Develop Reference

How to place buttons in Android XML Layout file like in a Grid View

I am trying to place 12 buttons in Grid View. Here is my layout XML file.
How could I use RelativeLayout to achieve this? I am new to Android programming.
<ScrollView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/bAries"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Aries"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/aries" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/bTauras"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Tauras"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/tauras" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/bGemini"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Gemini"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/gemini" />

According to your question, I assume following are your requirements, hope they are aligned with what you really need:
12 Buttons to be seen as a Grid
how to use RelativeLayout?
Note:
For a simple thing like this, especially where you know you only need to have a definite number of elements(12 buttons) and that number is static, you don't really need to use a complex layout like GridView, where you must have to implement a ListAdapter to provide the dynamically adding buttons. So the most simplest solution you have is as you have also asked, use a RelaiveLayout as I have provided bellow.
I tried something like following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout 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"
android:paddingBottom="#dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="#dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
app:layout_behavior="#string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"
tools:context="com.androxp.randika.main.MainActivity"
tools:showIn="#layout/activity_main">
<Button
android:id="#+id/bAquarius"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="110dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="5dp"
android:text="Aquarius"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/bPisces"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/bAquarius"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="115dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="5dp"
android:layout_marginRight=""
android:text="Pisces"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/bAries"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/bPisces"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="110dp"
android:layout_marginRight="5dp"
android:text="Aries"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/bTaurs"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="110dp"
android:text="Taurs"
android:layout_below="#+id/bAquarius"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/bAquarius"
android:layout_alignStart="#+id/bAquarius" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/bGemini"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="115dp"
android:text="Gemini"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/bTaurs"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/bPisces"
android:layout_alignEnd="#+id/bPisces" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/bCancer"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="110dp"
android:text="Cancer"
android:layout_below="#+id/bAries"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/bAries"
android:layout_alignEnd="#+id/bAries" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/bLeo"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="110dp"
android:text="Leo"
android:layout_below="#+id/bTaurs"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/bTaurs"
android:layout_alignStart="#+id/bTaurs"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/bVirgo"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="115dp"
android:text="Virgo"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/bLeo"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/bGemini"
android:layout_alignStart="#+id/bGemini" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/bLibra"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="110dp"
android:text="Libra"
android:layout_below="#+id/bCancer"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/bCancer"
android:layout_alignEnd="#+id/bCancer"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/bScorpio"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="110dp"
android:text="Scorpio"
android:layout_below="#+id/bLeo"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/bLeo"
android:layout_alignStart="#+id/bLeo" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/bSagittarius"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="115dp"
android:text="Sagittarius"
android:layout_below="#+id/bVirgo"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/bAries"
android:layout_toStartOf="#+id/bAries" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/bCapricorn"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="110dp"
android:text="Capricorn"
android:layout_below="#+id/bLibra"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/bLibra"
android:layout_alignEnd="#+id/bLibra"/>
</RelativeLayout>
Above layout may render out something similar to the following screen:
Clue:
However, I created this using Android Studio. If you are using Eclipse, I recommend you to start using Android Studio as you are just beginning Android App Development.
For Android RelativeLayouts, please read the following References:
Android official documentation for Relative Layout
An excellently matching Tutorial for your requirement
And you may find ton of tutorials for this purpose just by a single search of Google.
Word of Advice:
Whatever you go through to learn Android development, try to use up-to-date materials.

You should use GridView class for this. Here's an official doc and sample

Unable to see completed view layout in Android Studio

I am creating a vertical LinearLayout that will be displayed in a vertical ScrollView. I can't find a way in Android Studio to see the portion of the LinearLayout that is below the bottom of the ScrollView. Is there any way to see the full layout rather than constraining it to the viewport provided by the renderer?

