Develop Reference

How to align two TextView in a LinearLayout in the same line

I have two TextView in a LinearLayout, I want to align them one to the left (or center) and one to right in the same line. How to do this? I try to use gravity but they ignore it.
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:text="TextView" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="right"
android:text="TextView" />
</LinearLayout>

The easiest way is to change your LinearLayout to a RelativeLayout.
You can use android:layout_alignParentRight="true" and android:layout_alignParentLeft="true". Or to center it use android:layout_centerInParent="true"
See here why gravity won't work
You are using gravity instead of layout_gravity which is what you would want. This post should help clarify the difference
The docs show you available properties.

android:gravity is used to set the gravity of content inside the view. However, in your case the width is wrap_content, hence the content has nowhere to go in the text views.
Use a RelativeLayout with layout_width as match_parent. Then use the android:layout_alignParentLeft="true" and android:layout_alignParentRight="true"with the textViews.

Use it with or without the android:gravity in the second textview and try .
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="left"
android:layout_weight="1" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView2"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="right"
android:gravity="right"
android:layout_weight="1" />
</LinearLayout>

If LinearLayout is Vertical, you can put only an object per line.
You can use RelativeLayout, or else put in a line a LinearLayout Horizontal, that contains textviews
ex.
<LinearLayout vertical>
<LinearLayout horizontal>
<textview 1></>
<textview 2></>
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

I fixed all my issues with GridLayout...is the best thing bcos u don't need to align anithing to nothing...just put what u want into the matrix (row,column)...and this will allow you to visualize all the field in exactly wrap content of your datas also in landscape is perfect!

How do you remove the extra inner padding inside a Spinner button in an Android layout?

I am trying to create a Button that looks like a Spinner.
I have done this by creating a Button like this:
<Button
android:id="#+id/dateButton"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/dateLabel"
android:text="default text"
android:textSize="15sp"
style="?android:attr/spinnerStyle"
android:gravity="center_vertical|center_horizontal" />
The problem is that the text ("default text") inside the Button seems to have extra padding around it, which makes the Button look bloated and expanded in its height.
I thought that setting the layout_height for the button to "wrap_content" would fix this and make the button thinner, but it does not have any effect.
Does anyone know how to make this button's height wrap to the text inside it?
Here is the example code:
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_marginLeft="10dp" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/dateLabel"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="25dp"
android:text="Select date:"
android:textSize="15sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/dateButton"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/dateLabel"
android:text="default text"
android:textSize="15sp"
style="?android:attr/spinnerStyle"
android:gravity="center_vertical|center_horizontal" />
</RelativeLayout>

android:gravity="center_vertical|center_horizontal" instead of this you can write
android:gravity="center" but as per your requirment just remove this line.do not add any gravity and change your height size android:layout_height="40dp"
i changed your code
<Button
android:id="#+id/dateButton"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="35dp"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/dateLabel"
android:text="default text"
style="?android:attr/spinnerStyle"
/>

The padding of this button is decided by the drawable of it. You either need to change the spinner drawable (can be done at runtime) , or provide your own drawable to the given button that would make it look like a spinner, without using the default one

Center multiple items in a RelativeLayout without putting them in a container?

I have a RelativeLayout containing a pair of side-by-side buttons, which I want to be centered within the layout. I could just put the buttons in a LinearLayout and center that in the RelativeLayout, but I want to keep my xml as clean as possible.
Here's what I tried, this just puts the "apply" button in the center and the "undo" button to the left of it:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="15sp">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/instructions"
android:text="#string/instructions"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginBottom="15sp"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/apply"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="#string/apply"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_below="#id/instructions"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/undo"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="#string/undo"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/apply"
android:layout_below="#id/instructions"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

android:gravity will align the content inside the view or layout it is used on.
android:layout_gravity will align the view or layout inside of his parent.
So adding
android:gravity="center"
to your RelativeLayout should do the trick...
Like this:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="15sp">
</RelativeLayout>

Here is an extension of BrainCrash's answer. It is a non nested option that groups and centers all three horizontally and vertically. In addition, it takes the top TextView and centers it horizontally across both buttons. If desired, you can then center the text within the TextView with android:gravity="center". I also removed the margins, added color, and set the RelativeLayout height to fill_parent to highlight the layout. Tested on API 11.
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:background="#android:color/black"
>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/instructions"
android:text="TEST"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:background="#android:color/darker_gray"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/undo"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/apply"
android:gravity="center"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/apply"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="APPLY"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_below="#id/instructions"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/undo"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="UNDO"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/apply"
android:layout_below="#id/instructions"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

android:layout_gravity="center"
will almost give what you're looking for.

