Develop Reference

How to make android layout scalable for different screen size?

I found a lot of question were asked on supporting different screen size where the screen size are varies from Tablet to phone and etc. I am writing my first android application and when I am looking at the layout in different phone, All of them are not relatively scalable to screen.
I am pasting a small RelativeLayout code here to understand how to make it proper scalable in less changes. I also followed the android official doc and learn two things
drawable images for different screen
use sp for mentioning text size and for rest of them use dp
But it's not helping me
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="#ffd5d6d6">
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="48dp"
android:background="#ffffffff"
android:elevation="#dimen/abc_action_bar_default_height_material">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/back"
android:layout_width="24dp"
android:layout_height="24dp"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
android:src="#drawable/ic_back" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/profileDesc"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="Test"
android:textColor="#ff3c3f41"
android:textSize="15dp" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/flag"
android:layout_width="24dp"
android:layout_height="24dp"
android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="false"
android:layout_alignParentStart="false"
android:layout_alignWithParentIfMissing="false"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:layout_marginRight="16dp"
android:src="#drawable/temp_ic_share" />
</RelativeLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_marginTop="52dp">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/roommate"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentStart="false"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="40dp"
android:text="Who are you?"
android:textColor="#ff3c3f41"
android:textSize="18dp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/foodie"
style="#style/Widget.AppCompat.ButtonBar"
android:layout_width="60dp"
android:layout_height="38dp"
android:layout_alignParentStart="false"
android:layout_marginLeft="56dp"
android:layout_marginTop="80dp"
android:background="#fa6425"
android:text="Foodie"
android:textColor="#fff4f4f4"
android:textSize="12dp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button4"
style="#style/Widget.AppCompat.ButtonBar"
android:layout_width="80dp"
android:layout_height="38dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="15dp"
android:layout_marginTop="80dp"
android:layout_toEndOf="#+id/foodie"
android:background="#fa6425"
android:text="Beach bum"
android:textColor="#fff4f4f4"
android:textSize="12dp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button5"
style="#style/Widget.AppCompat.ButtonBar"
android:layout_width="80dp"
android:layout_height="38dp"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/button4"
android:layout_marginLeft="15dp"
android:layout_toEndOf="#+id/button4"
android:background="#fa6425"
android:text="Tree hugger"
android:textColor="#fff4f4f4"
android:textSize="12dp" />
</RelativeLayout>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button"
style="#style/Widget.AppCompat.ButtonBar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="50dp"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
android:background="#fa6425"
android:text="Send"
android:textColor="#fff4f4f4" />
</RelativeLayout>
As you can see that I am including two Parallel RelativeLayout in one main RelativeLayout. here the views on three different size:
nexus one
nexus 5
nexus 6
Best alignment is in Nexus 5 screen. Do I need to create different layout folder i.e. hdpi, mdpi and etc? If I am not wrong then I don't need to because my application is going to run only on phone devices (in portrait mode only).
How can I make scalable screen layouts. Any help would be appreciable :)

If you want to force all the views to have the same ration on screen the only way is to give it a size dynamically after you calculated the ratio between the desired pixels and the screen density, which is not really a solution, What you need to understand is when working with various screen sizes, each one suppose to behave differently, a Tablet screen is expected to be bigger and thus having more room for elements to show up on screen, a phone screen is smaller and less elements should be showed on screen, you need to adjust your view to support all of these screens and the proper way is to write a different layout for tablets and phones, or even different layout by screen dpi.

