Android - How to create a NxN layout dynamically, like Tic Tac Toe? - android

How can I make a layout dynamically like tic tac toe?
It must be dynamical because I want to make 3x3 squares, or 4x4 squares, or nxn squares.
I think I need 2 for-loops to do it, but what exactly and how to do it?

GridView seems to be the best option. It will work well even if the number of items change during runtime.
However, if you want to avoid GridView, Use a RelativeLayout as a parent and position the views of the child layouts as a grid using LEFT_OFF and BELOW similar properties.
A RelativeLayout would be better than hierarchy of LinearLayout as nesting of views may be bad. (Ref)

You can either use GridView which is simple to use but available only from api 14, or you can place n LinearLayouts in each n LinearLayouts which you can do in any api.
Here is a sample I made for nXn layouts should work(just replace the big_layout with the view you want this attached to).
public void createNxNLayouts(int n,int width,int height){
LinearLayout[] main_layouts = new LinearLayout[n];
for(int i=0;i<main_layouts.length;i++){
main_layouts[i] = new LinearLayout(this);
main_layouts[i].setOrientation(LinearLayout.HORIZONTAL);
main_layouts[i].setLayoutParams(new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(width,height/n));
bigLayout.addView(main_layouts[i]);
}
LinearLayout[][] secondary_layouts = new LinearLayout[n][n];
for(int i=0;i<secondary_layouts.length;i++){
for(int j=0;j<secondary_layouts[i].length;j++){
secondary_layouts[i][j] = new LinearLayout(this);
secondary_layouts[i][j].setOrientation(LinearLayout.HORIZONTAL);
secondary_layouts[i][j].setLayoutParams(new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(width/n,height/n));
main_layouts[i].addView(secondary_layouts[i][j]);
}
}
}

