Develop Reference

Make button width equal DIFFERENT text width (not the button's text) on Android

Right now my Log In button is wider than my app name text because it uses fixed padding of the relative layout, but I want it to automatically widen to line up with the left and right edges of the app name text. Is there any way to programmatically do this?
I want it to look the same on all devices. I'm afraid that if I just hard-code my own margins, it will look right on my device, but might not look right on other devices if they render the fonts differently.
Thanks!
layout.xml:
<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"
android:animateLayoutChanges="true"
android:background="#drawable/back_image"
android:padding="20dp" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/AppNameTextView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="#dimen/margin_top"
android:fontFamily="Arial"
android:text="#string/app_title"
android:textColor="#color/white"
android:textSize="#dimen/text_size" />
<com.timey.widget.Button
android:id="#+id/signInButton"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="65dp"
android:background="#color/green"
android:fontFamily="Arial"
android:text="#string/sign_in"
android:textColor="#color/white"
android:textSize="30sp" />
</RelativeLayout>
Mockup with red dash lines illustrating how I want the sides of the app name to line up with the sides of my log-in button:

I am not entirely sure if this would help, but let me give it a try.
<?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:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/title"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text="App\nTitle" />
<Button
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignLeft="#id/title"
android:layout_alignRight="#id/title"
android:layout_below="#id/title"
android:text="Log In" />
</RelativeLayout>
However, the button would be just as wide as the textview, it may not be wide enough to display its own text.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
tools:context=".MainActivity" >
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/hello_world" />
<Button
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Button2" />
</LinearLayout>
The first button will take as much space it will need. Then the next button(or what ever your case) will take as much space as it's parent (linear layout) will take which on the other side will wrap the content i.e. the width of first button. So both the buttons will take same width. You can use this to any other components.
Update1
Key to the success
1. A container with wrap_content
2. First component should have wrap_content
3. Second component should have match_content
Update2
for RelativeLayout use layout_alignLeft="#+id/button1" and layout_alignRight="#+id/button1"
It will align to the left and right of the first component i.e. button1 here.

Using RelativeLayout, LinearLayout and layout_weight at the same time - weird behaviour

I've got an activity layout specified in an XML file - activity_intro.xml - and I'm trying to create another one that is similar but slightly different - that's going to be activity_instructions.xml.
The Intro activity has a 9patch image at the bottom of the screen that is supposed to stay there and only adjust to different widths of the screens.
The Instructions activity is supposed to contain the same image but above 2 more buttons - all three of these views need to be always located at the bottom of the screen.
activity_intro.xml:
<?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="vertical" >
<ScrollView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#drawable/home_background" >
<LinearLayout
style="#style/Activity"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/introAnimationImageView"
android:layout_width="152dip"
android:layout_height="176dip"
android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
android:contentDescription="#string/intro_animation_content_description"
android:src="#drawable/animation_intro01" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/introTextViewTitle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/intro_title"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/introTextViewSubtitle"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/intro_subtitle"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/introButtonLoginSignup"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:text="#string/intro_button_label_login_signup" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/introButtonInstructions"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/introButtonLoginSignup"
android:text="#string/intro_button_label_instructions" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/introButtonReportAnonymously"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/introButtonLoginSignup"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text="#string/intro_button_label_report_anonymously" />
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0"
android:contentDescription="#null"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
android:src="#drawable/footer_cityscape" />
</LinearLayout>
Result:
Since I've got working code for Intro, I wanted to make Instructions follow its example but the layout_weight property isn't behaving as expected. First of all, I was only trying to put in the 2 buttons and leave out the image:
<?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="vertical" >
<ScrollView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_weight="0.1"
android:background="#drawable/home_background" >
<LinearLayout
style="#style/Activity"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/instructionsTextViewTitle"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:text="#string/instructions_title_1"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
android:textStyle="bold" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/instructionsImageView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:contentDescription="#string/instructions_image_content_description"
android:src="#drawable/forms" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/instructionsTextViewDescription"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/instructions_description_1"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/instructionsButtonPrevious"
style="#style/ButtonPrevious"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:text="#string/instructions_button_label_previous" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/instructionsButtonNext"
style="#style/ButtonNext"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:text="#string/instructions_button_label_next" />
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
This only worked when I set the layout_weight of the bottom RelativeLayout to 1 (instead of 0) and for the ScrollView 0.1 (instead of 1). If I used the original values the RelativeLayout would take up all the screen. Could anyone explain to me why that is?
I also tried googling the issue and noticed people would suggest to set layout_height to 0dip which I tried but it also didn't work as expected.
Secondly, I tried adding the already mentioned ImageView to the bottom RelativeLayout. This, however, basically displays only the ImageView and not the buttons - or one of the buttons is on top of the image (hiding it). Why is that? Don't I specifically set the buttons to be placed below it?
What should the code look like in order for it to be doing what I expect it?
Further explanation:
Below are images that should help indicate what exactly I want to achieve. The green bits are the ScrollViews - I added them because Android devices tend to have diverse screen sizes. Their purpose is to present the content properly independently of the screen size, i.e. if the screen is small, the user will be able to scroll that part to read the entire text and view the image.
The red bit on the left (Intro) shows the ImageView that is supposed to always be at the bottom of the screen; it'll always be there, visible, and it's the green bit above it that will be movable.
If you take a look at the red bit on the right (Instructions), there's a Next button that's covering the image with the lorry/truck that was visible in the Intro screenshot. Now that's wrong - there should be 2 buttons BELOW the image, as seen on the last screenshot (the 2 blue rectangles).

