I realize that I can edit everything in the .xml files, but I much prefer the layout to the side of the screen when editing details to do with things such as buttons.
My current screen:
What it should be like:
Notice that the second photo has what I'm lacking
I tried doing so, but the Designer button was greyed out, as though I wasn't allowed to use it.
Any ideas?
You appear to have accidentally removed the Designer tool window. To add it back, on Android Studio 2.1.2 at least, go to View > Tool Windows > Designer, and it should re-appear.
Related
I just downloaded Android Studio, and while I was trying to familiarize myself with the setup, I accidentally closed the Component Tree. I'm at very beginner level, and in all of the results I've come across, I didn't understand or it didn't work for me. How do I find the Component Tree again?
Edit: Here's a screenshot:
If you mean the "Component Tree" of the XML preview, this can be collapsed & expanded alike all other sidebars; it might be at the bottom-left of the XML preview window, where "Palette" is. It just sometimes requires double-clicking, in order to expand that panel. I tried, but I didn't manage to hide or remove it; if it is really missing, the Android Studio installation might be broken (needs reinstall).
Try anyone of these ways to restore hidden or misplaced component tree window-
Try Windows > Editor tabs > Close all.
then open your activity.xml again in your design mode. (Worked for me)
press shift F12, it should restore your window to default view.(or just go to Windows > Restore default layout).
hover over the square icon in the bottom left corner and click on component tree.
Sometimes my code moves on its own or just disappears in the Eclipse XML editor.
When I highlight the affected code, the highlighted lines try to correct themselves. But when I scroll or drag the mouse in the opposite direction the code shifts again. In essence I will have repeating, missing, and broken lines of code being displayed from an otherwise error free file. The files affected do compile and if I close / re-open them this problem goes away, for the moment. Any ideas on what's happening?
Addition:
Jeff Axelrod provided a link to a new bug report with Google.
This bug is (finally) fixed in ADT 21. The fix is now available in ADT 21 Preview 9, posted a few minutes ago, here: https://android-review.googlesource.com/#/c/44936/1
The reason you get weird visual artifacts is that if a file contains broken DOS line endings (multiple carriage returns without a newline for each carriage return), Eclipse gets very confused. That's Eclipse issue https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=375421 .
There are two parts to the fix:
(1) First, ADT was fixed such that it no longer introduces these \r\r sequences into the document. This makes sure that you don't get new documents which triggers the weird editing behavior, but it does not retroactively fix older documents with these line endings, so if you open them, you still get weird editing behavior.
(2) Second, there's a new lint check which looks for broken line endings in documents. This runs incrementally, so if you edit an XML file which has this problem, ADT will add an error marker for this problem -- along with a quickfix to perform surgery on the document to fix it.
In short:
Get ADT 21 Preview 9; run Lint on your projects and look for any complaints about files containing broken line endings, and if it finds any, apply the quickfix. From now on, further edits with the layout editor should keep the files consistently formatted.
FYI, the relevant fix is here: https://android-review.googlesource.com/#/c/44936/
Instructions for easily updating SDK Tools and the Eclipse ADT plugin are here: http://tools.android.com/preview-channel
-- Tor
(from the Android tools team)
After some tests, I have found that the option "Automatically format the XML edited by the visual layout editor" (in Preferences | Android | Editors) might be the culprit here.
With my tests, I've found that changing a property (such as the layout_gravity) while in Graphical Layout design mode always screw up the visual display of the file when I go back to the XML (text) mode when this option is ON but that I have no problem when it's off.
If you want to format the XML upon your return from the Graphical Layout design mode, simply use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+F. Also, I didn't see any problem with using the option "Format on Save"; even when I use it in the Graphical Layout mode; so you can use Ctrl+S instead while you're still in the Graphical Layout mode to both save and format your XML.
I've tried other editors options like "Show range indicator" or "Use characters to show changes in vertical ruler" but I didn't see any difference in behavior with activating or de-activating these options.
