button placement in a linear layout - android

I have a linear layout with several buttons in it. The button images are all the same size and have the same attributes... except for one button. This one button has a smaller font size. All the buttons except for this one are in a perfect line exactly the way I want. For some reason, the button with the smaller font appears a little lower on the screen than the other buttons. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of a button that requires less space taking up additional space.
Might someone give me a hint on what to read up on?
EDIT
Here's main.xml (seems like SO filters some of it, all the important stuff is here...)
<ScrollView android:id="#+id/scroll"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="300px">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/the_text_view"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:typeface="monospace"
android:textSize="9pt"
android:background="#color/paper"
android:paddingLeft="20dp"
android:paddingBottom="20dp"
android:textColor="#color/type"
/>
</ScrollView>
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="Y"
android:text="Y"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="N"
android:text="N"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="E"
android:text="E"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="W"
android:text="W"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="S"
android:text="S"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="F"
android:text="F"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="R"
android:text="R"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="M"
android:text="M"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="T"
android:text="T"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:onClick="onEnterButtonClicked"
android:textSize="6pt"
android:text="RE-\nTURN"
/>
<Button style="#style/ASR33_button"
android:tag="U"
android:text="U"
/>
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/instructions"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:textSize="9pt"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:typeface="normal"
android:text="Commands: (Y)es, (N)o, (N)orth, (E)ast, (W)est, (S)outh, (M)ap, (ST)atus, (Fight), (R)un, (SU)icide. All commands must be followed by RETURN."
/>
</LinearLayout>
The one that's wonky is the 2nd from the bottom, with the different onclick event. The style has 11pt for the character size. If I use it (and a 1 letter button name, like the others) it behaves. But that's not what the ASR33 'enter' key has on it. So if I reduce the font size to say 6 pt, the weirdness happens.
The style can be seen here.
Again, just reading references or ideas please, I can figure it out if I have a word or two to search on. It's hard to know what you don't know...
RESOLUTION
Anurag has it right, see his answer below. Here's an excerpt of the updated LinearLayout:
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:baselineAligned="false">

maybe the re sizing has happened due to the wrap_content property of your button. so what you should do is have a fixed height to the linear layout holding all the buttons while its with is set to fill parents.
and inside the linear layout let individual buttons have height set to wrap content which will give all the buttons the same height as that of the linear layout and also set the attribute android:adjustViewBounds="true" for the small button. this attribute will resize your image button to maintain the aspect ratio. i hope this helps.
EDIT:
So here is the solution to your problem, something that was caused due to the base alignment property of the linear layout. A horizontal LinearLayout aligns the baselines of all its child controls by default. So the first line of text in your multi-line button is vertically aligned with the single line of text in the other buttons. set android:baselineAligned="false" on the LinearLayout. This worked perfectly on my HTC.

Related

Android UI: Size 2 view?

Good day everyone, currently i'm trying to make my first Android app, and then the first thing i realized, that idiotic XML UI designing.
I have this 2 view (button) and i'd like to make them so the first one fill the half of the parent (RelativeLayout) and the second one fills the other half of the parent...
My Code is:
<Button
android:id="#+id/Top1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/Top2"
android:text="top1"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/Top2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/Top1"
android:text="TOP2"/>
The problem, that i'm get this error:
"No resource found that matches the given name (at 'layout_toLeftOf' with value '#id/Top2')."
It seems, that not even Android want to use XML.
Like an old C program where if a method is written below the call, it will give an error...
So i have 2 question:
1: How to solve this problem in the XML?
2: Or can i avoid this XML designing, and use code-like design like in C# ?
There are a few ways you can go about this and I provided you with two ways to have buttons aligned side by side.:
Use a LinearLayout with orientation set as horizontal
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:id="#+id/btn_container">
<Button
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Left Button"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:id="#+id/btn_left" />
<Button
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Right Button"
android:id="#+id/btn_right" />
</LinearLayout>
Use a RelativeLayout and an extra View to align your buttons.
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<View
android:id="#+id/strut"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_left"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignRight="#id/strut"
android:text="Left Button" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/btn_right"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignLeft="#id/strut"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:text="Right Button" />
</RelativeLayout>
You are correct, Top2 needs to be defined first in the XML before you can refer to it. That being said, if all you are doing is putting 2 buttons next to each other and have them fill the parent, you should consider using a LinearLayout. Order is important there, too: for horizontal orientation the children are laid out left to right, for vertical they are laid out top to bottom.

Android: centering buttons with percent width

I have in my Android app a fairly simple Activity that displays three buttons, each launching a different Activity. Currently, I use a RelativeLayout to center the middle button both horizontally and vertically, then place the top and bottom buttons 30dp off the middle one (and also horizontally centered).
What I'd like to do, however, is make the buttons stretch to be a certain percentage of the screen width. I can't figure out how to do this and keep the buttons centered. Is there a good object I can use as a "filler" in a LinearLayout on either side of the buttons (so I could just set the weights)? Or is there a way to do this that doesn't involve a LinearLayout?
The XML for the layout as it stands is:
<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" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_above="#+id/button2"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginBottom="30dp"
android:onClick="button1Callback"
android:text="#string/button1Label" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:onClick="button2Callback"
android:text="#string/button2Label" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button3"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/button2"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="30dp"
android:text="#string/button3Label" />
</RelativeLayout>
Sure. View or Frame both work.
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<View android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="60" />
<Button android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="20" />
<View android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_weight="20" />
</LinearLayout>
works fine as a spacer and seems to be utterly harmless as far as I can tell. I use this quite a bit in my app (although honestly, most of my buttons are fixed-width).
At one point I actually wrote a custom view with proportional layout. But in the end I ended up not using it at all. In almost all cases you can get equivalent proportional layout with judiciously applied weights in a linear layout.