Like Drew said, creating a user defined device definition has been the only solution which worked for me. Below i show you the steps to follow:
Step 1)
Within the preview-pane, open the Virtual Device Selection drop-down and select Add Device Definition..
Step 2)
Within the Your Virtual Devices dialog click the Create Virtual Device button.
Step 3)
Within the Select Hardware dialog click the New Hardware Profile button.
Step 4)
Within the Configure Hardware Profile dialog specify (f.e.) a Resolution of 720 x 4000 px and a Screensize of 12 inch. Also setting the Screensize results in a density of xhdpi (thanks to Mete).
Step 5) Close all dialogs and restart Android Studio.
Step 6) Open the Virtual Device Selection drop-down. The new user defined hardware profile can be found under Generic Phones and Tablets.

I've just discovered how. You need to create a user defined device definition in Android AVD - I created one that was 480 x 4000 pixels. Exit and restart Android Studio and then you can select this device in the preview renderer and can see 4000 pixels worth of LinearLayout.

Found a easier solution, in your layout add something like below and adjust as you need:
android:layout_marginTop="-1500dp"

in new version of android studio (i don't know from which version, but i'm using latest 2.3.3 now) you can resize your preview layout by drag it

Android Studio will offer a toggleable full view, if the ScrollView is the root of the layout. I had put mine on top of the default RelativeLayout and had to manually fix that in the XML before the GUI would give me the full view.

I hope the screenshot help you :

You can use scrollY attribute to scroll the ScrollView in the preview. Using scrollY attribute with tools namespace will only scroll the view in the display and not in the actual app. And make sure you use px as the unit with scrollY attribute.
tools:scrollY="150px"

Update: Now you can scroll a ScrollView directly inside preview panel
(I tested on Android studio version 2.3.2)
Short answer: Right click on your ScrollView and select Refactor > Extract > Layout.
Android-studio will extract your ScrollView into a new layout file and put tools:showIn="#layout/original_layout_file" attribute at root layout(your ScrollView).
Note: Android-studio will preview full layout if root layout is ScrollView.

In Android Studio version 3.2.1 you can select "Custom" device on preview panel and then resize preview to whatever height you need.

click on the scrollView in conponent tree (on the right)
click on the new button wich appears on the left (second row of toolbar)

Another quick alternative solution is to hide the layouts temporarily at the top so that the layouts at the bottom can appear in the visible window in Android Studio.
Put android:visibility="gone" on the layouts that you want to hide.
Example:
<HorizontalScrollView
android:visibility="gone"
android:id="#+id/hsv02"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignStart="#+id/ll24"
android:layout_below="#+id/ll199">
</HorizontalScrollView>

I might be late but it'll be a lot easier for you to just set the margins to negative to shift the scroll view to the left.
For example:
margin:
left: -100px
Now you can see and edit the scrollview however you like!

TABLE LAYOUT
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TableLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:stretchColumns="1">
<TableRow android:padding="5dip">
<TextView
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="New Product Form"
android:typeface="serif"
android:layout_span="2"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:textSize="20dip" />
</TableRow>
<TableRow>
<TextView
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Product Code:"
android:layout_column="0"/>
<EditText
android:id="#+id/prod_code"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_column="1"/>
</TableRow>
<TableRow>
<TextView
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Product Name:"
android:layout_column="0"/>
<EditText
android:id="#+id/prod_name"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:scrollHorizontally="true" />
</TableRow>
<TableRow>
<TextView
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Product Price:" />
<EditText
android:id="#+id/prod_price"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</TableRow>
<TableRow>
<Button
android:id="#+id/add_button"
android:text="Add Product"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/cancel_button"
android:text="Cancel"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</TableRow>
</TableLayout>
GridLAYOUT
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GridLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="#+id/GridLayout1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:columnCount="3"
android:rowCount="2"
tools:context=".Main3Activity" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/button3"
android:layout_column="0"
android:layout_gravity="fill_horizontal"
android:layout_row="0"
android:text="Button"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_column="1"
android:layout_gravity="fill_horizontal"
android:layout_row="0"
android:text="Button" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_column="2"
android:layout_gravity="fill_vertical"
android:layout_row="0"
android:layout_rowSpan="2"
android:text="Button" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button4"
android:layout_column="0"
android:layout_columnSpan="2"
android:layout_gravity="fill_horizontal"
android:layout_row="1"
android:text="Button" />
</GridLayout>
ANOTHER TABLE LAYOUT
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.widget.TableLayout 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"
android:stretchColumns="1"
tools:context="com.example.dhanya.uitablelayout.MainActivity">
<TableRow
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<TextView
android:text="Time"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_column="0" />
<TextClock
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/textClock"
android:layout_column="1" />
</TableRow>
<TableRow>
<TextView
android:text="First Name"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_column="0" />
<EditText
android:width="200px"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</TableRow>
<TableRow>
<TextView
android:text="Last Name"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_column="0" />
<EditText
android:width="100px"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</TableRow>
<TableRow
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<RatingBar
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_span="2"
android:id="#+id/ratingBar"
android:layout_column="0" />
</TableRow>
<TableRow
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"/>
<TableRow
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Submit"
android:layout_span="2"
android:id="#+id/button"
android:layout_column="0" />
</TableRow>
</android.widget.TableLayout>

