Develop Reference

How do I right justify a TextView in a Linear Layout?

I am trying to get the TextView, "tv_amount" to stay on the right side of the screen. I have tried using android:gravity="right" but that hasn't been working for me. Anyone have any suggestions?
Image of emulator running this 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="45dp"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/iv_icon"
android:layout_width="40sp"
android:layout_height="40sp"
android:background="#drawable/circle_border"
android:padding="6sp"
android:layout_marginLeft="6dp"
android:src="#drawable/food"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tv_label"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_marginStart="12dp"
android:text="Yummy Pizza"
android:textSize="20sp" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tv_amount"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginEnd="12dp"
android:gravity="end"
android:text="$25"
android:textSize="25sp" />
</LinearLayout>
I am expecting the transaction or "tv_amount" to stay be right justified so that end of the number is staying towards the right side of the screen.
I tried using :
android:layout_weight="0"
android:layout_gravity="end"
android:gravity="right"
but these don't seem to work obviously. I am a beginner when it comes to android development and can't seem to find any answers that have helped anywhere else. They all say to use android:gravity or some other alternative. Maybe there is something in my code that doesn't allow that.

Try it like this:
Splitting the content into left and right will result in the weight and gravity properties working. Check out this layout below.
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tv_title"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:text="Title"
android:textSize="20sp" />
<!--Separate layout aligned to the left, containing an image and a yummy pizza label. -->
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/iv_icon"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tv_text_left"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Text Left"
android:textSize="16sp" />
</LinearLayout>
<!--Display the pizza price on a separate label aligned to the right -->
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tv_text_right"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="right"
android:text="Text Right"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:textSize="16sp" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

I am dumb. The issue wasn't with the code in my individual recycler view layout code. It was with my activity_main.xml. I set the recycler_view width to "wrap_content" when it should have been "match_parent." Rookie mistake.

layout_gravity isn't working as expected - just partially

I have the following layout:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="start"
android:text="#string/title_day"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:textSize="20sp" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="start"
android:text="Tuesday"
android:textSize="16sp" />
</LinearLayout>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tv_fail"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="+22"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:layout_gravity="end|center_vertical" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
And this looks like this:
And I want the last TextView with id tv_fail to be pinned to right end of screen. I suppose that
android:layout_gravity="end|center_vertical"
should handle it, but this instruction centers TextView vertically, but doesn't move it to end. How to fix it?

I suppose that
android:layout_gravity="end|center_vertical"
should handle it, but this instruction centers TextView vertically, but doesn't move it to end.
This is due to how LinearLayout works; your understanding of layout_gravity is generally correct.
LinearLayout takes its children and lays them out in a line, and the children will all be packed towards the "start" of the LinearLayout. In other words, a horizontal LinearLayout will ignore the horizontal component of the layout_gravity attribute of a child.
There are a few ways to work around this. The one that I think works best for your scenario is to make the TextView stretch to fill all the remaining space in the LinearLayout (using layout_weight), and then have the TextView position its text at the end of its content area (using gravity).
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tv_fail"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="+22"
android:textSize="16sp"
android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
android:gravity="end"/>

If you just want to set text inside of your last TextView to end then you should use :
android:gravity="end"
for TextView gravity use:
android:layout_gravity="center"
Difference between android:gravity & android:layout_gravity is that first one arrange content inside of any view with given gravity while second one arranges view according to given gravity.
Updated code:
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="start"
android:text="title_day"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:textStyle="bold" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="start"
android:text="Tuesday"
android:textSize="16sp" />
</LinearLayout>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tv_fail"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:text="+22"
android:textSize="16sp" />
</LinearLayout>