Designing simple android layout?

I'm having a little trouble laying out my android app. I didn't plan it out very well, and i'm not new to java, but im new to these android xml layouts. What i have is a horizontal linear layout parent, which contains two relative layouts. The right relative layout consists of a custom view (GridView) and under it i want 3 buttons. I've added one button (button1) to my xml file and it won't show up on screen as you can see. I'm thinking i need to set the size of my gridview some how? Its height is 2x its width. Or can i set it by pixels programatically at runtime?
I'm also thinking i sort of over complicated things at this point. Like i said i'm new to these weird layouts, im used to just using x and y offsets in .net. Maybe this could all be done in one relative layout instead of using two and nesting them inside a linear layout?
Here's what i got so far:
<?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" >
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:text="#string/next" />
<com.mydomain.tetrisv2.PreviewGridView
android:id="#+id/previewGridView1"
android:layout_width="100dp"
android:layout_height="150dp"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView1" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/previewGridView1"
android:text="Score: " />
</RelativeLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent" >
<com.mydomain.tetrisv2.GridView
android:id="#+id/gridView1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginBottom="50dp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/gridView1"
android:text="Button" />
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
I can't post images but heres the visual result: http://i50.tinypic.com/orscgi.png
Also side note (unrelated), this is a project for experimentation and learning purposes but are there any legal copyright repercussions to making a tetris game and putting it on the play store?

Just change our right sides gridview's below button to this code
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" // change is here
android:text="Button" />
Hope this will help you..

Margin dp unit not scale layout correctly in differents screens

I have simple tableLayout which show the problem with independent unit dp.
I suppose that with dp unit in my layout_margin attribute - layout will be resized without problem on any device.
<TableLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_margin="40dp"
>
<TableRow android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView
android:text="#string/start_login_username"
android:id="#+id/start_login_username"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
/>
<EditText
android:id="#+id/start_login_EditTxt1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:inputType="textEmailAddress"
/>
</TableRow>
<TableRow android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView
android:text="#string/start_login_password"
android:id="#+id/start_login_password"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
</TextView>
<EditText
android:id="#+id/start_login_EditTxt2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:inputType="textPassword"
/>
</TableRow>
<TableRow android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<Button android:text="#string/start_login_cancel"
android:id="#+id/start_login_cancel"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
>
</Button>
<Button
android:text="#string/start_login_login"
android:id="#+id/start_login_ButtonLogin"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
>
</Button>
</TableRow>
</TableLayout>
But, testing this layout, we can see that dp is not so independent in layout margin .
Here the screenshot in Samsung Nexus(Good scale):
Here the screenshot in LG Optimus GT 540(Bad scale):
Im looking the similar threads in StackOverflow, and possible solution, to have correct scale on any screen is:
Not use margin and padding at all, but use always tableLayout and add
moc Views with some weight, to add space between Views(not good because of
pollution of xml layouts. Anyway, its looks promising ).
Make my own calculation of independent unit, and rescale all programmatically (not good for me because I have all in xml's)
Use different layouts for differents screens (not good because Im too lazy to recreate the layout for each my view and supporting them)
Questions:
How can I solve the problem with scaling of my layout for all screens using the same layout ?
How I can make margin works correct on my screens ?
What you think about my two solutions. This is good practice ? (specially first one) ?
Thanks

Simply use linearlayout with weight attributes, remember to set width="0dp" if it is the width you want to be automatically adjusted.
Your xml should be something like this:
<?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"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<TextView
android:text="Your name"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<EditText
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:minWidth="80dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>

Buttons in LinearLayout issue

I have a custom dialog which has 3 buttons and sometimes it has one button only. When I have 3 buttons, the LinearLayout fits those buttons well in itself. But when I have just one button, it gives the whole width available to a single button making that button look too big. I want that, if there's only one button, it should only take half the the complete width available or should wrap content (Button image.) See following images for reference-

Refer this XML file which is similar to your requirement. Just visibility to gone to not required button.
<?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" android:weightSum="3" android:gravity="center_horizontal">
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Button"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Button" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button3"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Button"/>
</LinearLayout>

In order to have one button take up half the available screen width you need to
set android:weightSum="2" in the parent LinearLayout
set android:layout_weight="1" in the Button