Finally, to correct the visual display of the file when it's corrupt; I found that using the shortcut: Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V is a little easier than closing/reopening the file. This is equivalent to making a Select All, Copy, Paste; effectively copying the whole XML file over itself.
Still experiencing this bug on Juno (Eclipse 4.2.0, ADT r20).
My fix:
Go to Window -> Preferences -> Android -> Editors.
I have both "Format XML using the standard Android XML..." and "Use Eclipse settings for indentation...." checked. This solved the problem for me.
EDIT:
contain faster method, so it was bring to top:
Ctrl+F -> fill like that:
"Find" "\r\r\n"
"Replace" "\r\n"
Switch "Regular expression" to ON
hit the "Replace all" button
Ctrl+A
deselect text.
be happy =)
Original was here:
Just don't hide that issue, if you may fix it. Some times even closing the XML file didn't help.
For fix it let's look at the reason of it. First of all Turn On "Show Whitespace Characters" (Window > Preferences > General > Editors > Text Editors > Show whitespace characters )
Then back to your XML-file.
In scaled image you may see the difference of "\n"-symbol colors;
then just put cursor to that symbol, which is more dark.
look, two lines was selected 0o... that's may be the reason!
so just delete it, and press "Enter" or "Return" button for add "\n" symbol.
Hope it help you.
also you may find the other symbol of endline:
Just delete it too, and your XML will have a great look!
P.S. sorry for hyperlinks, i'm newbie and on SO i can't upload image or more than 2 links. so hope you'll get the point without additional pictures ;)
P.P.S. Thx to guy who vote up, now i can provide this with images.
I had the same difficulty and finally found the solution: Right click in the editor, select Source/Cleanup Document.
I had the same issue. The following steps were the solution. Link suggest its worked for others.
Go to Preferences -> keys
Unbind copy, paste, and cut (hit "apply", then "ok")
repeat step 1
Restore unbound commands from step 2 (I didn't restore cut, but I'm sure you'd be fine)
Notice there are 2 bindings for each of the 3 commands
Unbind secondary function for both copy and paste (leave ctl+c/ctl+v [copy/paste] bound)
At this point you should only have 2 bindings set to perform copy/paste (i.e., ctl+c/ctl+v)
Hit apply -> OK
This solution was found here.
When this bug appears with new versions of ADT (which are mandatory for fixing and where bug should not appear often) just use Lint tool to fix it..
Find it in Lint warnings and click yellow bulb icon in upper right corner of that Lint warnings list..
Hope it will help somebody
I've just moved my entire development suite from windows to linux. Huuray.
I have installed the entire android sdk on my laptop, and the ADT works great.
The only problem that I have is the above written text in my main.xml layout window, and I do not know how to view the layout itself. On top of it, I don't see the UI pallet.
I have deleted and reinstalled the entire eclipse\SDK\ADT sevral times, but I just can't get to view my UI pallet.
Did someone encounter this problem? if so, I'd love to hear how you solved it.
Thank you,
dan.
The only problem that I have is the above written text in my main.xml layout window, and I do not know how to view the layout itself.
If you are seeing this message, then there is no layout yet. You can drag something from the tool palette into the drag-and-drop area of the "Graphical Preview" sub-tab, or click on the "main.xml" sub-tab (below the editing area, above the console, in a typical Java perspective tools layout) to work with the raw XML.
On top of it, I don't see the UI pallet.
AFAIK, that is not removable. It will be to the left of the drag-and-drop area in the "Graphical Preview" sub-tab:
If your Eclipse looks substantially different, perhaps posting a screenshot of your own will help us give you more concrete advice.
I'm fairly new to eclipse and android development, and I'm having what must be a pretty simple error to fix. I've done some development on my laptop and never encountered these errors. (I currently only have access to public computers, and have eclipse and the SDK installed on a USB drive.)
The first strange thing I noticed when editing the main layout was that there is no properties window to allow easy editing of various layouts and objects. (There was on my old computer) I have not been able to figure out how to get this window to appear.