The best I found is to set the device to custom. Then we can change the layout simply by dragging.

My layout is long and need to scroll layout even using the vertical long resolution and when I set the layout editor to high resolutions, the screen does not scroll completely and smoothly
By setting the layout to
3.2_HVGA_slider_ADP1_API_27, the screen scrolled and my problem was solved

Using RelativeLayout, LinearLayout and layout_weight at the same time - weird behaviour

I've got an activity layout specified in an XML file - activity_intro.xml - and I'm trying to create another one that is similar but slightly different - that's going to be activity_instructions.xml.
The Intro activity has a 9patch image at the bottom of the screen that is supposed to stay there and only adjust to different widths of the screens.
The Instructions activity is supposed to contain the same image but above 2 more buttons - all three of these views need to be always located at the bottom of the screen.
activity_intro.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ScrollView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#drawable/home_background" >
<LinearLayout
style="#style/Activity"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/introAnimationImageView"
android:layout_width="152dip"
android:layout_height="176dip"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:contentDescription="#string/intro_animation_content_description"
android:src="#drawable/animation_intro01" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/introTextViewTitle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/intro_title"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/introTextViewSubtitle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/intro_subtitle"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/introButtonLoginSignup"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:text="#string/intro_button_label_login_signup" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/introButtonInstructions"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/introButtonLoginSignup"
android:text="#string/intro_button_label_instructions" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/introButtonReportAnonymously"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/introButtonLoginSignup"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text="#string/intro_button_label_report_anonymously" />
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0"
android:contentDescription="#null"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
android:src="#drawable/footer_cityscape" />
</LinearLayout>
Result:
Since I've got working code for Intro, I wanted to make Instructions follow its example but the layout_weight property isn't behaving as expected. First of all, I was only trying to put in the 2 buttons and leave out the image:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ScrollView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_weight="0.1"
android:background="#drawable/home_background" >
<LinearLayout
style="#style/Activity"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/instructionsTextViewTitle"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:text="#string/instructions_title_1"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
android:textStyle="bold" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/instructionsImageView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:contentDescription="#string/instructions_image_content_description"
android:src="#drawable/forms" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/instructionsTextViewDescription"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/instructions_description_1"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/instructionsButtonPrevious"
style="#style/ButtonPrevious"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:text="#string/instructions_button_label_previous" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/instructionsButtonNext"
style="#style/ButtonNext"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:text="#string/instructions_button_label_next" />
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
This only worked when I set the layout_weight of the bottom RelativeLayout to 1 (instead of 0) and for the ScrollView 0.1 (instead of 1). If I used the original values the RelativeLayout would take up all the screen. Could anyone explain to me why that is?
I also tried googling the issue and noticed people would suggest to set layout_height to 0dip which I tried but it also didn't work as expected.
Secondly, I tried adding the already mentioned ImageView to the bottom RelativeLayout. This, however, basically displays only the ImageView and not the buttons - or one of the buttons is on top of the image (hiding it). Why is that? Don't I specifically set the buttons to be placed below it?
What should the code look like in order for it to be doing what I expect it?
Further explanation:
Below are images that should help indicate what exactly I want to achieve. The green bits are the ScrollViews - I added them because Android devices tend to have diverse screen sizes. Their purpose is to present the content properly independently of the screen size, i.e. if the screen is small, the user will be able to scroll that part to read the entire text and view the image.
The red bit on the left (Intro) shows the ImageView that is supposed to always be at the bottom of the screen; it'll always be there, visible, and it's the green bit above it that will be movable.
If you take a look at the red bit on the right (Instructions), there's a Next button that's covering the image with the lorry/truck that was visible in the Intro screenshot. Now that's wrong - there should be 2 buttons BELOW the image, as seen on the last screenshot (the 2 blue rectangles).