I am pretty new, I am using Android Studio, is that what you are using? First thing first, if you always want you activity to be in portrait mode, use this code in your manifest, you have to add the code to each activity you want to stay in portrait mode. If you don't, and you don't add code to handle the switch in screen orientation, the phone will likely crash.
<activity
android:name=".TitleActivity"
android:label="#string/title_activity"
android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
</activity>
Instead of a relative view, Try the Linear Layout.
You would have your Main Layout, with a few nested Linear Layouts.
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:id="#+id/example">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:gravity="center">
<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
android:text="Title Here"
android:id="#+id/Title"
android:layout_gravity="top|center_horizontal"
android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:layout_marginBottom="20dp" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_marginBottom="50dp">
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="New Button"
android:id="#+id/button"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_marginLeft="10dp" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="New Button"
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_weight="1" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="New Button"
android:id="#+id/button3"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_marginRight="10dp" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/imageView"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:background="#drawable/test"
android:layout_margin="50dp" />
</LinearLayout>
This layout has A title Above the three buttons, Then three buttons, then an image view below, it scales from 3.7 to 7.0. Larger than 7, I would make another layout.
You need an image named test in your drawable file.

use this Library will help you to set a Responsive scalable Views for all the devices Layouts
https://github.com/intuit/sdp
irs really easy and simpl just replace.
android:layout_width="50dp"
android:layout_height="60dp"
with.
android:layout_width="50sdp"
android:layout_height="60sdp"
and for textView
android:textSize="60ssp"
instead of. sp

XML Views in Android

I'm sorry I'm new to Android and this seems like an easy question but I just don't get it. I have two buttons (same size) and two images (different sizes). I want the buttons below the images but exactly centered to it. I searched a couple of forums but I just don't get it how that works. I also don't understand how to declare one of the images as a parent so the button could be the child.
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text=""
android:id="#+id/negativ"
android:background="#drawable/smiley"
android:layout_below="#+id/titlet"
android:layout_marginTop="50dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="500dp" />
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/textnhelpful"
android:background="#drawable/nothelp"
android:layout_below="#+id/negativ"
android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="500dp"
/>

In android SDK you can't add image view to button as child or reverse, my solution make relative layout and add image view as child to layout make button and layout "wrap_content" and add button as child to layout andmake gravity "center".

Here is xml code
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:src="#drawable/ic_launcher" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Button" />
</RelativeLayout>

Android Layout Design for normal screen sizes

I am a hobbiest app developer and I feel I have a good grasp on android basics but the main thing that I struggle at is app design. I understand how to develop for different screen sizes and densities. But the main thing I struggle at is each of the normal and other sizes cover such a range of sizes within their respective categories. I have been searching and searching and not been bale to find a solution.
The main issue I am having is when designing using eclipse, i make a design using nexus one at the design looks perfect for what I want when I swap to a smaller screen like 3.2 HVGA or even the nexus galaxy which are all normal sized images, the location of my images have moved. So what looked perfect for the nexus one looks awful on some other normal screen sizes.
What can be done to ensure if an image is directly next to another that it stays that way on a different screens. I will give an example of the current design I am working on and I hope somebody can explain what im doing wrong/how i can improve.
Nexus One Design:
3.2 HVGA:
the xml generated:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/RelativeLayout1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:columnCount="4"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/Button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:background="#drawable/i1"
android:text="Button" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:background="#drawable/i2" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/Button1"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/Button1"
android:layout_marginLeft="106dp"
android:layout_marginTop="160dp"
android:background="#drawable/i3" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button3"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#+id/button2"
android:layout_alignBottom="#+id/button2"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/Button1"
android:layout_marginRight="112dp"
android:background="#drawable/i4" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button4"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_above="#+id/button3"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/button3"
android:background="#drawable/i5" />
</RelativeLayout>

Try adding another layout for side buttons to group them together, and then center that layout:
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/RelativeLayout1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:columnCount="4"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentStart="true">
<Button
android:id="#+id/Button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:background="#drawable/i1"
android:text="Button" />
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/RelativeLayout2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true">
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="false"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:background="#drawable/i2"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/i3"
android:layout_below="#+id/button1"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button3"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/i4"
android:layout_below="#+id/button4"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/button2"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button4"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/i5"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/button2"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"/>
</RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

You need to create different images for each of the screen resolutions and put them into the respective drawable folder drawable--hdpi, drawable-mdpi, drawable-xhdpi, etc. Also be sure that you are using dp in your xml file, which it appears you are. Just be sure you always do so.
Designing for the different screens can be tricky because you have to essentially create the same image 4 or 5 times.
Also, make sure you are testing on actual handsets, because the emulator doesn't always give you an accurate layout.