Android - can't get header layout to lign up

I have this header:
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:padding="5dip">
<Button android:id="#+id/home"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Home"
/>
<Button android:id="#+id/questions"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="My Questions"
/>
<Button android:id="#+id/questions"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Questions"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/home" />
<Button android:id="#+id/businesses"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Businesses"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/businesses"
/>
<Button android:id="#+id/learn"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Learn"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/learn"
/>
<Button android:id="#+id/extra_help"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Help"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/learn"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
and for some reason, the buttons display 50% on top of each other all bunched up, each covering half of the other.
Any idea what is wrong with my layout?
Thanks!
You are using a relative layout, you need to manage both horizontal and vertical alignment. For example, all the android:layout_toRightOf are used for horizontal positioning, you need to also add attributes to handle the vertical positioning.
All the possible attributes are found here:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.html
UPDATE
Seeing your comments below, it seems you just want to have one horizontal row. In that case, just make sure each is aligned to the previous one(But then why not use a linear layout?)
Check your id's though, and #+id/learn is aligned to the right of itself. Revisit that. And you also have a button right after "Home" that isn't handled at all.

LinearLayout text wrap problem when having two buttons of same size plus one stretched in the center

Looks like there's a plenty of questions about centering, same size etc, but so far I didn't find the exactly my case so I dare to ask :)
What I need is a layout of three buttons like this:
[ previous ][*select*] [ next ]
where [previous] and [next] buttons are of the same size (i.e. in this case, size of the [previous] button as it is bigger), and the [*select*] button should stretch to occupy all of the available width.
Following the hints of making two buttons in LinearLayout same sized, i came up with the following xml file:
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/button_bar"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<Button
android:layout_width="0dip"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Previous" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="2"
android:text="Select" />
<Button
android:layout_width="0dip"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Next" />
</LinearLayout>
This almost works :)
Except one thing: instead of making Next button to match the size of Previous button, android makes Previous button to be the size of the Next :)
And because of this the text "Previous" gets wrapped in two lines, like
Previ
ous
Dunno if this is a bug or not, but can you advice me a workaround or some another way to achive the desired layout?
Thank you!
I'd suggest using a RelativeLayout
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/buttons"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:clickable="false">
<Button
android:id="#+id/previous"
android:layout_width="30dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Previous"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/next"
android:layout_width="30dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Next"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"/>
<Button
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Select"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/previous"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/next" />
</RelativeLayout>
This should work.
If you are including "android:layout_weight" you should give either "android:layout_width" or "android:layout_height" as "fill_parent"
modify your code like this
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/button_bar"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<Button
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="2"
android:text="Previous" />
<Button
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1.5"
android:text="Select" />
<Button
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="2"
android:text="Next" />
In that sort of case I would go for a TableLayout, in which you have one row, and a weight of 1 for EACH button. and the stretchColumn attribute put to column 1. Does this make any difference?
I'm not sure if you can match a size to some other besides by doing this in code. The easiest solution is probably adjusting the previous and next button widths in dp/sp units until they look good and have the select button be the only one with the layout_weight attribute.

Making EditText and Button same height in Android

I have an EditText and a Button in my LinearLayout and I want to align them closely together so they see seem to belong together (edittext + micButton for speech input).
Now they don't have the same height and they aren't really aligned well (Button seems to be a little lower than the EditText). I know I can apply a negative margin like -5dp to make them come closer together, but is there perhaps a better way to do this?
Set them in a specific container/layout so that they will automatically have the same height and no margin between them?
Using relative layout you can stretch a view depending upon another views size without knowing the exact size of the other view.
Here is the code :
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
>
<Button
android:layout_width="100dp"
android:layout_height="100dp"
android:text="button"
android:id="#+id/but"/>
<EditText
android:layout_width="100dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/but"
android:layout_alignBottom="#id/but"
android:layout_alignTop="#id/but"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
Check this link for reducing space between views :
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/android-developers/RNfAxbqbTIk
Hmm, don't know why people bother so much with tables. Since the both Views are within a LinearLayout (presumable orientation=Horizontal), this command should center both within the layout:
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<EditText
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_vertical" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center_vertical" />
</LinearLayout>
Note: Since EditTexts and Buttons may orient their text slightly differently, you may have to do some tweaking (by changing margins or padding) to get the text to align properly.
I hope this solution might help for your scenario...Here is the code..
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/rlLayout"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="3dp" >
<EditText
android:id="#+id/etId"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="50dip"
android:background="#c8c8c8"
android:hint="Edittext"
android:paddingLeft="20dip"
android:paddingRight="10dip"
android:textColor="#000000" />
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/rlLayoutid"
android:layout_width="50dp"
android:layout_height="50dp"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/etId" >
<Button
android:layout_width="30dp"
android:layout_height="30dp"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_marginRight="14dp"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:background="#drawable/calender" />
</RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
# Daniel Here You can use layout weight and weight sum
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:gravity="center"
android:weight_sum=2
>
<Button
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight=1
android:text="button"
android:id="#+id/but"/>
<EditText
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_weight=1
/>
</LinearLayout>
Android tries to automatically level everything off of the text and not the buttons themselves.
Took me forever to finally figure it out. Its really simple. Should fix it.
myButton.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL);
or if they are in a row.. attach the buttons to a table row, then.
myTableRow.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL);

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