Develop Reference

One of two Android ListView filling too much space

I would like to obtain this layout for an Android app for mobile phones:
Icon - Object1
List with entries related to Object1
Icon - Object2
List with entries related to Object2
So far I have used the following layout tree (edited graphically with the editor in Android Studio):
Root-LinearLayout
Vertical LinearLayout
Horizontal LinearLayout with icon and text
ListView
Vertical LinearLayout
Horizontal LinearLayout with icon and text
ListView
May be this is not the best way to organize such layout (may be I should use lists with header, but suggestions very welcome), however it can be a good case for understanding deeper how ListView works.
This is the graphical layout generated:
the blue row corresponds to the first LinearLayout. As you can see from the second screenshot that follows, the second list goes all the way down to Hell, bringing me with her. Is there any way to make the lists respect the wrap_content+ weight behaviour?
The XML code follows. I have tried several combos (both reasonable and unreasonable) of layout:weights but none works. I also tried to set the min-width of the first LinearLayout (the hidden one), but nothing changes.
Could you please help me?
<?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"
android:weightSum="2">
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1">
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:minHeight="50dp">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/imageView15"
android:src="#drawable/abc_ic_menu_share_mtrl_alpha" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Object1"
android:id="#+id/textView24"
android:textSize="26dp"
android:paddingLeft="10dp" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
<ListView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/listView2"
android:layout_weight="1" />
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1">
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_vertical">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/imageView16"
android:src="#drawable/abc_ic_commit_search_api_mtrl_alpha" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Object2"
android:id="#+id/textView25"
android:textSize="26dp"
android:paddingLeft="10dp" />
</LinearLayout>
<ListView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/listView"
android:layout_weight="1" />
</LinearLayout>

It should work if you put your ListViews inside of the child LinearLayouts which hold the LinearLayout that has the TextView and ImageView. You also should be using "0dp" for the height when using weight with a vertical layout.
Something like this, I believe, should work
<?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"
android:weightSum="2">
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1">
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:minHeight="50dp"
android:layout_weight=".2">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/imageView15"
android:src="#drawable/abc_ic_menu_share_mtrl_alpha" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Object1"
android:id="#+id/textView24"
android:textSize="26dp"
android:paddingLeft="10dp" />
</LinearLayout>
<ListView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:id="#+id/listView2"
android:layout_weight=".8" />
</LinearLayout>
Note the other changes: I gave the inner-LinearLayout an arbitrary weight of ".2" then the ListView a weight of ".8". And, of course, set the height to "0dp". You may need to play with those weights a bit but I think doing something like that for both first child LinearLayouts should get you close.
That may get your current layout to work but using headers and/or an ExpandableListView may be a better option.

How to create a stampcard type layout?

Im trying to create a stampcard system on my application but when its coming to laying out the stamps (they wil be invisable untill requested and shoud be spaced evenly in 2xrows of 3),
I cant get the view to sit right, I want the stamps to appear evenly over an Image view but it just wont happen, I tried to get my linear layout that will hold the 2 rows to stretch to the relative view ( who's size is set by the stampcard ImageView) so i could space them out evenly using their weight but it wouldn't stretch it would allways wrap the content any help would be appreciated.
The layout xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ScrollView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" >
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/main_fragment_layout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/home_page_title"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="64dp"
android:background="#drawable/bottom_bar"
android:gravity="center_horizontal|fill_vertical"
android:text="#string/home_fragment_title"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
android:textColor="#FFFFFF"
android:textStyle="bold" />
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/stamp_card_layout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#id/home_page_title"
android:gravity="center" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/the_stamp_card"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:adjustViewBounds="true"
android:src="#drawable/stamp_card" />
<LinearLayout
android:id="#id/row_holder"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="1" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/stamp" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="1" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/stamp" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
<Button
android:id="#+id/scanBtn"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#id/stamp_card_layout"
android:background="#drawable/brown_btn"
android:text="Scan?"
android:textColor="#FFFFFF"
android:textSize="23sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:typeface="normal" />
</RelativeLayout>
The Result:
I don't know what to do as they have to be over the image and stay relative to the stampcard and the only way I know how was using a relative layout and it is being designed for api 8 so it has to be simple :/
thanks in advanced!

The solution I came to is to just have multiple Stampcard images each with a one more stamp than the last and to cycle though them.

