Develop Reference

Android: ListView pushes out everything else below it

In my app, there is a tabbed activity with three fragments. The first fragment has a form to create a new task, the second fragment has the list of all the saved tasks, and the third fragment will show the comments on a task when selected from the list in the second fragment. The third fragment is also supposed to act like a chat activity which posts comments when you type them in and tap the send button. The XML layout of this third fragment is as follows:
<?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:background="#android:color/darker_gray"
android:orientation="vertical"
tools:context="com.example.ishita.assigntasks.CommentsFragment">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/frag_task_details"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#dd55ff"
android:padding="10dp" />
<ListView
android:id="#+id/frag_comment_list"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:transcriptMode="normal" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:background="#android:color/white">
<EditText
android:id="#+id/frag_msg_edit"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:inputType="textMultiLine"
android:layout_weight="1" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/frag_send_btn"
style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0"
android:background="#android:color/background_light"
android:contentDescription="#string/send_btn"
android:src="#android:drawable/ic_menu_send" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
As you can see, there is a TextView and a ListView and below that is another LinearLayout. Here is how it should look (the purple bar is the TextView):
And here is how it actually looks:
The TextView shows up above the ListView, but the LinearLayout does not. It is there, though. If I do android:layout_marginBottom="20dp" on the outermost LinearLayout, it does show up, but the ActionBar scrolls up and overlaps with the notification bar so that the title on the ActionBar and the notifications on the notification bar are both visible simultaneously and neither is legible.
I searched a lot and this seemed a common issue, but none of the solutions helped me. Believe me, I tried everything I could find. I tried wrapping the whole thing in a FrameLayout, using a RelativeLayout in place of the outermost LinearLayout, using two LinearLayouts--one to wrap the TextView and the ListView and the other to wrap the EditText and the ImageButton, etc., but nothing was able to show the bottom LinearLayout below the ListView. I even tried to set focus on the EditText when the fragment launches so that the keyboard would show and I can type, but even that doesn't help.
Note: On the other hand, if I use the exact same layout on an activity, the bottom LinearLayout displays exactly as it should.
I am unable to find the bug. Please help!

It looks like your toolbar pushes fragment layout down without decreasing its height. I have no idea why this happens (there are no root layout code here).
As a workaround you can set fragments layout bottom margin to ?attr/actionBarSize

As you have given layout_weight 1 in listview layout, so it occupies the whole space available. In order to get rid of you have to give some static height or use layout_weight in right manner
<ListView
android:id="#+id/frag_comment_list"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="500dp"
android:transcriptMode="normal" />
or try like this
<?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:background="#android:color/darker_gray"
android:orientation="vertical"
tools:context="com.example.ishita.assigntasks.CommentsFragment">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/frag_task_details"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#dd55ff"
android:padding="10dp" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:background="#android:color/white">
<ListView
android:id="#+id/frag_comment_list"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:transcriptMode="normal" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:background="#android:color/white">
<EditText
android:id="#+id/frag_msg_edit"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:inputType="textMultiLine"
android:layout_weight="1" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/frag_send_btn"
style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0"
android:background="#android:color/background_light"
android:contentDescription="#string/send_btn"
android:src="#android:drawable/ic_menu_send" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

All,
Thank you for all your responses. I found a workaround by trial and error now and thought I should post the answer for others who face the same issue. I set android:layout_marginBottom="50dp" on the inner LinearLayout (the one wrapping the comments bar--EditText and ImageButton). Somehow, this sets the layout correctly and the fragment functions properly in both Lollipop and Jellybean OS's. I haven't tested on other OS versions.

First of all you should read this, what is layout_weight and how it works.
You assigned layout_weight to ListView as 1, it means it covers whole height. just change it to 0.7 or any proportion you want (less than 1) will solve the problem.
<ListView
android:id="#+id/frag_comment_list"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="0.7"
android:transcriptMode="normal" />

Change the position of a text in android studio

I just started a programing in course in android studio using Java and XML and cant really figure out how to do a simple task. I have 3 buttons at the top of the screen, they fill up the whole width of the screen. I want to add a text below these 3 buttons, but i dont really now how to specify this. Right now i have:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout 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"
app:layout_behavior="#string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"
tools:showIn="#layout/activity_main">
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/button_send" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/button_textcolor" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/button_textsize" />
<TextView
android:text="South Africa"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
/>
</LinearLayout>
Now, the text in the text element is displayed at the right side of the screen, its barely visible. The text gets cramped up so tight that it gets misaligned verticaly. What would i do if i instead wanted the text inside the textview element to be displayed just below the 3 buttons, to the left horizontaly, like normal text?
Thank you!