Aligning views with views outside the RelativeLayout

I am designing a table using RelativeLayout in Android and add entries programmically. The result pleases me so far:
The layout code is
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/table_relativelayout"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/column1_header"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:text="#string/column1_header"
style="?android:attr/listSeparatorTextViewStyle"
android:layout_weight="1.0"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/column2_header"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#id/column1_header"
android:text="#string/column1_header"
android:textSize="14sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:textAllCaps="true"
android:textColor="#color/textColor"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/column3_header"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#id/column1_header"
android:text="#string/column3_header"
android:textSize="14sp"
android:textAllCaps="true"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:paddingRight="8dip"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/example_column1_entry"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignLeft="#id/column1_header"
android:text=""
android:paddingLeft="8dip"
android:visibility="gone"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/example_column2_entry"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignRight="#id/column2_header"
android:text=""
android:visibility="gone"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/example_column3_entry"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignRight="#id/column3_header"
android:paddingRight="8dip"
android:text=""
android:visibility="gone"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
However, as more entries are added, scrolling becomes necessary. So I wrap the whole thing in a ScrollView (as per this answer)
<ScrollView
android:id="#+id/table_scrollview"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:scrollbars="vertical"
android:fillViewport="true"
>
...
</ScrollView>
This of course has the result that the header row is hidden if I scroll down. I'd much rather have it outside the ScrollView but then I don't know how to align the entries with the header. Any ideas?

Try with something like this:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/header"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/column1_header"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:text="#string/column1_header"
style="?android:attr/listSeparatorTextViewStyle"
android:layout_weight="1.0"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/column2_header"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#id/column1_header"
android:text="#string/column1_header"
android:textSize="14sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:textAllCaps="true"
android:textColor="#color/textColor"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/column3_header"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#id/column1_header"
android:text="#string/column3_header"
android:textSize="14sp"
android:textAllCaps="true"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:paddingRight="8dip"
/>
</LinearLayout>
<ScrollView
android:layout_below="#id/header"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/scroll_view_container"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<rows>
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>
<RelativeLayout>

you don't want to do this with xml.
Because you simply can't reference views inside of an relativeLayout
from the outside and vice versa, to align things.
I had to deal with exactly your issue, as I implemented a in size selfadjusting tableView. The trick is to add all your textViews for one row into a ViewGroup (LinearLayout e.g, because easy to use with addView) and calculate the width of every row header in forehand. Than set the size of the viewGroups programmaticaly.
That's the key. This way, you can easily change your row header later and keep beeing flexible. Moreover you are not limited to a fixed size of columns.
calculate the width of the header
set the size of the (e.g) LinearLayouts for every row
add all TextViews to the LinearLayouts
This should hopefully help you. Answers to all the upcoming question for calculation sizes etc, should you find yourself on stackoverflow.
Greets, Steve.

OK, I found a solution: I'll have the three header TextViews outside of the ScrollView, as suggested by several commenters, and three additional "header" TextViews with the same parameters plus android:visibility="invisible" inside the ScrollViews. Those invisible TextViews will be used to align the visible entries.
Thanks for your answers!

Android - Place oposite views in a Layout

I have a Horizontal Layout and I have some views inside it. I want some to start from the left and others to start in the right, but I can't manage to do it. I tried several Gravity configurations but they don't do anything.
That's the case I have:
I want the Flag to be in the right and the Time to be in the left, as pointed by the arrows. I will add some more flags later.
Could anyone help me out with this? Thanks :D
EDIT:
XML so far:
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="30dp"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:id="#+id/hlTopBar"
android:background="#e6262626"
android:gravity="center_vertical">
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/default_time_date_string"
android:id="#+id/tvTime"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:gravity="left" />
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/ibUSA"
android:src="#drawable/united_states_flag"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:adjustViewBounds="true" />
</LinearLayout>

android:layout_gravity works in the direction opposite the orientation of the LinearLayout – the children of a vertical LinearLayout can use android:layout_gravity to control their positioning horizontally (left or right), but not vertically. In the same way children of horizontal LinearLayout can use android:layout_gravity to control their positioning vertically (top or bottom) but not horizontally. As you are using Horizontal LinearLayout you can use android:layout_gravity to position children either top or bottom.For your purpose it is better to go with RelativeLayout.
<?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="fill_parent" >
<TextView
.........
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
/>
<ImageView
.......
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