So after adding one textView and modifying its properties by hand, I receive the following two errors when I attempt to run the program. (No code has even been added yet, just one textView)
http://i.stack.imgur.com/9VGT0.png (Link to screenshot of error, only have 6 rep)
All I've done is change the textView to have center gravity, fill_parent layout width, and a textSize of 22sp. I've tried googling the errors to figure out what I'm doing wrong but have been unsuccessful. Anybody encounter this before? Also, if anybody knows how to make the properties window appear it would be a great help.
Thanks in advance
When compiling Android stuff in Eclipse, you have to press the "Run" button with a .java file open, not with .xml file open. No idea why, but the glitch is there and you'll soon remember to avoid it.
To fix the current state, delete the 'main.out.xml' file (it was automatically created on compile). Then in the 'Problems' tab (the one on your screenshot), manually delete each problem it shows you. After that, press Run again with a .java file open and it should solve whatever is there now.
You get the properties window back from the "Show View" dialog, which is accessible from the "Window" -> "Show View" -> "Other ..." menu.
Once the dialog is open, look in the "General" folder for "Properties".
right click the .xml file and go to Open With... there are many ways to open it. I prefer the xml editor but there is also a layout editor available.
Your XML is not well-formed, e.g. mismatched elements, mismatched quotes, etc. Show your XML for more specific assistance.
I thought ADT should come with a visual editor for building GUI : Easy way to build Android UI?
However, I just cannot find it. I was wondering where is the Visual Editor for Eclipse with the ADT plugin.
I can run HelloWorld application without problem. However, whenever I click on main.xml at the left navigation tree layout folder, here is what I get. What I wish to get is a WYSIWYG editor.
Select your main.xml file. At the bottom of eclipse you can see a Layout tab, click on it and eclipse will open the android gui editor.
As Paul Kearny previously noted, to resolve issue with seeing "Design" tab instead of "Graphical Layout" follow these 2 steps:
1) Delete project from the left of the screen, without deleting the source files
2) File -> Import -> Existing Projects into Workspace, browse and select your workspace folder and open your project
Graphical Layout problem fixed!
If you want to edit the layout visually, rather than through XML, click on the Layout tab at the bottom left of the main.xml window (in your screenshot, just above Problems).
Also note, there are issues with displaying some of the widgets. For example, the ListView does not render. So, my hint is to change ListView to just a View, then work out the details of the layout so you can get the colors, relative-ness, etc. Then switch it back to ListView. There is one other widget that I cannot recall off the top of my head ...
To resolve issue with seeing "Design" tab instead of "Layout" or "Graphic Layout", I had to:
1. Delete the project from Eclipse without deleting the source
2. Shut down and restart Eclipse
3. Import the project back in
You could probably skip step 2, but I did it just to make sure.
Hope this helps anyone else who has the same issue.
If your view is showing Design|Source for the .xml file right click on the main.xml and select open with - android common XML editor. Simple.
If it is happening to one particular xml, you can delete the file (make sure you copy the content first), create new xml and paste the content again.
I recommend that any serious Android developer stay far, far away from Eclipse/ADT Design View. This is a time-wasting tool that sorely lacks the attention it would need from Google to make it worth serious consideration. It doesn't render the views as a real device would. There is no way to bind dynamic data. Does it work with fragments (I think not)? For it to work properly and have useful features would weigh down Eclipse further and make it unacceptably slow. In my very humble opinion, the entire strategy for ADT's ui-design tools has failed.
Thus, the recommendation is: edit Android XML layout files by hand and use the only reliable testing mechanism you have for layouts: actual devices. You can always fallback on the emulator - but the emulator performs 50x - 100x slower than an actual device. I'm not exaggerating. Pick your poison!
new fix, took me forever to get this fixed, really simple....delete the xml file and undo the deletion (ctrl+z), double click and there you go. Hope this helps someone as it did me. No shut down required.
If you see "Design" tab instead of "Graphical layout", just close the project and open it again.