Here is a combination of the above answer's that solved my specific situation:
Centering two separate labels within a layout that also includes a button in the left most position of the same layout (button, label, label, from left to right, where the labels are centered relative to the layout containing all three views - that is, the button doesn't push the labels off center).
I solved this by nesting two RelativeLayout's, where the outer most layout included the
Button and an Inner-RelativeLayout.
The Inner-RelativeLayout contained the two text labels (TextView's).
Here is a snippet that provides the details of how the centering and other layout stuff was done:
see: RelativeLayout Gravity not applied? and
Gravity and layout_gravity on Android
for the difference's between gravity and layout_gravity.
Tweak the paddingLeft on the btn_button1 Button to see that the TextView's do not move.
(My apologies to havexz for the downvotes. I was too hasty in thinking that just b/c your suggestions didn't solve the exact question being ask, that they do help to solve very similar situations (the answer here solves a very specific situation, and only the combination of all these answer's solved my problem. I tried upvoting, but it won't let me unless I edit the answer's, which I don't want to do.)
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/rl_outer"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="50dip"
android:background="#FF0000FF">
<Button
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/btn_button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#FF00FF00"
android:text="<"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:paddingLeft="40dip"/>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/rl_inner"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#FFFF00FF"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:gravity="center">
<TextView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/tv_text1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#FF505050"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:textColor="#FFFFFFFF"
android:text="Complaint #"
android:gravity="center"/>
<TextView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/tv_text2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#FF505050"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:textColor="#FFFFFFFF"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/tv_text1"
android:gravity="center"/>
</RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

LinearLayout is a good option. Other than that there are options like create an invisible view and center that and then align left button to the left it and right on the right of it. BUT those are just work arounds.

Centering a TextView while keeping it to the right of a button?

I'm pretty sure I've done this before, but I've forgotten how.
Here's the problem:
I've got a button and a textview, and I want the textview to be centered, while the button is on the left side.
No problem? Just put them in a relativelayout, make the textview centerinparent, and the button alignparentleft.
But now I'm going to dynamically change the text, so it can potentially be written on top of the button! I'll just add toRightOf="#id/button" on the textview. No, now it's no longer centered.
I wish I could provide a screenshot, but it seems the computer is out of memory and can't do that.
Here's some code: http://pastebin.com/3N70Vjre (Since I can't paste xml...?)
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/header"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true">
<Button
android:id="#+id/leftbutton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="text!"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/toptext"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textColor="#android:color/white"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/leftbutton"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:text="Text!"
android:singleLine="true"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

Try this (unfortunately I'm at work so can't jump into Eclipse to get you some code) -
Change the layout_width of the TextView to fill_parent.
Set the gravity of the TextView to center (so the text centers inside the TextView)
Set the layout_weight of the Button to 1 and the layout_weight of the TextView to 2. Note that you may have to fudge with these numbers to get the layout you're looking for.
This should center the text of the TextView after the Button, though it will not center the TextView itself. You can accomplish that by replacing the TextView with a container (Linear/Relative Layout) and doing the same method as above on the Layout instead of the TextView. You would then put your TextView inside the container and set the container's gravity to "center".
Hope this helps point you in the right direction :)

You can try this (pseudo-code):
<RelativeLayout>
<Button>
<LinearLayout toLeftOf="toptext" type="horizontal">
<TextView gravity="center">
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
You might have to have the LinearLayout as width="fill_parent". Not sure if that will work nor not. You can subsequently try some of the things listed here: http://thinkandroid.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/how-to-position-views-properly-in-layouts/

Try declaring the TextView first, then aligning the button to the left of the text view. Keep in mind you may run into issues if the TextView becomes too wide.
EDIT: I see, so you're trying to do something sort of like the iPhone's header with back/next buttons (similar anyway). Try this modification. I still believe you're going to run into issues if the TextView gets large enough to hit the Button, though.
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/header"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/toptext"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textColor="#android:color/white"
android:layout_alignParentCenter="true"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:text="Text!"
android:singleLine="true"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/leftbutton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:text="text!"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
Try this FrameLayout instead. This may do more what you're expecting:
<FrameLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/toptext"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:textColor="#android:color/white"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:text="Text!"
android:singleLine="true"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/leftbutton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Text!"
/>
</FrameLayout>

android layout: This tag and its children can be replaced by one <TextView/> and a compound drawable

When I run layout on a specific XML file, I get this:
This tag and its children can be replaced by one <TextView/>
and a compound drawable
What change should be done for the following xml code:
<LinearLayout android:id="#+id/name_layout"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:background="#drawable/grouplist_single_left_grey_area" >
<ImageView android:id="#+id/photo_image"
android:layout_width="#dimen/thumbnail_width"
android:layout_height="#dimen/thumbnail_height"
android:paddingBottom="5dip"
android:paddingTop="5dip"
android:paddingRight="5dip"
android:paddingLeft="5dip"
android:layout_marginRight="5dip"
android:clickable="true"
android:focusable="true"
android:scaleType="fitCenter"
android:src="#*android:drawable/nopicture_thumbnail"
android:background="#drawable/photo_highlight" />
<TextView android:id="#+id/name"
android:paddingLeft="5dip"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_width="0dip"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />
</LinearLayout>
This is how it looks like on the screen:
The camera icon is the default. Clicking on that will give the user an option to choose another image.

