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Show 3 scrollable ListViews of equal height in Android Layout

I am trying to show three different vertical sections in my Android layout on one screen, each taking up one third of the screen, one on the top, one in the middle, and one on the bottom. Each section has a TextView and a ListView, and the ListViews can scroll so that you can see all items, but the overall page does not move. I have tried putting each TextView and ListView in a LinearLayout and setting the height of each LinearLayout to one third the total height of the screen, but the first ListView just shows all the items in it, taking up most of the screen, and the other sections are pushed down. I also tried using layout_weights, but for some reason it did not work. (EDIT: Setting layout_weight="1" ended up working, I'm not sure what I did wrong the first time) How can I make this work, or is there a better way to go about this?

<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<ListView android:layout_width="0dp" android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_height="match_parent" android:background="#FF0000"/>
<ListView android:layout_width="0dp" android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_height="match_parent" android:background="#00FF00">
<ListView android:layout_width="0dp" android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_height="match_parent" android:background="#0000FF">
</LinearLayout>
This will give you three equally wide columns: to make it rows, change the orientation to vertical and swap the values of layout_height and layout_width for each listview. If you need to add the TextViews, you'll have to make each listview in this code either a RelativeLayout LinearLayout or FrameLayout, using same width/height/weight and arranging the ListView and TextView inside to taste. To do this most efficiently, use a Framelayout and use a margin on the listview to offset it from the TextView. You can place the TextView relative to the ListView inside the FrameLayout by using the layout_gravity in the TextView.
Ie (swapping the first "column"):
<FrameLayout android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="1" android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#FF0000">
<TextView android:text="Column!" android:background="#3Eff0000"
android:layout_height="40dp" android:layout_width="match_parent">
<ListView android:layout_marginTop="48dp" android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="match_parent" android:background="#8Aff0000"/>
</FrameLayout>

Use this:
<?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="match_parent"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:weightSum="3">
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#ff89ff91">
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
android:text="#1"
android:id="#+id/textView"
android:padding="5dp"
android:gravity="center" />
<ListView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/listView"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView" />
</RelativeLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#ffff8177">
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
android:text="#2"
android:id="#+id/textView2"
android:padding="5dp"
android:gravity="center" />
<ListView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/listView2"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView2" />
</RelativeLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#ffffe85d">
<TextView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
android:text="#3"
android:id="#+id/textView3"
android:padding="5dp"
android:gravity="center" />
<ListView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/listView3"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView3" />
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>

ListView and ScrollView together does not work

I have ListView and ScrollView in one activity. Now, the problem is that ListView and ScollView does not work together. I have many controls in activity so I need to use ListView.
If ScrollView is there then ListView's height decreased as you can see in image.
Please help me to prevent this problem.
My Code :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ScrollView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:padding="20dp" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:padding="20dp" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tvRQPoint"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="right"
android:textColor="#color/green"
android:textSize="32sp" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tvRQQText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/questiontext"
android:textColor="#color/blue"
android:textSize="16sp" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tvRQQuestion"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="16sp" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imgRQImage"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="3dp"
android:contentDescription="#string/imgdesc" />
<ListView
android:id="#+id/lvRQOptions"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
android:divider="#b5b5b5"
android:dividerHeight="1dp" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tvRQAnswer"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginBottom="10dp"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btnRQNext"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="35dp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:text="#string/next" >
</Button>
<Button
android:id="#+id/btnRQEndTest"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="35dp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:background="#drawable/blue_bg"
android:text="#string/endtest"
android:textColor="#color/white" >
</Button>
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>

Never use a ListView inside a ScrollView. ListView itself already has a built-in scroll so you should use it, as the approach you've used goes against the Android's design.
If you can't remove the ScrollView, you probably should consider simplifying your design or redesign it in another way.

