Develop Reference

xPlace EditText over fixed points on background image for different resulution

I'm building layers in Android, for that I'm loading an background image into ImageView with a small mini black boxes drawn over it, like placeholders.
I was wonder how can I set some EditText over those small mini points on the image,you cant see them but suppose I have to black box'x over the bg image and I want to place over them my text1,text2. I tried using RelativeLayout and using fixed padding but when changing the screen size or orientation it get messy, I read that the best thing is to place them on run time by checking the screen resolution and calculating the right sizes for each EditText, but it is to much work I think.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<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" >
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/background_layout"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/bg"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:background="#drawable/bg" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/text1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textStyle="bold"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/text2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textStyle="bold"/>
</RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
This is the Image, and I want to put some text on the black boxes of the result and the team.
What options do I have?

There is lot of device size variation in Android you can't get perfection by doing this, I would recommend you to use plain background of image and take that small mini boxes as different image and set it as a EditText background.
other wise you have to manually set the padding and margin for every devices in which you getting differences.
I hope this will help you.

custom notification layout doesn't cover the whole width

i am trying to create a custom layout of NotificationManager , here is my layout file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/layoutnotification"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:padding="3dp"
android:background="#color/btn_bg_blue">
<ImageView android:id="#+id/image"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_height= "50dp"
android:layout_width= "50dp"
/>
<TextView android:id="#+id/title"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/image"
style="#style/NotificationTitle" />
<TextView android:id="#+id/text"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/image"
android:layout_below="#id/title"
style="#style/NotificationText" />
</RelativeLayout>
currently the notification appears as follow , but the problem is the notification layout doesn't cover the whole width (on right side) even though i have set layout_width to fill_parent so i want the blue color covers the whole width.

Remove android:padding="3dp". It's pushing the background color 3 pixels inward. If you need those three pixels, replace it with android:layout_marginRight="3dp".

If you remove all the paddings and margins in your layout elements, i guess there's still possibility that you can see this gap. I've noticed this sometimes on my HTC Desire too. However, I've also noticed that if I highlight and then unhighlight the event with trackball (available in Desire) or with navigation keys, the gap suddenly goes away. I can't tell you why this behavior is, but it is something I've experienced in notification bar too.
Just highlight and then unhighlight your notification and see if there's any difference.

I saw many custom notification layouts, some they solve this problem by using transparent background, some they do the same gap in the left by padding to make it center. I don't believe there is a solution for it. Good luck

I was also facing the same problem but now its fixed. Just check your app on real device of android 2.3.
good luck :)

Android Image Button Layout

Could someone please explain how android uses image button sizes? I seem to be getting odd behavior with my buttons.
I have the following code as an example. I have two buttons that sit at the bottom of my layout. These buttons share 50% of the total width as they sit side-by-side.
Within Abode PS, the two images (used for these two buttons) are actually 2" x 38" or 495x94 pixels. This size is of course larger than the available space in the layout.
I am using edge effects on my buttons to give them definition. Android is cutting the edges off my buttons in order to center then in the available layout space.
This particular layout that I am working on will only allow vertical orientation, in case that helps.
Thank you.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/scrollView1"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/layout"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" >
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/ImageButton1"
android:layout_width="0dip"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="1dip"
android:layout_marginRight="1dip"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#FF000000"
android:src="#drawable/map4" >
</ImageButton>
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/ImageButton3"
android:layout_width="0dip"
android:layout_marginRight="1dip"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#FF000000"
android:src="#drawable/buy"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="1dip">
</ImageButton>
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

Try using an ImageView and android:scaleType:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/ImageView.html#attr_android:scaleType
Experiment the values available to see what is the best combination!
Then add a listener to behave like a button...

try use the button and make it with empty text after this set the background .
or :
use the image button and put the source and the background the same image to get button exactly like the image
**you can use the selector to make some beauty for application buttons
Google it it's easy to use ;)

ImageViews inside of RelativeLayout, that is nested inside of a LinearLayout

My goal is to display 6 images (1 image, 6 times) across one line on my screen. My approach was to nest a RelativeLayout inside of a LinearLayout. My issue is that when I'm in 'portrait' mode, I cannot see all of my images. The more I resize my image, the more of the images I can fit, But I'm at a point where I do not want it to be any smaller. I assumed that by default, it would just wrap what it can't fit, but that doesnt seem to be the case. Theres no auto re-size to fit? Also, how can I manually decide how much space is between each image? Thanks!

Basically, you need to provide two different xml files for your app, one for portrait, once for landscape as per: Providing Resources. android will pick the proper xml file based on orientation.
and this ImageView.ScaleType explains the different scaling styles
Here is what I would suggest:
res/layout-land/main.xml
<?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="horizontal">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/debris_view"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:scaleType="fitCenter"
android:weight="1"
android:src="#drawable/image1"
</ImageView
... repeat 5 more times ...
</LinearLayout>
the weight element should make them all fit but there might be a conflict with scaleType. anyway that should do it for your landscape, for portrait, you could either make it so there were two rows of images, or you could use a horizontalScrollView as below:
res/layout-port/main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<HorizontalScrollView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="horizontal">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/debris_view"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:scaleType="fitCenter"
android:weight="1"
android:padding="15dp"
android:src="#drawable/image1"
</ImageView
... repeat 5 more times ...
</LinearLayout>
</HorizontalScrollView>
really, you could prolly just use the portrait main.xml as your only layout file and just have it be horizontally scrolling regardless of orientation. you might need to change some times in the portrait main.xml as i am at work and im not sure how well weight works with horizontalScrollView
as far as the space between each element, you would use android:padding like i have above.

How to set the absolute position of an image or button so that it is consistent across multiple screen sizes?

After searching for a few hours, I was unable to find the exact answer to my situation. I'm currently using a RelativeLayout and all I have is a background image and a button. The problem I'm having is placing the button in the exact location I want it to be (a little offset from the center).
My first attempt was to modify the layout_margins of the button. While this worked for the current emulator I was working with (3.7in WVGA), the positioning of the button was slightly/way off for a different screen size (such as 3.2in HVGA).
I then attempted to modify the padding of the parent layout but got the same issue. My XML looks like this:
<?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:paddingLeft="98dip" android:paddingBottom="68dip" android:background="#drawable/background">
<Button android:id="#+id/starttimer"
android:background="#drawable/button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:clickable="true" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"/>
</RelativeLayout>
Please let me know if I'm completely off with my approach. It seems like an extremely simple problem, and I'm bummed out that it's taken me so long to try to get it. Thanks for any help!

I take it that you want to center the button on the bottom of the parent with a little offset, try layout_centerHorizontal then add your preferred margin.
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:paddingLeft="98dip" android:paddingBottom="68dip" android:background="#drawable/background">
<Button android:id="#+id/starttimer"
android:background="#drawable/button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:clickable="true" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" android_marginLeft="5dp"/>
</RelativeLayout>

Absolute Layout is used for absolute positions of the control.