Develop Reference

How to make a zig-zag layout?

I want to create zig-zag layout same as following attached image:
I tried a lot by creating diagonal lines and arranging them with icon but couldn't make it same.
I implemented diagonal lines with the help of accepted answer from following questions:
Diagonal line across view
How rotate line in Android XML?
However I'm stuck to arrange lines with icons exactly same as in image.

I created this custom ZigZagLayout.java file to cater your requirement. You just have to update the package name in the 1st line.
It basically extends RelativeLayout, so you can use it in your layout-xmls just like any other ViewGroup class. Once you have instantiated this layout, just add child-views to it like it is done for RelativeLayout via addView(View child).
Example code snippet with dynamically created view:
ZigZagLayout zigZagLayout = (ZigZagLayout) findViewById(R.id.layout_zigzag);
Button btn = new Button(this);
btn.setText("Test Button");
btn.setLayoutParams(new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
zigZagLayout.addView(btn);
I've also added few interfaces to this ZigZagLayout for your easy interaction like ability to set the connector-line stroke width, visibility, color, margins, etc.
Try it out and let me know if it suffices your requirement. Cheers.

If you have layout for each circular item , you may use relative layout to align them, using align_below, align_left with margin, align_right with margin tags.
Please provide further detail, what are the lines connecting them and exactly what all are requirements for UI and functionality.

Adding Textviews Dynamically goes out of focus to a Linear Layout

I am trying to achieve a dynamic list of textviews like in the image below :-
Here is my code :-
LayerDrawable dashboardResShape_community= (LayerDrawable) getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.upcomingtask_tags_shape);
// The background effect is by the layer list drawable from the above code
LinearLayout tags_view2=(LinearLayout)findViewById(R.id.tags_view);
LayoutParams lp = new LayoutParams( LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
lp.setMargins(10, 2, 2, 2);
TextView[] tx = new TextView[15];
for(int i=0; i<15; i++) {
tx[i] = new TextView(getActivity());
tx[i].setPadding(8, 4, 8, 4);
tx[i].setBackground(dashboardResShape_community);
tx[i].setLayoutParams(lp);
tx[i].setText("Tag"+i);
tags_view2.addView(tx[i]);
}
and in my xml there is only a linear layout :-
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/tags_view"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
</LinearLayout>
This is what i achieve :-
When i am adding 15 textviews, only 8 are shown like below, the rest should come in the next line but they are not.
If i add more textviews, it goes out of screen but i want to add the textview in the second line when the first line is full. What i am doing wrong here?

Its LinearLayout's limitation.
If you want the explained behavior than
You have to make your own Layout/View refer this link or
Impliment LinearLayout Horizontal orientation with wrapping children like this

you cannot get more text views on next line after linear layout is filled( screen width ), you already the made linear layout orientation as horizontal. Better solution add one more linear layout or use relative (do some child count coding and set parameters). The best solution i prefer for u is table layout. Easier to code code and handle

What you can do is add as many textviews as will fit on the screen to your linearlayout, but then when a textview would go off the screen, you could add another linearlayout below the one that you already had, and then add on to that. You could keep doing that and you would end up with no textviews goind off the screen. You could also try using a gridview.
Here is what this layout looks like:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/layout/gridview.html
And here is the documentation:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/GridView.html

Linearlayout programmatically - How to set up a divider?

I am creating TextViews in LinearLayout programmatically and I would like to separate them with a divider (just a simple line). I have googled endlessly, what I have found is that I can use .setDividerDrawable, but I don't want to use external images for this.
Any tips?

How to Add Divider to an Android Layout Programmatically
Create a View 1 or 2 pixels tall and width match_parent and set the background color to whatever color you want the divider to be.
Separate the divider from the items above and below with margin settings.
Example:
ImageView divider = new ImageView(this);
LinearLayout.LayoutParams lp =
new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
lp.setMargins(left, top, right, bottom);
divider.setLayoutParams(lp);
divider.setBackgroundColor(Color.WHITE);

You could use a simple drawable in xml for the divider (example here), or use a 9-patch image which barely takes anything.
Then, use the LinearLayoutICS in order to show the divider on most of the devices. you can check out this post i've made about it.

For linear layout you can use this attribute to set divider android:divider="some color"
android:showDividers="middle"

Android Making a table look like I want

I am having a little bit of trouble making the table look like I intend to.
These are a few questions, but since they all refer to the picture below and the details I provide I thought they should all be in a single post.
Here is what I achieved so far:
The header row contains one element of type Button.
TableRow.LayoutParams params = new TableRow.LayoutParams(TableRow.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, TableRow.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
Button bt = new Button(getContext());
bt.setText("Column1");
mHeader.addView(bt, params);
mHeader.setLayoutParams(new TableRow.LayoutParams(TableRow.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, TableRow.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
addView(mHeader);
The rest of the table is poulated like this:
(Messagerow extends TableRow and has a TextView member)
for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
MessageRow mr = new MessageRow(getContext());
// stuff to set the TexView text and color
mr.setLayoutParams(new TableRow.LayoutParams(TableRow.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, TableRow.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
this.addView(mr);
}
1. How can I make the header row height be more like the rows?
2. How can I make the button occupy the full width of the row?
If the table is empty, no text rows just header, then the button matches the row width. As soon as I add a row of text, the column width is adapted but the button width is not.
3. How can I make the row fill the screen width? (MATCH_PARENT does not do it)
4. How can I draw a thin line between the table rows?
I tried to override the onDraw() function on MessageRow, but it never gets called, not even once.
Don't get me wrong. I am not asking that you do my work for me. These are issues I tried to solve by myself and googled them and read similar posts, but did not find an answer.Note: I find that UI design in Javascript for Android lacks clear control and clear documentation over all these little details.
Edit
This is how I create the table:
TableLayout mTable = new TableLayout(this);
HorizontalScrollView hview = (HorizontalScrollView) findViewById(R.id.hscroll);
populate(mTable);
mTable.setLayoutParams(new TableLayout.LayoutParams( TableLayout.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, TableLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
mTable.setBackgroundColor(Color.WHITE);
hview.addView(mTable);

