Develop Reference

Change layout template in Android Studio

The old Android Studio used to create the layout files using RelativeLayout, but the new one use ConstraintLayout, and this let me very pissed off >:[ , cause it have to import and sync... I really do not like.
I do not used to use both (RelativeLayout or ConstraintLayout), I prefer LinearLayout vertical, but I did not find how I can change the layout template in order to Android Studio create a layout using LinearLayout vertical, Anyone knows?
I looked for in Preferences -> File and Code Templates however I didn't find where I can change the xml layout template...
Thx

I'm not sure if you can do that, so just replace relative with linear in the xml & don't forget to add to add the orientation

Just delete the content in the layout file, and use the linear layout in that file

Layout as a subset of another layout in android

I built a layout like this in XML say "block.xml"
Now, i want to create an XML like this
so that i can access each block as an array. Can somebody tell me how can i use block.xml as a template to generate my new xml file to be put as a UI part in android. Thank You
Just to be sure , i want to use table layout i dont know how to procees.

In your layout xml you may use the include tag and re-use your block.xml
as:
<include
android:id="#+id/block1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
layout="#layout/block" />
And in your java code you can access views from block.xml as
View firstBlock = findViewById( R.id.block1 );
View blockButton = firstBlock.findViewById( R.id.someButtonId );

You should inflate and add the sub layouts programmatically.
This link has example code:
Android using layouts as a template for creating multiple layout instances

How to customize ActionBarSherlock tabs and tab bar

I want to customize ActionBarSherlock tabs and tab bar.It is like this.
I want make it like this

You could use a custom view to display the tabs. You could try a 3-arg LinearLayout constructor (added in API 11). By specifying a default style in an XML file, the library tends to leverage the system layout inflator. So, you can also do a similar work around
<LinearLayout style="?attr/actionBarTabStyle" />
And then add the below code
LineraLayout tabView = LayoutInflater.from(context).inflate(R.layout.my_tab, null);
//set your layout params and setCustomView

Here is two links which will help you to customize ABS.
Customize ActionBar TabBar (ActionBarSherlock)
And
How to customize ActionBar in Android (ActionbarSherlock)?
basically you need to make changes in ABS themes and have to play with its drawable.

Is it possible to convert java views to xml layout?

I a created a linearlyaout and added views to it using java code. is it possible to convert this layout to xml layout and save it to the storage ?

There is nothing stopping you from parsing all those Views attributes and then building a xml layout file. However you will not be able to use that constructed xml layout(like setContentView(R.layout.built_layout)) like other layouts from the res/layout folder.

How do I used values declared in XML on my custom layout?

Im creating a custom layout and I want to use the text declared in the layout.xml file in my layout.
Like when I create a TextView in XML and set android:text=#string/text1 when I run the app text view automatically loads the text from android:text. So how can I access attributes declared in the layout XML file in my custom component.

I have learn how to do it from this:
WebImageView: Buy one, get two!
In simple steps:
Define the string of your XMLS.
Get the attributes in the code.

Did you complete the Android Developer Tutorials? The Hello, Views | Relative Layout tutorial will walk you through how to do this.