Use something like this. Inside the TextView tag add:
android:layout_below="#+id/buttonid"
Obviously you have to use relative layout for using this

Here you go
<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"
app:layout_behavior="#string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"
tools:showIn="#layout/activity_main">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<Button
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="#string/button_send" />
<Button
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="#string/button_textcolor" />
<Button
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="#string/button_textsize" />
</LinearLayout>
<TextView
android:text="South Africa"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
/>
</LinearLayout>

Use RelativeLayout instead of LinearLayout. There are also many other layouts you can try. Check here for the other type of available layouts.
RelativeLayout lets child views specify their position relative to the
parent view or to each other (specified by ID). So you can align two
elements by right border, or make one below another, centered in the
screen, centered left, and so on. By default, all child views are
drawn at the top-left of the layout, so you must define the position
of each view using the various layout properties available from
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.

Layout issue with Android Studio

Recently picking up android development, I have hit a snag in the road. I'm having trouble positioning my layouts. Screenshots are as follows:
I'm trying to input either another layout type/list view in the upper section of the screen, without disrupting the button/text box at the bottom, though.. When extending this layout. I hit the following snag:
The entire contents of the original frame shift when the box of the new layout is extended, I've tried modifying:
android:layout_gravity="top">
and other layout attributes such as weight, margin, height/width.. This always hits the same problem.
My XML for this view is:
<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="horizontal" >
<FrameLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="483dp"
android:layout_weight="1.06"
android:layout_gravity="top">
</FrameLayout>
<EditText android:id="#+id/edit_message"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:hint="#string/edit_message"
android:layout_gravity="bottom" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/button_send"
android:layout_gravity="bottom"
android:onClick="SendMessageButton"
/>
</LinearLayout>
Though, i'm some-what stuck on how to make the correct changes & any response to this question would be greatly appreciated!

At the moment, all your child views live inside a single horizontally-oriented LinearLayout. LinearLayouts always arrange views sequentially, as you are experiencing.
There are a couple different ways to achieve the layout you are looking for. I'm going to suggest one that uses nested LinearLayouts (an outer one to stack things vertically, and then a nested one to arrange the EditText and Button horizontally), but you could also consider using a RelativeLayout for this.
Updated layout:
<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">
<FrameLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<EditText
android:id="#+id/edit_message"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:hint="#string/edit_message" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/button_send"
android:onClick="SendMessageButton" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
Note that a LinearLayout is oriented horizontally by default; I have explicitly included the attribute here to make the structure more clear.

The reason, your button and editText is appearing far from the frame layout and not near the corner is the parent layout orientation is Horizontal.
Change it to Vertical.
Now, if you need your button and editText to be arranged in the same line, it should be mentioned as described in samgak answer.
However, i would like to suggest the following.
Using framelayout might create bad user experience across different screen sizes in android.
If the parent layout in Linear, if the screen size is x and all your components added if the height it takes is x-20, then the theme you set for parent layout would not cover the entire screen. Therefore, it is recommended to use RelativeLayout and for the button and editText, use the layout_alignParentBottom = true attribute.
If needed, i can share the code sample for this. Added Vertical Scroll to the layout.
<ScrollView 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"
>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<FrameLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="483dp"
android:layout_gravity="top">
</FrameLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<EditText android:id="#+id/edit_message"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:hint="Edit Message"
android:layout_gravity="bottom" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Send"
android:layout_gravity="bottom"
android:onClick="SendMessageButton"
/>
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>