How to achieve this kind of layout in Android

I'm new to Android development and I'm trying to achieve a layout for my app that is capable of handling different screen resolutions/ratios.
I've been reading a lot of the documentation and questions on this site to try to understand the basics and concepts.
First I went through:
developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
And questions like:
stackoverflow.com/questions/6403619/how-to-support-all-the-different-resolutions-of-android-products
I've got a pretty basic idea on how to handle things out. But still, its pretty difficult for a starter to get going, and I found myself stucked trying to achieve the solution I came up with.
I designed my app to a target resolution of 480x800, and set it up to always show in portrait mode.
This is how it looks like and how I understand it should work (I used Waldo for the sake of example haha):
(sorry for the link, I need 10 rep to post images)
http://i.imgur.com/KXTAXir.jpg
My root Layout is a LinearLayout, wich contains 3 other Layouts being A and C set up to a weight of 0.8 while B is at 8.4. This is all fine, but the contents of B are set up to DP units at the moment just to be able to test.
B consists of a frame Layout who has 3 other Layouts inside, where 2 of them are working fine, and shown only when needed. The problem is that I need B to be able to adapt based on the contents of it first child: a LinearLayout wich contains 2 ImageView and 1 ProgressBar. I need that those ImageView always keep their ratio.
Here is an example of how it should work:
http://i.imgur.com/cH7fUze.jpg
Imagine those 4 are real screens, wich vary in ratio and size. So my app should only adapt B (from my first image) to keep the images original ratio.
Here is the layout code:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#color/darkgray"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="0.8"
android:background="#666666" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/level_text_name"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="LEVEL"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/level_text_score"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="SCORE"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/level_text_clock"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="01:59"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />
</RelativeLayout>
<FrameLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="8.4" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:adjustViewBounds="true" />
<ProgressBar
android:id="#+id/progressBar1"
style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleHorizontal"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:max="1000"
android:progress="0" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView2"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:adjustViewBounds="true" />
</LinearLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/pauseMask"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#000000"
android:visibility="gone" >
</RelativeLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/gameoverMask"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#FFFFFF"
android:visibility="gone" >
</RelativeLayout>
</FrameLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="0.8"
android:background="#666666" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/level_text_status"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="0/0"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="Button"
android:onClick="useHint" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/button1"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="Button"
android:onClick="toggleSound" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button3"
style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/button2"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="Button"
android:onClick="togglePause" />
</RelativeLayout>
The last thing that stays unclear to me is how to handle the text and button sizes. Should I set them in DPs? How do I get them to scale accordingly like it can be seen on the bottom of my second picture.
Thank you for your help, I also want this to serve as an example to others that are having trouble to understand how to handle this kind of scenarios.

I'm not sure, if I got your question right.
However, you can specify different layouts for different screen sizes and orientations, as described here: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
Just give the respective suffix in the name of your layout XML file.

I ended up creating a custom View for my images. The view calculates the space thats left on its parent, scales the images manually and then resizes itself to the same size of the resulting image.
To resize the progress bar to have the same width as the images, I used a custom listener that gets triggered when my custom views get resized. Then I resize the progressbar to match their width.
With this I achieved what I wanted, a layout that will work perfectly in all screen sizes.

How to make layouts grow and shrink?