Instead of using a horizontal layout use a Relative layout
example:
<?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="fill_parent" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:text="Time" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:text="Image" />
</RelativeLayout>
result:

The RelativeLayout is a good answer. If, however, you REALLY want to do it with a LinearLayout, try putting an empty TextView in the middle, with width=0 and weight=1.
This empty view will automatically try to fill up however much space isn't taken up by the other views.
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="30dp"
android:id="#+id/hlTopBar"
android:background="#e6262626"
android:gravity="center_vertical">
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/default_time_date_string"
android:id="#+id/tvTime"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:paddingLeft="10dp" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/spacer"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1" />
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/ibUSA"
android:src="#drawable/united_states_flag"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
android:adjustViewBounds="true" />
</LinearLayout>

android layout pushing views from the screen

For building an application, we have several lists.
the problem exists with a list item, which is custom, but very simple nontheless.
The format is:
This represents one list item with 2 textviews and one image view
Note that title and date are actually right underneath eachother and the image is on the right side, with center vertical as attribute.The image should NOT be in between the two text views
I will give the XML first and then explain the exact problem.
The XML:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView
android:textSize="16dip"
android:id="#+id/title"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
<TextView
android:textSize="12dip"
android:id="#+id/date"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
</LinearLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_marginRight="5dip" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/validationStateImg"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true" />
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
Problem:
In some sense, this layout displays everything exactly as the ascii representation.
What does NOT function correctly is when the text is becoming long. In cases where the text is long, but not long enough to take 2 lines, it just makes the imageview tiny.
In other cases, it just pushes imageview completely off the screen..
What I need is, when the length of either the date or the other textview is too long, to break to a new line. And ofcourse it needs to be a solution portable to all sorts of screen sizes.
I'm not a UI artist, so, apologies if I'm abusing layouts in a sense that they should not be used.
Aside help, tips and hints are also welcome!

I think your best bet is one simple RelativeLayout:
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:padding="8dp"
>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/validationStateImg"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/title"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/validationStateImg"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:textSize="16dp"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/date"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/validationStateImg"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_below="#id/title"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
Snap the ImageView to the right side of the parent, and let the TextViews take the rest of the width, but aligned to the left of the ImageView.

Hope this helps:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_weight = "1"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/title"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="dasdfasdfasdfasdfsadfsdf dsfasdfasd asdfadsf dfasdfads asdfasdf"
android:textSize="16dip" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/date"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="dasdfasdfasdfasdfsadfsdf"
android:textSize="12dip" />
</LinearLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="100dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_marginRight="5dip" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/validationStateImg"
android:src="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true" />
</RelativeLayout>

I think in this case you need a different layout, check this one:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView
android:textSize="16dip"
android:id="#+id/title"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
<TextView
android:textSize="12dip"
android:id="#+id/date"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
</LinearLayout>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/validationStateImg"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"/>
</LinearLayout>

If you don't want your image shrinking then you need to give it a specific ratio of the real estate that its parent offers.
Specifically the LinearLayout that is its parent needs to have a weight_sum and then both the text and image need to have a layout_weight.
the weight should add up to the sum. The weight doesn't have to be a whole number and it's very important (and very counter intuitive) that the layout_width needs to be 0 (assuming that the two of them are sitting side by side)... so...
I'm removing all the extra stuff below that you need to add back in and just leaving the important parts....
<LinearLayout weight_sum=2 layout_height=fill_parent>
<TextView layout_weight=2 layout_height=0dp/>
<ImageView layout_weight=2 layout_height=0dp />
<TextView layout_weight=2 layout_height=0dp/>
</LinearLayout>
This will split the LinearLayout in half and the left side will be text (which will wrap if it can) and the right side will be the image. You can adjust this by setting the sum to 3 and splitting up the sides to 2 and 1 in which case the text will be 2/3 of the screen and the image 1/3. Or leave the sum at 2 and have the left be 1.3 and the right .7 for a similar effect.