Invisible components still take up space

So, I have this one activity that looks like this:
http://i.imgur.com/UzexgEA.jpg
As you can see, it has a button, a list and a button.
If certain conditions are met, I want to hide both buttons just show the list, but as you can see in the next image, the buttons are still taking up space:
http://i.imgur.com/OyLIfSk.jpg
So my question, what can I do to enlarge the list to take that space out?
Here is my layout for the buttons and the list:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/findSelected"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:onClick="registrarAsistencia"
android:text="Registrar Asistencia" />
<ListView
android:id="#+id/listaAlumnos"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="376dp"
android:layout_weight="2.29" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btnChecarBoxes"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:onClick="seleccionarTodosNinguno"
android:text="Seleccionar / Deseleccionar todo" />
</LinearLayout>
And here it is the layout for the list's contents:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/rowTextView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:textStyle="bold"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/rowTextView2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:textStyle="italic"/>
</LinearLayout>
<CheckBox
android:id="#+id/CheckBox01"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:focusable="false"
android:padding="10dp" />
</RelativeLayout>

Do not make the buttons View.INVISIBLE. Make the buttons View.GONE. There are three visibility states:
visible (normal)
invisible (pixels not drawn, but still takes up space)
gone (not included in rendering)

In the java code
yourView.setVisibility(View.GONE);
and in the XML code
android:visibility="gone"
Thier are 3 state
visible: normal
invisible : takes space and invisible
gone : no space and no visibility

Use
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
In addition to #CommonsWare's answer
You should use a layout that fits well in all screen sizes. If you give you layout a fixed height like android:layout_height="376dp" it will look good only on the device (or emulator) you're testing on. What you have to do is to make sure that your listview takes up all (and only) the space left by your buttons.
Check out this article and this answer to better understand layout weights.

for hiding your widget
yourEditText.setVisibility(View.GONE)
for visbility of your widget
yourEditText.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE)

Have ways for remain previous layout in all pages?

I want to create an application that have 5 buttons in bottom of page, when user clicks
on the any button, the page will changes but 5buttons remain in bottom of page. now i create
this program but when i call setContentView() in other class becuase i call other layout,
buttons removed. have ways for remain 5buttons? or i should create 5buttons again in 5layout?
Thanks
Cheers

Easiest and Simple way is to make a layout having 5 buttons and it in all your layout files
Example
<include layout="#layout/titlebar"/>
Or another way is to use fragments so tht only fragments with change keeping other of your layout stuff same
Edit
OR Use the <merge> Tag
The <merge /> tag helps eliminate redundant view groups in your view hierarchy when including one layout within another. For example, if your main layout is a vertical LinearLayout in which two consecutive views can be re-used in multiple layouts, then the re-usable layout in which you place the two views requires its own root view. However, using another LinearLayout as the root for the re-usable layout would result in a vertical LinearLayout inside a vertical LinearLayout. The nested LinearLayout serves no real purpose other than to slow down your UI performance.
To avoid including such a redundant view group, you can instead use the element as the root view for the re-usable layout. For example:
<merge xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<Button
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/add"/>
<Button
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/delete"/>
</merge>
Now, when you include this layout in another layout (using the tag), the system ignores the element and places the two buttons directly in the layout, in place of the tag.
Please go through this link to gain more information about Reusing layouts

From what I can gather, I think you are looking for tabs instead of Buttons. Take a look at this.

Thanks for answer. I read developer link and i add merge and include tag to xml file but the program has errors. Why?
MainActivity.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<include layout="#layout/location"/>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<WebView
android:id="#+id/web_view"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1.0" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#color/background"
android:gravity="bottom"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/button_home"
style="?android:attr/borderlessButtonStyle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/home_icon"
android:text="#string/button_home"
android:textColor="#color/text_home" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button_product"
style="?android:attr/borderlessButtonStyle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/product_icon"
android:onClick="Product"
android:text="#string/button_product"
android:textColor="#color/text_product" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button_places"
style="?android:attr/borderlessButtonStyle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/places_icon"
android:onClick="Places"
android:text="#string/button_places"
android:textColor="#color/text_places" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button_rewards"
style="?android:attr/borderlessButtonStyle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/rewards_icon"
android:onClick="Rewards"
android:text="#string/button_rewards"
android:textColor="#color/text_rewards" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button_more"
style="?android:attr/borderlessButtonStyle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/more_icon"
android:onClick="More"
android:text="#string/button_more"
android:textColor="#color/text_more" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
location.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<merge xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView>
<com.google.android.maps.MapView
android:id="#+id/mapView"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:clickable="true"
android:apiKey="0cPRv243zM1_S3ydsNg8MJP9_6BfCp642jOhPvQ"/>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/zoom"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"/>
</LinearLayout>
</merge>
what is incorrect?
Thank you