How can I make the header row height be more like the rows?
Using the default Button there isn't much to do. The Button uses a nine-patch image that has some space between the button's text and the borders that you see. You could use a smaller font but that you'll probably look ugly. Another thing to try is using your own background for the Button and get rid of the default extra space(of the default nine-patch image) so the final height is near the height of the text from the TextViews. Or try to enforce a standard height for all rows using a fixed value.
How can I make the button occupy the full width of the row?
I think that you have more then one TextView in MessageRow so when you add the Button it moves to the first column(corresponding to the first TextView). If this is the case, make your Button span across the number of columns representing the number of TextViews in MessageRow:
TableRow.LayoutParams params = new TableRow.LayoutParams(TableRow.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, TableRow.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
params.span = 3; // if you have 3 `TextView` in the MessageRow
Button bt = new Button(getContext());
bt.setText("Column1");
mHeader.addView(bt, params);
If this is not the case add more details.
How can I make the row fill the screen width? (MATCH_PARENT does not do it)
As I said on one of your previous questions, I don't know why that happens(but I gave you some solutions there to overcome this issue). Also:
mHeader and the other MessageRow are children of a Tablelayout and the correct LayoutParams to use on them is the LayoutParams of the parent: TableLayout.LayoutParams and not TableRow.LayoutParams.
You add some TextView in the MessageRow(from what I seen in your previous questions), add those child views with TableRow.LayoutParams to MessageRow.
You use only WRAP_CONTENT for your LayoutParams everywhere in your code, you might want to set the width(the first parameter in the constructor) to FILL_PARENT/MATCH_PARENT
How can I draw a thin line between the table rows?
You could use a simple View that will act as a separator:
for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
MessageRow mr = new MessageRow(getContext());
// stuff to set the TexView text and color
mr.setLayoutParams(new TableLayout.LayoutParams(TableLayout.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, TableLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
this.addView(mr);
View separator = new View(getContext());
separator.setLayoutParams(new TableLayout.LayoutParams(TableLayout.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, 3)));
separator.setBackgroundColor(Color.RED);
this.addView(separator);
}
Because you have 100 rows you could try to set a drawable with a separator line as the background for theTableRow(header and MessageRow) instead of the above method that adds another 100 Views to the layout.
Extra Note:
You have a lot of views to add to a single activity layout, you are talking about 100 rows, and if your MessageRow is more complex than a simple TextView(and I think it is) you could get in some performances problems. I suggest you take a look at the wonderful ListView widget.

Don't have a programming environment here, but I'll try and answer some of your questions.
The reason your header row (button) is taller than your test based rows is because the button requires more space and the row accomodates it. The default button has padding on both the top/bottom of the text. I think your best option is to create your own button, which gives you the additional benefit of being able to control the look and feel. It seems like other people have had this issue before: Can't get rid of bottom padding on button
Your button is set to wrap_content which means it won't be any bigger than it needs to be (It will grow/shrink so it can fit the text "Column1" or whatever you put there). Instead of making the Button WRAP, I suspect you'll need to make it FILL_PARENT.
It's not your Table Row that needs to fill the screen width, it's your table that needs to fill the screen. Wherever you define your table, it's probably set to WRAP_CONTENT for the Horizontal dimension. Set it to FILL_PARENT and your table should expand to the full width of whatever it's container is (In this case, it should expand the full width of the screen)
There are probably several different ways you can do this. One method I used somewhat recently is to utilize the View tag which essentially looks like a horizontal bar across the screen. Below is a link to how to implement it.
http://sonnygill.net/android/horizontal-rule/

How do I create marginless button bar in Android

I want my application to have button bar at the bottom, that is similar to this one (Motorola Defy+):
How can this be achieved? I've tried ButtonBar style with regular buttons in it, but they always have margin in this case.

By code:
Make the bar LinearLayout horizontal. Let´s say its name in code will be bbll.
LinearLayout.LayoutParams params = bbll.LayoutParams();
params.leftMargin=0;
params.rightMargin=0;
... or params.setMargins(0, 0, 0, 0);
bbll.setLayoutParams(params);
By layout simply set each margin to 0. That's all. If you have done it and it won't work, put the code here, please.
But you should set bbll.setPadding(0,0,0,0) , too. Or you'll see empty space between the bar (that is invisible) and the buttons. aqs has a good thought.