setTextSize(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_SP, 36);
layout.addView(tileButton);
}

Inflate child with 0dp layout width & weight (programmatically)

Simple: I want to inflate parent with 1 child which has 0dp width.
Parent xml:
<com.example.KeyPad // extend LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:weightSum="4" // for the children
android:layout_weight="1" // this is for its parent
android:clickable="true"
android:background="#color/MidnightBlue" >
The child class:
public class KeyButton extends RelativeLayout implements View.OnClickListener{
public KeyButton(Context c ) {
super(c);
RelativeLayout v = (RelativeLayout) LayoutInflater.from(c).inflate(R.layout.key_button, this, true);
}
}
}
which uses the R.layout.key_button xml:
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:background="#android:color/holo_red_dark"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView ... />
</RelativeLayout>
And the child is getting added by:
Parent.addView(new KeyButton(context) );
The problem is that android:layout_weight doesn't look to take action and the layout_width of the child stays at "0dp". If I change the width to 50dp I can see the child that has been correct inflated.
Also tried to add the parameters programmatically when getting added:
KeyButton bt = new KeyButton(context);
LinearLayout.LayoutParams lp = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(0, LinearLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,1.0f);
bt.setLayoutParams(lp);
Parent.addView(bt);
How can I inflate the child with 0dp/weight? Of course as you can see I have defined the weight_sum of the parent.

You have used a LinearLayout.LayoutParams but the parent of your button are a RelativeLayout.
Try this :
KeyButton bt = new KeyButton(context);
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams lp = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(0, RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,1.0f);
Parent.addView(bt, lp);

You can simply set the visibility property to gone or hidden by following code :
bt.setVisibility(View.GONE);
You can find more information about setting views here

Add TextView on top of a LinearLayout Dynamically

I have this layout:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_margin="10dp"
android:background="#drawable/rect"
android:id="#+id/searchRelativeLayout">
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/linearLayoutProc"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:weightSum="1"
android:layout_alignParentRight="false"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_marginLeft="8dp"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
android:layout_marginRight="8dp"
android:layout_marginBottom="2dp">
<EditText
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:id="#+id/inputQuery"
android:inputType="text"
android:ellipsize="middle"
android:hint="#string/search_hint"
style="#style/AutoCompleteTextViewOrangeAutoComplete"/>
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
I'm trying to add, without success, a TextView dynamically on top off that LinearLayout, this is, in the end, the LinearLayout should be below the added TextView
This is my code:
RelativeLayout compareLayout = (RelativeLayout) layoutToShow.findViewById(R.id.searchRelativeLayout);
TextView compareItemOneMessage = new TextView(mContext);
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams lp = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
compareItemOneMessage.setLayoutParams(lp);
compareItemOneMessage.setTextAppearance(mContext, android.R.style.TextAppearance_Large);
compareItemOneMessage.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);
compareItemOneMessage.setTypeface(fontBold);
compareItemOneMessage.setTextColor(mContext.getResources().getColor(R.color.orange));
compareItemOneMessage.setText("test");
compareLayout.addView(compareItemOneMessage);
The new TextView is added but it's overlapped with the content of the EditText
Any ideas?

You need to add a rule to keep it at top
compareItemOneMessage.addRule(RelativeLayout.ALIGN_PARENT_TOP);
and you also need to add rule for linearlayout to put it down.
LinearLayout l =(LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.linearLayoutProc);
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams params = l.getLayoutParams();
l.addRule(RelativeLayout.BELOW, your_text_view_id);

I would do somthing like that:
// Create the textView here
compareLayout.addView(compareItemOneMessage);
List<View> views = new ArrayList<View>();
views.add(compareItemOneMessage);
for(int i=0; i<compareLayout.getChildCount(); ++i)
{
views.add( compareLayout.getChildAt(i) );
compareLayout.removeView( compareLayout.getChildAt(i) );
}
for (int i=0; i<views.size(); i++) compareLayout.addView(views.get(i));
This should do the job. I haven't tested it as I'm not on a dev desktop.
ViewGroup parent = (ViewGroup) view.getParent();
LayoutParams layoutParams = view.getLayoutParams();
parent.addViewInLayout(compareItemOneMessage, 0, layoutParams);

i can't imagine how it looks and what kind of overlapping you get (maybe you should provide an image).
but why are you using RelativeLayout instead of LinearLayout as root? LinearLayout works better in the most cases.
you could try padding or margin to fix overlapping.
it also might be because of the orientation of the Layout
the problem with IllegalStateException can be fixed this way (but pls only reuse stuff this way if you know the lifetime of your view what was the last parent):
ViewGroup vg = (ViewGroup) view.getParent();
vg.removeView(view);
//then do the stuff that adds the view - whatever failed before
linearLayout.add(view);

