Develop Reference

How to implement correct UI for several screens in android

Here i am trying to handle different screens ,These are several screens i am trying to handle ,Here if i adjust for one screen remaining screens getting error ,not getting what is problem
here is
Here is my code
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#drawable/transactionpagebg" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="160dp"
android:gravity="center"
android:paddingLeft="50dp"
android:text="Current Meter Reading"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
android:textColor="#android:color/white" />
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/linearLayout1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:gravity="center"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<EditText
android:id="#+id/editText1"
android:layout_width="130dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:inputType="number" />
<Spinner
android:id="#+id/spinner1"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="50dp" />
</LinearLayout>
<AbsoluteLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/saveButton"
android:layout_width="113px"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_x="61dp"
android:layout_y="330dp"
android:background="#drawable/savebutton" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/settingsButton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_x="208dp"
android:layout_y="330dp"
android:background="#drawable/settingbutton" />
</AbsoluteLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

to do as it need to be, you need to have support for different screen sizes you need to have different layouts, and also some changes in your manifest file...
check this question How to support different screen size in android
and this link http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html

There are many ways to make each view look right on various screens. However, I have found two methods are working best for me (at the moment):
To get the views to dynamically set their screen positions, wrap the widgets in a LinearLayout (LL), and put those LLs in a single LL. Set the weight of the inner LL to 1, and they will space themselves equally within the parent LL. This works for horizontal and vertical layouts. The distance between the widgets gets adjusted automatically by the OS.
create different dimens.xml folders/files for the different screen sizes (small, medium, large) and further differentiate them by density of needed (mdpi, hdpi, xhdpi, etc.). This way you can set margins, paddings, font sizes, for each size/density to get what you want.
EDIT: I see you put "TRANSACTION" in the background drawable? You can't do that! You need to create an image with just the text, and put it in an ImageView at the top of the layout. That way, you can set its position and size as needed for different screens, and make the other widgets adjust their positions relative to that image.
Even better would be to find a free font (ttf file) you can use that matches what you want, and put it in a TextView.
Here is a quick example of your layout with the ideas I mentioned. You would put the margins and font sizes in a dimens.xml file, so that you can adjust them.
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/LinearLayout1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#0000ee"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/hh"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:layout_marginTop="36dp"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:layout_marginBottom="36dp"
android:text="TRANSACTION"
android:textColor="#ffffff"
android:textSize="28sp" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/test_textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:text="Current Meter Reading"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
android:textColor="#android:color/white" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/test_linearLayout1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:gravity="center"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<EditText
android:id="#+id/test_editText1"
android:layout_width="130dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginRight="24dp"
android:background="#ffffff"
android:inputType="number" />
<Spinner
android:id="#+id/test_spinner1"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="50dp"
android:background="#999999" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/LinearLayout1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:layout_weight="1" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/test_saveButton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginRight="24dp"
android:text="Save" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/test_settingsButton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

How to define two different layouts for the layouts in the same category but slightly different inches?