One thing you can do is use only the listView and add the above elements as a header view, and the below elements as a footer view.
List view has properties:
addHeaderView(View view);
addFooterView(View view)
Which you can set before setting the list's adapter

Hi as #nKn said its not good to use ListView inside ScrollView and it also gives bad performance if worked, ListView has its own scrolling property you do not need to use scrollview in it, create seperate layout for listview and other stuff and align layouts the way u want.It worked very well for me.
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:overScrollMode="ifContentScrolls"
android:scrollbarStyle="insideOverlay"
android:scrollbars="vertical" >
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/listContainingLayout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_above="#+id/buttonsLayout"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:overScrollMode="ifContentScrolls"
android:scrollbarStyle="insideOverlay"
android:scrollbars="vertical" >
<ListView
android:id="#id/android:list"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" >
</ListView>
</RelativeLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/buttonsLayout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/button1" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"
android:src="#drawable/button2" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/button3"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/button3" />
</LinearLayout>
I suggest to align your buttons according to priority if you want your buttons fixed on screen then above format can be used but if u want buttons to come after list then align buttonsLayout belowlistContainingLayout
Hope it helps,Cheers!...

ListView already has scrolling feature. That's why is make problem inside ScrollView. But try give hardcoded width to your ListView. May this solve problem
<ListView
android:id="#+id/lvRQOptions"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="300dp"
android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
android:divider="#b5b5b5"
android:dividerHeight="1dp" />

ListView hidden behind button

The contents of my list view get hidden behind the button as follows:
The xml file is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_gravity="top"
>
<ListView
android:id="#android:id/list"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:drawSelectorOnTop="false"
/>
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/InnerRelativeLayout"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
>
<Button
android:text="Send"
android:id="#+id/Button"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:onClick="addItems"
>
</Button>
<EditText
android:id="#+id/message"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/Button"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
>
</EditText>
</RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
The TextView for each row is as follows:
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content
android:layout_gravity="right"
android:gravity="right"
android:textSize="20sp"
/>
What should i do to align it properly (as in above the button)?
Also when the listView is with just one or two entries, and when the keyboard is opened to type, the whole view shifts? How do I fix that as well? Thanks in advance

Cleaned up and corected the code a bit. Perhaps this is what you were looking for. Let me know if it works. Cheers !
<?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"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/InnerRelativeLayout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/Button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="40dp"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:onClick="addItems"
android:text="Send" />
<EditText
android:id="#+id/message"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:inputType="text"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/Button" />
</RelativeLayout>
<ListView
android:id="#android:id/list"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_above="#id/InnerRelativeLayout" />
</RelativeLayout>

adding android:layout_above="#+id/InnerRelativeLayout" to your ListView.
RelativeLayout has 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.
For put your InnerRelativeLayout layout at Top add android:layout_alignParentTop="true" to your InnerRelativeLayout and remove android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
Update: set up your Layout like below:
<?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"
android:background="#color/Beige "
android:orientation="vertical" >
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/InnerRelativeLayout"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/Button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:onClick="addItems"
android:text="Send" >
</Button>
<EditText
android:id="#+id/message"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/Button"
android:hint="Enter text" >
</EditText>
</RelativeLayout>
<ListView
android:id="#+id/list"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/InnerRelativeLayout"
android:drawSelectorOnTop="false" />
</RelativeLayout>
Output:

use android:layout_above="#+id/InnerRelativeLayout" in your listview

Make the outer RelativeLayout into a LinearLayout with orientation vertical. Then, for the ListView set layout_height as 0dp and layout_weight as 1. The ListView will fill up all the remaining space in the LinearLayout without overlapping other views.
Also, stop using fill_parent, it's been deprecated and you should use match_parent instead.

Vertical RelativeLayout: how to achieve fixed header and footer and scrollable main area?

This is a layout I'm having problems with (this is for ListActivity):
<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="match_parent" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/path"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true" />
<ListView
android:id="#android:id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#id/path" />
<TextView
android:id="#android:id/empty"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#android:id/list" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/negative_button"
style="#style/Button"
android_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_below="#android:id/empty"
android:layout_weight="1" />
</RelativeLayout>
What happens right now is the list is below header TextView ("path") as it should be, the button is at the bottom also as it should be, but the ListView is not aligned between the header (textview) and footer (button). Instead, the button is simply slapped on top of listview. How can I fix that?