Android how to arrange multiple rows in one HorizontalScrollView

I'm searching for a solution to set up multiple rows in a scrollview.
I have 15 buttons (3*5) and want to scroll to the right so there are another 15 buttons.
What I already got: all buttons are in one huge row ( at least, scrolling iself worked ).
Then I tried to set the HorizontalScrollView on the highest layer (line #1 in XML) and after that a LinearLayout that contains 3 further LinearLayouts so the tree looks like this:
<HorizontalScrollView
<LinearLayout
<LinearLayout
(buttonABCDEF)
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
(button01234)
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
(button56789)
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</HorizontalScrollView>
What I get then is a (~80x80) rectangle (the linear layout in the ScrollView) that shows a text (the first view in my layout) and a button (buttonA - the first one) that is so stemmed (by whatever) that every character is written into a new line. (The amount of letters= amount of lines= button height). This isn't scrollable at all.
I'm trying to post only the code that is relevant. Note: that android:layout stuff is not important for you since it is not working in a linear layout:
<HorizontalScrollView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/lib/com.google.ads"
android:screenOrientation="landscape"
android:theme="#android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar.Fullscreen"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:id="#+id/horizontalScrollView1"
tools:context=".MainActivity"
android:background="#android:color/black"
>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation='vertical' >
android:layout_width="9dp"
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" >
android:layout_width="9dp"
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_marginTop="0dp"
android:textColor="#android:color/white"
android:text="text"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/buttonA"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignBottom="#+id/buttonB"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/textView1"
android:width="70dp"
android:text="A" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/buttonE"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#+id/buttonD"
android:layout_alignBottom="#+id/buttonD"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/buttonD"
android:width="70dp"
android:text="B" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/buttonF"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#+id/buttonE"
android:layout_alignBottom="#+id/buttonE"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/buttonE"
android:text="C" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button0"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:background="#drawable/eins"
android:text="0" />
/LinearLayout>
/LinearLayout>
</HorizontalScrollView>
Thanks a lot for you help.

I fixed it making the layout completely new. Even that of course not the best way, it seemed faster than searching for errors

how to design great design's for a Android Activity

What I'm Trying to do
At the moment I'm creating a design for my Activity, which has different kind of "boxes" in it. Every of those "boxes", has diffrent informations in it. I created the design by hand on a piece of paper, but I won't get the idea down in my .xml!!
Question
On the bottom of this post you'll find a copyed "box" which I'd like to create for my app. Please help me to realize this, because I really don't get how to do this in my XML! I'm working with Android 4.0 (ICS).

Something like this should work:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/layout"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/box_title"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Box Title" />
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/box_content"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/box_content"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/box_content_1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Hans Max" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/box_content_2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Maxiburger 12" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/box_content_3"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="8002, Muster" />
</LinearLayout>
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/box_button"
android:layout_weight="5"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

I give you the pseudo layout:
<RelativeLayout>
<TextView
full width
id:infobox/>
<Button
layoutParentRight
below infobox/>
<TextView
layout_below infobox
toLeftOf button/>
// repeat the textView above and always below the previous one
</RelativeLayout>
With LinearLayouts:
<LinearLayout>
<TextView infobox/>
<LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout>
<TextView />
<TextView />
<TextView />
</LinearLayout>
<Button/>
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
As you see it is much more complex and bloated. As I always get confused by horizontal/vertical orientation I leave this to you to find out :)
Just experiment and if you can't get it to work, update your answer with the layout you tried.

How to display a TextView below an other one in Android with XML files?

I am pretty sure that a parameter will do the trick but I can't find the one I am looking for.
I am trying to display one TextView -file_type- below the file_title TextView.
What would be the parameter that I should add to the file_type TevxtView block to come under the file_title TextView block ?
There is what I am doing :
<?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">
<ImageView android:id="#+id/file_type_logo"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingLeft="25px"
android:paddingTop="25px" />
<TextView android:id="#+id/file_title"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingLeft="30px"
android:textSize="22sp"
android:background="#FF0000"
android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />
<TextView android:id="#+id/file_type"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingLeft="30px"
android:paddingTop="10px"
android:layout_gravity="bottom"
android:textSize="22sp"
android:background="#FF0000"
android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />
</LinearLayout>
Thank you ,

By default linearlayout wraps things horizontally. If you want the imageview to be at the left of the both textviews (that are wrapped vertically), use following:
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<ImageView .../>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView1..../>
<TextView2..../>
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
Or you can just pass the parameter android:orientation="vertical" to the top level LinearLayout. Have a look at RelativeLayout definition as well.