I'm playing around with making a random recipe collection app.
Now I came across a problem: at the moment I have designed it with my mobile's resolution in mind. But what if the app is used on a device with larger resolution eg. a tablet.
What I want to achieve is that I want the buttons to grow shrink depending on the resolution. For example: when holding my phone vertically, there are 2 columns of buttons. When holding it horizontally, there still are 2 columns, but the view gets wider. Then there should be 4 columns to fill as much of the white space as possible.
Two pictures to illustrate my thoughts:
vertical
horizontal with 2 more columns
My code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#ffcc33"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingTop="10dp"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:paddingRight="10dp" >
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:weightSum="1000" >
<EditText
android:id="#+id/search_box"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="left"
android:layout_weight="1000"
android:ems="5"
android:hint="#string/search_hint" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/search_button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="right"
android:text="#string/search_button" />
</LinearLayout>
<ScrollView android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center" >
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="225dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/search_box"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_lihatoidud"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/lihatoidud"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:text="Lihatoidud"
android:textSize="18sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_kypsetised"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/btn_lihatoidud"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/kypsetised"
android:text="Küpsetised"
android:textSize="18sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_seenetoidud"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/btn_kypsetised"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/seenetoidud"
android:text="Seenetoidud"
android:textSize="18sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_juustutoidud"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/btn_seenetoidud"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/juustutoidud"
android:text="Juustutoidud"
android:textSize="18sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_lisandid"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/btn_juustutoidud"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/lisandid"
android:text="Lisandid"
android:textSize="18sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_supid"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/supid"
android:text="Supid"
android:textSize="18sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_voileivad"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/btn_supid"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/voileivad"
android:text="Võileivad"
android:textSize="18sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_pudrud"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/btn_voileivad"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/pudrud"
android:text="Pudrud"
android:textSize="18sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_joogid"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/btn_pudrud"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/joogid"
android:text="Joogid"
android:textSize="18sp" />
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>
</LinearLayout>

Android has a few mechanisms for dealing with this kind of thing. For most people simply having a different layout for different classes of device will be sufficient. i.e:
res/
layout/
my_layout.xml
layout-land/ # landscape
my_layout.xml
layout-sw600dp # bigger devices
my_layout.xml
layout-sw600dp-land # Big and landscape
Android will automatically pick the right layout on the device your app gets loaded on. See the Developer Guide for details there. Alternatively, you might need to define your own custom view that resizes your grid based on the available size. An example of this is a CellLayout, a class written for the grid of apps in Launcher

I would actually reccomend you use the GridView pattern.
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/layout/gridview.html
Benfits include
Easily customize able if you need multiple rows/columns
Faster performance because you re-use a lot the same views. Scales much better than scrollview approach
Here example with two column for Phones
Here example with four column for tablets
All changing only the number of columns the grid should show. The best way to do this by what "JRaymond" recommended, by having multiple values resposnes depending on if its a tablet/phone. Example
->values ->attrs_arin_view.xml
->values-land->attrs_arin_view.xml
->values-sw600dp -> attrs_arin_view.xml
inside values ->attrs_arin_view.xml
<resources>
<integer name="number_of_column">2</integer>
</resources>
and then change in the values-land to have number_of_column to 4.
Then in your in your xml you mention the integer once
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
>
<GridView
android:id="#+id/gridView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:horizontalSpacing="8dp"
android:numColumns="#integer/number_of_column"
android:padding="8dp"
tools:listitem="#layout/grid_cell_note"
>
</GridView>
</LinearLayout>

You need to create xml files for different screen sizes
http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
design your XML files to use references instead of hardcoded strings. You can then assign a reference to layouts, buttons and so on which has a different value depending on screen sizes.
(use android:padding="#dimen/pagepadding" instead of android:padding="16dp" and define the dp in values/dimens.xml like this: <dimen name="pagepadding">16dp</dimen>)
To do that you have to create new folders in your Project like values-sw600dp for devices with 600dp smallest width (like Nexus 7 I believe) or values-sw720dp-land for devices with the smallest width of 720dp (10 inch tablets I believe) in landscape.
Do some reading on the developer page and on the internet for that. It's not too difficult