Develop Reference

Android ListView items: image and text too small

I'm working on a ListView where each item has an image and some text. On my older phone, HTC Evo 4G, things came up exactly as expected. Image is nicely sized and text looks fine. Then I loaded the same app on my new phone, HTC One, and the images are so tiny they are useless. I know the HTC One has a significantly higher resolution, but I cannot figure out how to make each item in the ListView larger.
I'm not sure what to post, but I think the layout xml files are the issue.
Here's activity_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="vertical">
<LinearLayout android:id="#+id/LinearLayout01"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:layout_marginTop="2dip" android:background="#669900">
<!--
Use layout_weight to stretch the EditText and compress the button.
To avoid text wrap, the editable text is forced to occupy only one
line
-->
<EditText android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:typeface="normal"
android:layout_weight="1" android:lines="1" android:ellipsize="middle"
android:hint="#string/hint" android:id="#+id/search_key" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:maxLines="1"></EditText>
<ImageButton android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:src="#drawable/ic_menu_search" android:adjustViewBounds="true"
android:layout_weight="0" android:id="#+id/btn_ok" android:layout_height="wrap_content"></ImageButton>
</LinearLayout>
<TextView android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:id="#+id/tweet_header"
android:gravity="right" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:paddingRight="4dp"
android:background="#99cc33" android:textColor="#000000" android:textSize="21dp"></TextView>
<ListView android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:id="#+id/tweet_list"></ListView>
</LinearLayout>
And the ListView is made up of this item.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/itemImage"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="15dp"
android:scaleType="fitCenter"
android:src="#drawable/ic_launcher" />
<TextView
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/created_at"
android:text="now"
android:textSize="10sp"
android:layout_below="#id/itemImage"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:textStyle="italic"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"></TextView>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/itemURL"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:text="itemURL"
android:visibility="invisible" />
</RelativeLayout>
So the app does this: It taps ebay for car data and presents the search results as line 1 with a picture, line 2 with the ebay item title. A hidden value is the URL so users can tap the ListView line and launch a web browser.

Looks like the wrap_content setting for the ImageView's layout_width and layout_height are the issue. When I switched that to numerical values, suddenly I saw it change size. Finally setting it to 100dp made the images viewable.
As an aside, I had a terrible time with ADS and the emulator. It consistently failed to re-load my updated app. Often complaining about the Package Manager and suggesting the some process was running. I little idea what was running and how to fix it. When I switched to loading the app straight to the phone, then it worked fine.
So, I think now I need to create a system that is proportional, and takes in to consideration the displaying devices resolution.

Problem is the Relative Layout width being wrap_content. Try changing that to match parent. then you would not have to go thru this ordeal

Android: Making EditText similar to Chrome's URL box

I'm making chatting application for my school's assignment.
In my opinion, the default EditText in Android does not looks good. I want to make it looks like the URL box in Android's Chrome:
I have seen this design used in other applications such as Catch Notes (which looks beautiful).
So, is there any built-in option to change the EditText or we must draw it from scratch? Can anyone give link? I tried googling it, but I don't know the correct term
Thanks

you can achieving this by doing edittext background transparent.
so put your image in background of your layout and take a edittext inside this. and make edittext transpernt..
or
try this
<EditText
android:id="#+id/tracknumbertxt"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="30dp"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:layout_marginLeft="15dp"
android:layout_marginRight="15dp"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/info"
android:background="#drawable/enter_tracking_no"
android:ems="10"
android:hint="Enter Tracking No."
android:paddingLeft="30dp"
android:inputType="text"
android:imeOptions="actionGo"
android:singleLine="true" >
</EditText>
here i have assign padding left..
so as per your design you have to set paddingRight property instead of paddingLeft..

Blindly use below layout style..
You will have your layout ready. Just replace the button backgrounds and your are done.
<?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="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:background="#android:color/darker_gray"
android:padding="5dip"
android:gravity="center">
<LinearLayout android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#android:color/white"
android:gravity="center"
android:padding="5dip">
<EditText android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:hint="Type URL"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"/>
<Button android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Refresh"/>
</LinearLayout>
<Button android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="btn1"/>
<Button android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="btn2"/>
</LinearLayout>