I am testing my layout in eclipse's graphical layout. There are 5.4in FWVGA(480x854,mdpi) and 5.1in WVGA(480x800,mdpi) screens available to view in the graphical layout. If I am correct they both fall into large screen category, therefore I've put the layout xml into layout-large folder. And I've put my images into drawable-large-mdpi folder. But the image buttons are slightly off in 5.1in WVGA as you can see in the screenshots below. First is 5.1in, the second screenshot is 5.4'' and the correct one.
My second question which is similar to the above goes like this. I've done new layout for the Nexus 7 and put it into layout-sw600dp folder, and images to the drawable-tvdpi. Then I viewed this layout in the 7in tablet (1024x600,mdpi). And the image buttons are slightly off than it should look. The same way as in the first question.
I understand that the reason is probably because 5.1in and 5.4in isn't exactly the same even though they fall into the same category and I should have 2 different layouts for them. So how I should go about it? How can I have two different layouts? Or is there better solution, as I don't want to create a layout for each screen size that exist on the market.
Here is xml file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#drawable/wall4_cabinetclosed" android:orientation="vertical">
<RelativeLayout android:id="#+id/frames_layout"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="73dp" android:layout_marginTop="57dp">
<ImageView android:id="#+id/fire_frame"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true" android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:background="#drawable/small_fire_icon" />
<ImageView android:id="#+id/water_frame"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/fire_frame" android:layout_marginLeft="75dp"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/fire_frame" android:background="#drawable/small_water_icon" />
<ImageView android:id="#+id/earth_frame"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/fire_frame" android:layout_marginTop="71dp"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/water_frame" android:background="#drawable/small_earth_icon" />
<ImageView android:id="#+id/wind_frame"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/water_frame" android:layout_alignTop="#+id/earth_frame"
android:background ="#drawable/small_wind_icon" />
</RelativeLayout>
<ImageView android:id="#+id/zoomed_image"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button android:id="#+id/frames" android:layout_width="210dp"
android:layout_height="220dp" android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true" android:layout_marginLeft="55dp"
android:layout_marginTop="30dp" android:onClick="zoomFrames"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"/>
<Button android:id="#+id/blue" android:layout_width="115dp"
android:layout_height="70dp" android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true" android:layout_marginLeft="220dp"
android:onClick="zoomImage"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"/>
<Button android:id="#+id/white" android:layout_width="85dp"
android:layout_height="50dp" android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true" android:layout_marginRight="420dp"
android:layout_marginTop="420dp" android:onClick="zoomImage"
android:visibility="invisible"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"/>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/fireplace"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="311dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="67dp"
android:background="#drawable/fire"
/>
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/water_room"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="310dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="90dp"
android:background="#drawable/view_water_room"
android:onClick="finishFireRoom"
android:visibility="gone"
/>
<ImageView android:id="#+id/frames_zoomed_image"
android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#drawable/frames_zoomed" android:onClick="hideZoomedFrames"
android:visibility="gone"/>
<RelativeLayout android:id="#+id/frameZoomedLayout"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="113dp" android:layout_marginLeft="145dp"
android:visibility="gone"
>
<ImageButton android:id="#+id/fire_icon"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/fire_icon" android:onClick="changeIcon" />
<ImageButton android:id="#+id/water_icon"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignBottom="#+id/fire_icon" android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/fire_icon"
android:background="#drawable/water_icon" android:layout_marginLeft="147dp" android:onClick="changeIcon"/>
<ImageButton android:id="#+id/earth_icon"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/fire_icon" android:layout_marginTop="140dp"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/water_icon" android:background="#drawable/earth_icon" android:onClick="changeIcon"/>
<ImageButton android:id="#+id/wind_icon"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/water_icon" android:layout_alignTop="#+id/earth_icon"
android:background="#drawable/wind_icon" android:onClick="changeIcon"/>
</RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

in 3rd step set all ur device specific like screen, language etc all. and ur done

Android: Images button layout vertically that will fit all screen sizes

I'm having problems with my layout I want to arrange the image buttons vertically and I want it to have the same look for different screen sizes here is a print screen http://flic.kr/p/fwEZn1
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#drawable/chalk"
android:gravity="center|fill_vertical"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/linearLayout1"
android:layout_width="1000dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="104dp" >
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/m"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginRight="62dp"
android:layout_weight="1.30"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:contentDescription="exam schedule button"
android:onClick="ex"
android:src="#drawable/exam" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/cl"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginRight="60dp"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:contentDescription="classes button"
android:onClick="cl"
android:src="#drawable/list1" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/lec"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0.24"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:contentDescription="lecture section button"
android:onClick="lc"
android:src="#drawable/sylla" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/gr"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginRight="20dp"
android:layout_weight="3.36"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:contentDescription="group button"
android:onClick="gr"
android:src="#drawable/group" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/linearLayout2"
android:layout_width="1000dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/linearLayout1"
android:layout_marginTop="123dp" >
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/kl"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginRight="74dp"
android:layout_weight="0.69"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:contentDescription="calendar button"
android:onClick="kl"
android:src="#drawable/calendar" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/d"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/pd"
android:layout_marginRight="84dp"
android:layout_weight="0.38"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:contentDescription="Schedule button"
android:onClick="sk"
android:src="#drawable/sked" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/pd"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/button1"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/an"
android:layout_weight="0.16"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:contentDescription="podcast button"
android:onClick="pd"
android:src="#drawable/podcast" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/an"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/kl"
android:layout_marginLeft="60dp"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/kl"
android:layout_weight=".92"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:contentDescription="announcement button"
android:onClick="an"
android:src="#drawable/announce" />
</LinearLayout>
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="53dp"
android:layout_height="40dp"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_marginBottom="106dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="342dp"
android:layout_weight="0.38"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:contentDescription="logout button"
android:onClick="logout"
android:src="#drawable/logout"
android:text="Logout" />
</RelativeLayout>
So basically I want to fix the arrangement of the images button. How can I do this? Do I need to resize images per drawable folder?

There is a simple solution. I see you want the layout to look the same in all screen sizes, but you are using hard coded values for layout_height,margin,padding etc. For this purpose use the dimens.xml in the values folder. Specify the values for all screens, create these folders in your resource folder:
values-small
values-normal(The default values folder is values-normal)
values-large
values-xlarge(You can use values-sw600 for tablets after Android 3.2)
In all of these folders create dimens.xml where you specify the margin,height,width,padding etc in dp, you can even specify the font size. Hope this helps!

