Develop Reference

android studio issue: complex Layout is not showing in design view but just as XML

I have a somewhat complex layout.xml file (353 xml lines, 16kb) with multiple nested constraint layouts. This particular xml file is only showing a blank white screen in the design tab but works well when I run it on device and emulator. I have other smaller layout files which show the design normally on android studio but it seems that there is a bug with viewing larger xml files.
Is this a known issue? I tried refreshing layout and removing android studio cache but nothing seems to work. any ideas?
I do not think it has anything to do with the code since it runs normally on device and I am not sure posting the whole xml file on SO is a good idea.
update
What I realised is that all the elements in the layout seem to be 'invisible' at the top left corner since when I hover over them the pointer turns into a hand and when I click , certain elements get highlighted in the component tree. This is a screenshot of what I am seeing:

I added android:visibility="gone" which is vital to my app. Little did I know that it also applies to the design view which I find to be really useless. I want the visibility to be gone during runtime, not on a platform where I am supposed to be tweaking the design of the UI. This is ridiculous to me.
Does anyone know If I can keep visibility="gone" but still see the design in the design view of the layout?

You can use tools:visibility="visible" for designing purposes.
It has zero effect on the view in real use.
Don't forget to keep your android:visibility="gone".
In general, use tools attributes whenever you'd like to manipulate a preview in the designer while keeping your view attributes valid for real use.
Edit:
Keep in mind that there is a huge difference between invisible and gone. More about that

Text is not displaying in textview and button in android studio & device also, how to resolve it?

Everything was working fine but suddenly it stopped displaying text from every textviews and buttons from layouts which I created.
I tried running the project in device, invalidated & restarted the android studio, clean the project, rebuild the project even I tried using the code in another computer but nothing worked to solve it.
text is not displaying for textview: Splash Screen
text is not displaying for two textviews and one button: Login Screen

The text you want to show must be given in android:text. When in doubt, it's always worth refering to the official documentation.
So, for you would need to do something along the following lines.
<TextView
android:text = "Welcome to my DigiCab"
.../>

Removing Android Status Bar in Eclipse's Graphical Layout

How do I remove the android emulator's Status Bar inside Eclipse's Graphical Layout? My application is set to run in full screen mode, but I'm having a hard time in layouting because the status bar is present in the graphical layout of Eclipse.

You can just change the theme in the drop-down list (or perhaps better said in Android terminology: Spinner :)) at the top right corner in the layout editor to one of the *.NoTitleBar.Fullscreen options.
Edit: added screenshot.
By the way, if you have a hard time creating layouts that properly scale with or without the titlebar/actionbar, you may have to rethink if you're going down the right path. If you're developing for a specific (number of) device(s), then I haven't said anything.

you can select the theme spinner and select the "Theme.NoTitleBar.Fullscreen".
Using code:-
requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
getWindow().addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN);
above written code placed in oncreate method

I had the same problem. In debugging process, my graphical layout was perfect on the Eclipse but not correct on my phisycal device because of the statu bar at the bottom of the graphical layout on Eclipse.
I resolved this problem modifying the Theme of the layout inside eclipe and choosing "SearchBar", as shown in the pictures below. I hope to solve this question.
See the setting on Eclipse

Android development, graphical layout?

Hi im just starting to make an app, and on eclipse i get 2 tabs. Graphical layout is one of them. I see a black cell phone screen and some buttons and text stuff to put on it. What is this for and how do i use it? Thank you

With the graphical layout you can just drag and drop items in, and the xml is the actual code. Adding things via the graphical layout will edit your code for you, and visa versa. Personally I prefer to just use the xml because the graphical layout can be a little difficult to get the results you want, and it's always useful to have a good understanding of the xml code and how it works.

Android uses XML layouts. They can be a real pain to edit. The graphical layout tab with the picture of the phone is supposed to make it a little easier.
Sometimes you still have to dip down into the XML to get things just right, but the graphical layout will at least give you a preview.

It's your Interface Builder.
It builds interfaces ;)

The Eclipse XML Graphical Layout Editor for Android SDK

I am trying to use the Graphical Layout editor to make my app, so far so good but now I am in this problem:
I want the grey small textview to go a little higher but no matter what I do this isnt happening. How do those apps in the market have such beautiful GUIs when I can barely create a simple one? What are they using that I am not? :P Thanks.

Well, To fine tune the UI, you will eventually have to edit the generated XML. It would be good if you start getting your hands dirty with the XMLs. Please post the XML and then anyone would be able to suggest what changes to make.
I think you would probably reduce the padding or margin of the textview above.

Have you tried editing the XML and decreasing the top margin of the text? Or decreasing the bottom margin of the view above the text?