Show button in relativelayout

I'm having problems adding a button to my app using relative layout.When I use the graphical layout tool it shows up when i drag and drop the button but when I compile and run the apk on the emulator only the original 'sms' button is there.The new button should of been to the left of the 'sms' button
and here's the code from the xml file
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#FF000000" >
<EditText
android:id="#+id/edit_message_input"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="100dp"
android:hint="#string/edit_message_input"
android:inputType="textMultiLine"
android:background="#ff000000"
android:textColor="#CCCCCC"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="40dp"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:layout_marginRight="36dp"
android:text="#string/translate_to_english"
android:onClick="sendToEnglish"
android:background="#CCCCCC"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="40dp"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="#string/translate_to_text"
android:onClick="sendToText"
android:background="#CCCCCC" />
<EditText
android:id="#+id/editText1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="100dp"
android:layout_above="#+id/button3"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_marginBottom="31dp"
android:ems="10"
android:hint="#string/edit_message_output"
android:inputType="textMultiLine"
android:background="#ff000000"
android:textColor="#CCCCCC" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button3"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="40dp"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/button2"
android:layout_marginRight="22dp"
android:background="#CCCCCC"
android:onClick="sendSMS"
android:text="#string/send_as_sms" />
<!-- test save button -->
<Button
android:id="#+id/save_word_button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:background="#cccccc"
android:text="#string/save_word" />
</RelativeLayout>
Any help or pointers much appreciated!

Don't assume what ever you design in XML layout will looks nice in every device, because there are wide range of android devices out in market.
Don't take fixed height/width layout if you want to support multiple screens.
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="40dp"
Instead, you can mention "wrap_content" or "fill_parent".

To be honest, I suggest you head over to the android developer docs and spend some time reading the recommendations on designing interfaces.
Two particularly useful sections are:
http://developer.android.com/design/style/metrics-grids.html
and
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/layout/relative.html
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.html
You have a number of fixed dimensions in your xml and conflicting alignment attributes which appear to be causing a few problems.

Combine layout_weight and maxWidth for views

I'm trying to make my layouts more landscape friendly, and a common pattern I have is to add a LinearLayout with some buttons (e.g. OK | Cancel) and just set a value for layout_weight so that the space is evenly distributed. The problem is that when you use a phone or (especially) a tablet in landscape mode, you end up with humongous buttons that look ridiculous. I tried setting maxWidth on the buttons and on the linear layout but to no avail. What would be the easiest way to achieve this? Namely, setting a maximum horizontal size for the view so that it does not grow to the whole width. I tried a bunch of different things, but none worked.
Here's a sample layout:
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:paddingRight="10dp"
android:paddingTop="6dp"
android:paddingBottom="6dp">
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:enabled="false"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:text="#string/button1" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="#string/button2" />
</LinearLayout>
Note: I know I can create a new layout file for landscape and do magic there. I want to keep the specialized layout files to a minimum, and I would hope this does not require them.

After messing around quite a bit with relative layouts, I stumbled upon this answer, which is what I ended up using.

I don't have Eclipse here to test it, but I would use a RelativeLayout instead, something like:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
>
<View
android:id="#+id/centerView"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginLeft="5dp"
android:layout_marginRight="5dp"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/centerView"
android:enabled="false"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:text="#string/button1"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/centerView"
android:text="#string/button2"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
As I said, I can't test it right now, but you can work around this idea.
On a side note, unless your layout is very simple, I usually create separate layouts for landscape. It's a little more work, but you can optimize the views much better that way. Specially, if you plan to support larger screens.

<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/rlMain"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_marginLeft="12dp"
android:layout_marginRight="12dp">
<View
android:id="#+id/vCenter"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginRight="5dp"
android:layout_marginLeft="5dp"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/btnOne"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="40dp"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/vCenter"
<!--Change this for different widths-->
android:minWidth="200dp"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/btnTwo"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="40dp"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/vCenter"
<!--Change this for different widths-->
android:minWidth="200dp"/>
</RelativeLayout>