Did You mean the same Size for all screen sizes when You say "look"? A possible way to do this, would be to set to ImageButton in Your xml:
scaleType="centerInside"
and set all weights from Your image buttons to 1
layout_weight="1"
And if You want to set every button vertical, declare in Your LinearLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
And by the way, it is allways a good practise to set different images for every drawable to fit in multiple screens.

Android screen not scaling correctly even though I used dp as units?

I have done a lot of reading on SO and googling all over the place but still cannot get my answer...I have this code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/welcomeRelativeLayout"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#drawable/graph_paper" >
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/linearLayout2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/first"
android:layout_width="40dp"
android:layout_height="90dp"
android:layout_marginTop="70dp"
android:background="#color/Blue" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/second"
android:layout_width="40dp"
android:layout_height="90dp"
android:layout_marginTop="70dp"
android:background="#color/Cyan" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/third"
android:layout_width="40dp"
android:layout_height="90dp"
android:layout_marginTop="70dp"
android:background="#color/Brown" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="100dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="203dp"
android:background="#color/Black"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/linearLayout1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#color/Yellow" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/welcomeWImageView"
android:layout_width="20dp"
android:layout_height="20dp"
android:layout_marginBottom="16dp"
android:src="#drawable/w" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/WelcomeOImageView"
android:layout_width="20dp"
android:layout_height="20dp"
android:src="#drawable/o" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/welcomeRImageView"
android:layout_width="20dp"
android:layout_height="20dp"
android:src="#drawable/r" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/welcomeDImageView"
android:layout_width="20dp"
android:layout_height="20dp"
android:src="#drawable/d" />
</LinearLayout>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/welcomeTextView"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="50dp"
android:background="#color/lime" />
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/LinearLayout01"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#color/Pink" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/ImageView03"
android:layout_width="20dp"
android:layout_height="20dp"
android:layout_marginBottom="16dp"
android:src="#drawable/w" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/ImageView04"
android:layout_width="20dp"
android:layout_height="20dp"
android:src="#drawable/o" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/ImageView01"
android:layout_width="20dp"
android:layout_height="20dp"
android:src="#drawable/r" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/ImageView02"
android:layout_width="20dp"
android:layout_height="20dp"
android:src="#drawable/d" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
As stated in the answers from different threads I have used dp as a scaling unit but I still get these images as a result when moving from different screen size and resolution.
here are the different images I get on different screen sizes and resolutions:
why arent the textboxes growing proportionally to the screen size and resolution? As they are textviews without graphics and dp is used for the unit.
Thank you guys ahead of time.

I cant really tell you the exact xml code to fix this, but as an idea, you need to make use of following properties to equally distribute the screen area among your views:
android:weightSum //for your LinearLayout
android:layout_weight //for your child views
and depending on the orientation of your LinearLayout, you need to set either of the following to your child views.
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_width="0dp"
For examples, read this and this.

you have to create three different layouts for your application .
1- layout folder ( basically its for small screens)
2- layout-large ( basically its for large screens such as 5.0)
3- layout-xlarge ( its used for Large screens "Tablets" )
in order for your application to fit in every screen perfectly you have to create these folders. below steps shows how to work with it
1- create new two foldesr in res folder layout-large and layout-xlarge.
2- copy your layout.xml from the layout folder and paste it on each folders u created now.
3- open them and you'll see how they look on bigger screens , then simply you'll have to change a bit on your layout.xml on each folder.
hope that what you seek for. its that simple . two extra folders

ImageView: scale properly above Button

I'm new to Android and everything went well until now I have to deal with the layout.
What I want is this layout:
Layout how it should be:
The image should be properly scaled and keep its ratio.
That's why I tried this XML code, but it doesn't work the way I want. The image keeps its ratio but the left and right side are out of the screen when vertical and cut at the top and bottom when horizontal:
Layout how it is:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:background="#color/background">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:src="#drawable/logo"
android:gravity="center"
android:scaleType="centerCrop"
android:contentDescription="#string/app_logo"
android:layout_weight="2.5" />
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="4"
android:gravity="center">
<Button
android:id="#+id/id1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginBottom="20dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="50dp"
android:layout_marginRight="50dp"
android:text="#string/text1"
android:textSize="40sp"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/id2"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginLeft="50dp"
android:layout_marginRight="50dp"
android:text="#string/text2"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/id3"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="50dp"
android:layout_marginRight="50dp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:text="#string/text3" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
I googled a lot but just could not find what I was looking for.
Please help!

It looks like android:scaleType="fitCenter" is what you are looking for

you have to design 2 layout for you vertical state and horizontal state and put them in two different folder in your android project:
while you put your regular layout in the layout folder you should put the landscape layout in the layout-land folder.

Try setting android:scaleType="fitXY" to your ImageView.