You need to define the footer and header before the list, try something like this:
<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="match_parent" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/path"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
<!-- to see the button, you must to declare its width/height here
and not (as I think you did) in the style.xml -->
<Button
android:id="#+id/negative_button"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
style="#style/Button"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" />
<!-- also layout_weight doesnot change anything in RelativeLayout -->
<ListView
android:id="#android:id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#id/path"
android:layout_above="#id/negative_button" />
<TextView
android:id="#android:id/empty"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#android:id/list" />
</RelativeLayout>

The TextView "empty" should not be below the TextView "empty".
If the Button must be at the bottom of the screen you can use
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
For the Button
Otherwise you can use this layout :
<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="match_parent" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/path"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true" />
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/container"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#id/path">
<ListView
android:id="#android:id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<TextView
android:id="#android:id/empty"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#android:id/list" />
</LinearLayout>
<Button
android:id="#+id/negative_button"
style="#style/Button"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#id/container" />
</RelativeLayout>
Or ever add the Button as a footer of you Listview :
mListView.addFooterView(mButton);
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/ListView.html#addFooterView(android.view.View)

The only things that you used are the ListView, the first TextView as a "top bar" and the Button as a "bottom bar", right? If it is the case, why did you keep the empty TextView?
Try to remove it and try this layout:
<?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" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/path"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<ListView
android:id="#android:id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1" />
<!-- work also with android:layout_height="0dip" -->
<Button
android:id="#+id/negative_button"
style="#style/Button"
android:layout_gravity="bottom"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
Saw on these questions, it might be help you:
1. Layout for ListView at top and Buttons in Bottom?
2. Android Layout with ListView between a "top bar" and "bottom bar"
3. Add a button in bottom of listview when the listview is empty (using ListActivity)
Hope this will be helpful and you'll have the expected result.

List and image in the same ScrollView

I'm trying to get an image and a list in the same 'scroll' (I don't know how else to put it). My basic (vertical) layout is:
TextView
ImageView
ListView
I'm trying to get the scrolling as if the image is a list item itself. So the textview has to stay in place at the top and everything else has to scroll under it.
At the moment I have the following code:
<?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:background="#color/background"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#color/app_purple"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/about_app_label"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:padding="15dp"
android:text="#string/about_app_label"
android:textColor="#color/background"
android:textSize="20dp"
android:textStyle="bold" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/app_logo"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:adjustViewBounds="true"
android:src="#drawable/logo" />
</LinearLayout>
<ListView
android:id="#+id/information_list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#color/background"
android:divider="#drawable/listdivider"
android:dividerHeight="1dp"
android:fadingEdge="none" >
<!-- Preview: listitem=#layout/row -->
</ListView>
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
EDIT
The custom row layout for the listView:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#color/listview"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="4dip" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/list_icon"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:adjustViewBounds="true"
android:layout_marginRight="5dp"
android:contentDescription="#string/icon_content_description" />
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/list_label"
android:layout_width="200dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:maxLines="1"
android:paddingBottom="5dp"
android:paddingTop="5dp"
android:textColor="#color/result_label"
android:textStyle="bold" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/list_count"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/list_label"
android:ellipsize="end"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:maxLines="1"
android:textColor="#color/text" />
</RelativeLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/list_result"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:textColor="#color/text"
android:textColorLink="#color/app_purple" />
<ProgressBar
android:id="#+id/list_progress"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:visibility="gone" />
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>

You would have a vertical LinearLayout holding the fixed TextView and the ListView. Your ImageView would be a header on the ListView, added via addHeaderView(). Headers, despite their name, scroll with the contents of the ListView.

to make custom list views you need to create a single_list_item.xml file to arrange everything you want to scroll for example the image with a description text next to it. Also you need to add a ListView on your Xml file so the program can process the view. And them, you can process everything on your java file using an adapter. and the the list will appear at the bottom of the text.
There is a great example of how to do it here

it's not clear what exactly are you trying to do. ScrolView can have only ONE child. so I guess you should put the ImageView and the Listview in a LinearLayout.
but any way - it's a bad idea to put a Listview inside a ScrollView - how would the OS now what are you trying to scroll? the ListItem or the whole list. if you can be more specific - I can try help more...