Related

Adding a custom view multiple times in a layout

I have a custom XML file. I want to repeat this in a layout (say Relative) n number of times, dynamically (obviously).
I have seen many posts, but none helped. I am not looking for a ListView or Adapters or so. It's as simple as - A RelativeLayout. Inside it, adding the custom XML one above another. Any number of times.
With a static LinearLayout (Vertical orientation), adding the view dynamically results in rendering it once, not one below another. Don't know why. Although a TextView or so do repeat one below the other in a loop inside a LinearLayout (Vertical).
Then I dynamically created the layout (Relative), and inflated the custom XML. Displayed one. When I tried for another below the first it told me to remove child's parent first (Exception). If I do that and add again, its as good as removing the first rendered view and adding it again.
So how can I get multiple views in same layout?
A rough presentation of what I've attempted:
mainLayout = (RelativeLayout)findViewById(R.id.mainlay); //Mainlayout containing some views already
params = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
params.addRule(RelativeLayout.BELOW,R.id.sideLayout); //sideLayout is an existing LinearLayout within the main layout.
View child = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.dynamiccustomlayout,null);
RelativeLayout r1 = new RelativeLayout(this);
r1.setLayoutParams(params);
r1.addView(child);
mainLayout.addView(r1);
mainLayout.setLayoutParams(params);
mainLayout.addView( child);
/* r2 = new RelativeLayout(this);
r2.setLayoutParams(params);
r2.addView(contentLayout); [Gives exception] */
This is how it worked out for me...
Before that, the issue with android is:
If you add dynamic views inside a LinearLayout (Horizontal), they will appear horizontally with new created instances, added to the view.
However, shockingly, it's not the same in case of LinearLayout (Vertical orientation). Hence the whole mess.
Solution:
The RelativeLayout layout file was binded with the variable, somewhat like this:
customLay = (RelativeLayout) mainLay.findViewById(R.id.dynamicCustomLayout);
Then, a Dynamic RelativeLayout was created within which the former variable is added/wrapped.
customLayout = new RelativeLayout(this);
customLayout.addView(customLay);
Every layout is assigned an id:
customLayout.setId(i);
And then a loop is run (2 if conditions for i=0 and i>0)
for i>0 (indicates the 2nd dynamic layout, to be added below the first), LayoutParameter is created:
params = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
And then for i>0, using the ids of dynamic views, they are added one below the other:
//Following code below used id to place these views below each other to attain list type arrangement of views//
// i==0 for first view on top//
if (i == 0) {
params.addRule(RelativeLayout.BELOW, R.id.sideLayout);
customLayout.setLayoutParams(params);
}
// i>0 for views that will follow the first top//
else {
params.addRule(RelativeLayout.BELOW, i - 1);
customLayout.setLayoutParams(params);
}
Then added to main root layout, where all these views or cards need to be displayed:
includeLayout.addView(customLayout);
Ofcourse, the code is not just this. I have written the essential points that helped me achieve the target and that may help others in future.
So the main essence was ---
using a Dynamic RelativeLayout, to
bind the static RelativeLayout, and
assigning ids to the Dynamic RelativeLayout wrappers, and
on basis of ids use RelativeLayoutParameters to place the following
ids below the previous ones.
You have to instanciate every child by itself
View child = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.dynamiccustomlayout,null);
r1.addView(child);
View child2 = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.dynamiccustomlayout,null);
r1.addView(child2);
//ok, i do a analog thing in obne of my apps. here is the code:
public class FlxForm extends LinearLayout {
public FlxForm(Context context) {
super(context);
inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);
inflater.inflate(R.layout.flxform, this);
this.setPadding(0, 0, 0, 0);
container = (LinearLayout) this.findViewById(R.id.flxform);
this.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
//here is my funtion to calculate the items i want to add, its a little bit too complicated, but in the end it works like:
for(int i=0;i<10;i++){
View x = inflater.inflate(R.layout.dynamiccustomlayout,null);
container.addview(x);
}
}
}
XML for the Form
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/flxform"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:focusable="false"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
</LinearLayout>
Then you can instantiate a "Form" Objekt and add it into a ScrollView
For doing this You would have to nest your RelativeLayout inside a ScrollView and Manage all the Scrolling, items adding, memory management, etc manually.
So the simple solution for adding n Number of Custom Views is to use a RecyclerView, ListView, GridView, etc with a neat CustomAdapter and Your Custom View.
Here is a nice example of using RecyclerView with custom Adapter :
http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-recyclerview-and-cardview-on-android--cms-23465
I hope this Helps.

Is there an Android Layout that can be set to automatically wrap "exceding" elements to the next line?

In an Android app, I am trying to dynamically populate a TableLayout from an array, and I want each TableRow to hold at maximum 3 elements.
The way I had to implement it (code below), feels a lot like dynamically creating HTML tables and I was wondering if Android had more ad-hoc layout facilities that don't make me feel as if I am forcing my design idea over a more generic Layout like TableLayout.
Ideally, I would just like to deal with a layout that:
is aware of the number of elements I want per row (maybe via configuration?),
automatically stacks the TextViews horizontally, wrapping them on the next row only if they fill up the previous, so that I could simply cycle through the array elements and do myLayout.add(TextView).
Do we have something like that, or there's no other better way than handcrafting it?
In the latter case, how would you've done that?
TableLayout tab_lay = (TableLayout) viewRef.findViewById(R.id.myTableLayout);
TableRow table_row = new TableRow(contextRef);
int col_counter = 0;
for (TextView aTextView : arrayOfTextViews) {
table_row.addView(aTextView);
col_counter++;
if (col_counter == 3) {
tab_lay.addView(table_row);
table_row = new TableRow(contextRef);
col_counter = 0;
}
}