To expand on Romain Guy's answer, here is an example.
Before:
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:padding="5dp" >
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="My Compound Button" />
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/my_drawable" />
</LinearLayout>
After:
<TextView
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="My Compound Button"
android:drawableRight="#drawable/my_drawable" android:padding="5dp" />

Merge the TextView and the ImageView into one, by using TextView's setCompoundDrawable*() methods, or using android:drawableLeft.

Thought I would try to get some extra puntos for this as well: you can add padding between the image and the text using android:drawablePadding. https://stackoverflow.com/a/6671544/1224741

Add tools:ignore="UseCompoundDrawables" to <LinearLayout>.

Sometimes it is possible to replace ImageView (or multiple) and TextView with one TextView with compound drawable(s). There are NOT many parameters which can be applied to compound drawable using native API and this TextViewRichDrawable library, but if you can manage one TextView instead of using LinearLayout you should definitely use it.
The list of attributes and parameters which can be applied to compound drawables:
Size: (YES, really):
<com.tolstykh.textviewrichdrawable.TextViewRichDrawable
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Some text"
app:compoundDrawableHeight="24dp"
app:compoundDrawableWidth="24dp"/>
Even set vector resource as drawable:
<com.tolstykh.textviewrichdrawable.TextViewRichDrawable
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Some text"
app:drawableTopVector="#drawable/some_vector_drawble"
app:drawableEndVector="#drawable/another_vector_drawable" />
Drawable's Padding using native API android:drawablePadding -> link
Here is an example:

A LinearLayout which contains an ImageView and a TextView can
be more efficiently handled as a compound drawable (a single
TextView, using the drawableTop, drawableLeft, drawableRight
and/or drawableBottom attributes to draw one or more images
adjacent to the text).
If the two widgets are offset from each other with margins, this
can be replaced with a drawablePadding attribute.
There's a lint quickfix to perform this conversion in the Eclipse
plugin.
From: Android Official API docs!

When I followed the code above, text inside the TextView doesn't set properly.
You need to set its gravity to center|start to achieve what shown in the asked question.
The textview looks like this:
<TextView
android:id="#+id/export_text"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:drawableLeft="#drawable/up_arrow"
android:drawableStart="#drawable/up_arrow"
android:gravity="center|start"
android:text="....."
android:textSize="#dimen/font_size15" >
</TextView>

the latest correct way at time of writing to add a compound drawable is using app:drawableStartCompat rather than android:drawableLeft.
<TextView
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="My Compound Button"
android:drawablePadding="5dp"
app:drawableStartCompat="#drawable/my_drawable" />

You can refer this code for example
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:text="#string/myName"
android:textAlignment="center"
android:textColor="#color/myColor"
app:drawableTopCompat="#drawable/image_name" />

If you don't want to change the ImageView and TextView, you can change the version in the AndroidManifest.xml as:
<uses-sdk`
android:minSdkVersion="8"
android:targetSdkVersion="18"
/>
If your version is android:targetSdkVersion="17" change it s "18".
Hope this will rectify. I did it and got it right

I don't know if this is an efficient solution. But using <androidx.appcompat.widget.LinearLayoutCompat> to wrap the imageView and TextView instead of <LinearLayout> will fix this error. Also by using LinearLayoutCompat, you will be able to adjust the image's width and height which you can't when using a drawableRight, drawableLeft, drawableTop or drawableBottom inside a TextView.

This warning is rather misleading. You can use a compound drawable using a TextView as others have suggested but it doesn't necessarily give you the desired result. You have very littler control over how you want your button to look like using a compound drawable, so it is better to just add tools:ignore="UseCompoundDrawables" and ignore this warning.

Another approach is embed the ViewImage into another LinearLayout (allow handle it with alone id):
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/blue_3"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:paddingTop="16dp" />
</LinearLayout>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tvPrompt"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:paddingTop="16dp"
android:text="#string/xy" />

This tag and its children can be replaced by one <TextView/> and a compound drawable
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageview"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:focusable="false"
android:contentDescription="."
android:padding="3dp"
android:src="#drawable/tab_home_btn">
</ImageView>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textview"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="首页"
android:textSize="10sp"
android:textColor="#ffffff">
</TextView>
</LinearLayout>