The content of a LinearLayout isn't visible

I tried to add some GUI elements like an ImageView or a TextView to a LinearLayout programmatically. But the elements aren't displayed.
To see if a element is drawn or not, I set a different background color for each element. The result was that I can only see the background color of the LinearLayout. But why?
public class MyLinearLayout extends LinearLayout {
public MyLinearLayout(Context context) {
super(context);
LinearLayout.LayoutParams params = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
setLayoutParams(params);
setBackgroundColor(Color.RED);
imageView = new ImageView(context);
params = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(100, 100);
imageView.setLayoutParams(params);
imageView.setBackgroundColor(Color.BLUE);
addView(imageView);
}
}
The strange thing is that I can see the red background color of the LinearLayout but in the size of the ImageView. If I add some other GUI elements like a TextView, I can see how the LinearLayout grows. But I can not see the TextView.
I'm really confused, because this not the first time I do something like this. Can u tell me what I'm doing wrong?
This is a snippet of the layout.xml file:
<LinearLayout android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="45dp"
android:id="#+id/bottom_bar"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:gravity="bottom">
<FrameLayout android:id="#+id/block_edit_delete_layout"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/block_edit_delete_selector">
<ImageView android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/block_edit_delete"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
android:contentDescription="#string/delete"/>
</FrameLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/block_edit_progress"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:gravity="center"
android:orientation="horizontal"/>
<FrameLayout android:id="#+id/block_edit_random_layout"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/block_edit_delete_selector">
<ImageView android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/block_edit_random"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
android:contentDescription="#string/random_numbers"/>
</FrameLayout>
</LinearLayout>
The LinearLayout with the ID block_edit_progress is the container layout of multiple instances of the class MyLinearLayout. The instances are added in the code:
for(int i = 0; i < numberOfMyLinearLayouts; i++) {
MyLinearLayout v = new MyLinearLayout(getContext());
addView(v);
}
I hope this helps.

If i convert your code to xml, it would be something like:
<LinearLayout layout_width=wrap_content, layout_height = wrap_content>
<LinearLayout id= MyLinearLayout>//just an idea, syntax may be wrong
<LinearLayout layout_width= 100, layout_width=100>
<ImageView color=BLUE>
</ImageView>
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
Whenever you call setLayoutParams on a View, parameter params you give should be parent element.
Try something like if you want linearlayout to be the parent of your linearlayout, use MATCH_PARENT for width, height if you want your view to span the width, height of view's parent
LinearLayout.LayoutParams lp = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT);
setLayoutParams(lp);//lp is parent view
Also try this, just in case views are getting added to right of your views, and you are not able to see them on screen
yourview.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);

Change the width and height of linear layout to match_parent and see how it changes. wrap_content will only show the content of the linear layout, which seems to be your problem.

I solved the problem. (Or found a workaround)
I moved the complete initialization stuff out of the constructor of the MyLinearLayout. If I then adding a View after the layout has been completely generated, everything works.
Like this:
MyLinearLayout ll = new MyLinearLayout(getContext());
LinearLayout.LayoutParams params = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(100, 100);
ll.setLayoutParams(params);
ll.setBackgroundColor(Color.RED);
ImageView v = new ImageView(getContext());
params = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(50, 50);
v.setLayoutParams(params);
v.setBackgroundColor(Color.GREEN);
ll.addView(v);
addView(ll);
I don't know why the other way doesn't work. Thanks for the fast answers!

How do I add elements dynamically to a view created with XML

I'm trying to add dynamic content to a view that has been created with XML.
I have a view "profile_list" that has a ScrollView that I like to add some elements to.
Here is some code of what I'm trying to do.
// Find the ScrollView
ScrollView sv = (ScrollView) this.findViewById(R.id.scrollView1);
// Create a LinearLayout element
LinearLayout ll = new LinearLayout(this);
ll.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
// Add text
tv = new TextView(this);
tv.setText("my text");
ll.addView(tv);
// Add the LinearLayout element to the ScrollView
sv.addView(ll);
// Display the view
setContentView(R.layout.profile_list);
The plan is to add a TableLayout and fill it dynamically and not just a dummy text but first I must get this to work.
Any help is welcome.
Kind Regards
Olle
I found the solution!
Stupid me I had left a element in my ScrollView in my XML-file!
Anyway her is a working example:
LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.profile_list, null);
// Find the ScrollView
ScrollView sv = (ScrollView) v.findViewById(R.id.scrollView1);
// Create a LinearLayout element
LinearLayout ll = new LinearLayout(this);
ll.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
// Add text
TextView tv = new TextView(this);
tv.setText("my text");
ll.addView(tv);
// Add the LinearLayout element to the ScrollView
sv.addView(ll);
// Display the view
setContentView(v);
And the XML-file to match
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<ScrollView
android:id="#+id/scrollView1"
android:clickable="true"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_marginBottom="50px"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
</ScrollView>
</LinearLayout>
Hope this will help someone. Thanks for all help!

The way that you are adding things to the view is basically right - you just get the container object by its ID and then add them.
It looks like you are setting the content view to be the wrong view though. You should inflate the view, add the children and set it as the content view, or set the content view from a resource ID then do the manipulation. What you are doing is manipulating a view and then adding a different one. Try moving your setContentView(...) to the start of the block.