Android Overlapping Image Views

I want to create this sort of a view where the cross should be separate image view as I want it to be clickable. How can I achieve this ?
It would be great If I can create this view programatically as I am a dynamic list of images and I am programatically creating the image Views. All I need now is to add the overlapping imageview as well.
Thanks in advance
Use FrameLayout and you can overlay views on top of each other
Ex:
FrameLayout frame = (FrameLayout) findViewById(R.id.frame);
ImageView image = new ImageView(this);
iv.setImageResource(R.drawable.image);
ImageView cross = new ImageView(this);
i.setImageResource(R.drawable.cross);
FrameLayout.LayoutParams layoutParams = new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
layoutParams.gravity = Gravity.RIGHT | Gravity.TOP;
i.setLayoutParams(layoutParams);
frame.addView(image);
frame.addView(cross);
Create a RelativeLayout programmatically, which contains two ImageViews. Place your image in the first one, and your second image in the second one. Adjust the margins accordingly to place it in the top right corner.
First create a completely new layout to use as an placeholder for example "partial_layout.xml". Then in your code first make a LayoutInflater with something like this:
LayoutInflater mInflater = (LayoutInflater) this.getSystemService(this.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
then try to get a fresh copy of this layout with something like this:
View convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.partial_layout, null);
now put your current data to this view, and finally add this view to your content view.
If you create a list of views, you can still use XML by inflating it only when needed - just watch the lecture "the world of listView" in order to do it correctly. Using ListView is much more efficient than creating as many views as the number of items to show (for example, if there are 100 images to show, only those that are on screen need to be created).
Anyway, the xml can contain either FrameLayout or RelativeLayout as the root view, and you just put the 2 imageViews according to the right position you wish to have. You can use the UI designer for this, or edit the XML itself by adding margin-top for the larger image. also, make sure the larger image is written there before the small one.
as for the clicking, you can use setOnClickListener on the small imaveView.
BTW, if it's just images, you should probably use GridView instead of ListView.

Android: LinearLayout disappears due to spacing using weight?

Right, this is a strange problem I have been toying with for a while now, hopefully maybe I am missing something you guys can draw my attention to!
LinearLayouts seem to be disappearing once I add any spacing using views and defining the weight (a method which works elsewhere in the project).
I have a custom Dialog (extends Dialog). In the onCreate() I use the method setContentView(generateDialog()) which returns a vertical LinearLayout.
The LinearLayout has three elements, one row of four custom category buttons (LinearLayouts), one row of sorting buttons (also LinearLayouts) and one ListView which populates the rest of the dialog and refreshes based on which button is pressed.
All is functional and working fine. Except when I attempt to space the buttons out evenly using my spacer method:
Dialog.java:
LinearLayout catBtns = new LinearLayout(context);
catBtns.setOrientation(LinearLayout.HORIZONTAL);
catBtns.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.btn_cat_gradient_bg);
catBtns.setLayoutParams(new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT));
catBtns.addView(space(1));
cat1Btn = new CatButton(context,this,act,"CAT1");
catBtns.addView(cat1Btn);
catBtns.addView(space(1));
cat2Btn = new CatButton(context,this,act,"CAT2");
catBtns.addView(cat2Btn);
catBtns.addView(space(1));
cat3Btn= new CatButton(context,this,act,"CAT3");
catBtns.addView(cat3Btn);
catBtns.addView(space(1));
cat4Btn = new CatButton(context,this,act,"CAT4");
catBtns.addView(cat4Btn);
catBtns.addView(space(1));
The space() method:
private View space(int space) {
View view = new View(context);
LinearLayout.LayoutParams p = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(0,0);
p.weight = space;
view.setLayoutParams(p);
return view;
}
What confuses me is that I have been using this method throughout the project and can't find as to why the category LinearLayout DISAPPEARS COMPLETELY when I add the spacers in between each button.
I use the same technique for the sorting buttons and it works perfectly! I use the same technique in another part of the project using slightly different versions of the same buttons (they are different class files though, because the onClickListener and some other stuff is slightly different)
Anyone have any clue?
I tried to build this in XML and it works fine. A possible difference is, that you do not set any LayoutParams for your buttons. Try something like that for every button:
cat1Btn = new CatButton(context,this,act,"CAT1");
catBtns.addView(cat1Btn, new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(0,0));

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/

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