There is nothing native to the SDK that can make it look like that. (maybe if you restrict use to only a certain version of the OS, then you can use that version's default styling, but isn't really a viable solution)
You will need to create an image to use as a background for the EditText to make it look how you want. The best options for text boxes and things like that are to either use a 9-patch image, or to create a layer-list XML file and describe your design that way. Either way, the file would go in the res/drawable folder in the project and you would set it as the background like so:
<EditText android:id="#+id/et_whatever"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
background="#drawable/YOUR_FILE_NAME" />

Android random user interface behavior

Okay I have a full week of frustration behind me, it is the third time that the layout behaves random.
For example:
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tvGebiedHead"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="18dp"
android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
android:text="Geef gebied op"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />
<ListView
android:id="#+id/lvGebieden"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView1" >
</ListView>
produces a result where the listview is displayed on top of the textview (making both items unreadable). The code down here produces the desired result, the listview is rendered under the textview. It is not the eclipse graphical editor, but it happens on a real phone as well. Note that the only difference between the two snippets is the id of the TextView.
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="#+id/RelativeLayout1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="18dp"
android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
android:text="Geef gebied op"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />
<ListView
android:id="#+id/lvGebieden"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView1" >
</ListView>
Earlier this week I had a fight with the layout of four togglebuttons which (all!!) changed size, text align on the button, and even location when I clicked one, while the on and off text was exactly the same. Please tell me I am doing something wrong and android is not broken.

In the example on the top, your ListView's layout_below still refers to #id/textView1 which doesn't exist. It does, however, in your example at the bottom, so the bottom is working. FYI, instead of #+id/textView1 you should use #id\textView1 in the layout_below.

Android UI editor/display bug

While developing an Android application I have stumbled upon a baffling problem. The UI element I am creating is a header bar that has a custom search field. Everything looks wonderful on the Android UI editor but the second I use the emulator or a device it bugs out and compresses the magnifying glass image and clips the edit text. I have tried a number of things including changing the background image of the search area to the custom search field that is currently in the parent LinearLayout. This however results in the search field size growing out of control.
Any suggestions are welcome.
My questions are:
1) How would one fix this problem while maintaining the look of the search area?
2) Why is this problem occurring?
Confirmed on the following devices:
Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4.0.2
Motorola Zoom 4.0.3
Nexus S 2.3.7
This is a screenshot of the UI editor:
This is a screenshot of what it looks like on all devices tested:
The XML used to generate these UI elements:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/header"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/title_bar_matte"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_margin="10dp"
android:layout_weight="1.0"
android:background="#drawable/search_field"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_marginLeft="15dp"
android:src="#drawable/magnifying_glass" />
<EditText
android:id="#+id/campus_map_acitivity_search"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
android:layout_weight="1.0"
android:background="#0FFF"
android:hint="Search"
android:imeOptions="actionSearch"
android:singleLine="true" />
</LinearLayout>
<Button
android:id="#+id/campus_map_activity_goto_list"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="5dp"
android:background="#drawable/button_list" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/campus_map_activity_my_location"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="5dp"
android:layout_marginRight="5dp"
android:background="#drawable/button_location" />
</LinearLayout>

Just figured out the problem. The search background image had the top and left sides set to 9-patch scale. This is all good and well but we had forgotten to set the bottom and right fill areas so that the content would have room to exist.
http://radleymarx.com/blog/simple-guide-to-9-patch/
Remember to set the fill areas!
It turns out the Android UI editor does not handle 9-patch images like the devices. That seems to be a bug to me.

Button text appears vertical

My project was working fine, when suddenly the text on my buttons was being displayed vertically. By which I mean instead of map_infobutton displaying
Info
it was displaying
I
n
with the f and o beyond the bounds of the button, even though I have specified height=wrap_content in the TableLayout containing the buttons.
It appears fine in the Layout tab in eclipse, and only appears vertical in the emulator (not tried on target hardware)
getPaddingLeft for one of the buttons returns 11 at various points in the code. Not sure where it gets that from, but the spacing looks bigger than that anyway. I did have three buttons and took one away, but the problem existed with both two and three buttons.
My layout is:
<?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">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/map_header"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:paddingTop="8px"
android:paddingBottom="8px"
android:gravity="center"
android:textColor="#color/header_foreground"
android:background="#color/header_background"
android:text="#string/map_header"/>
<TableLayout
android:id="#+id/map_footer"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:paddingTop="4px"
android:paddingLeft="2px"
android:paddingRight="2px"
android:stretchColumns="*"
android:textColor="#color/footer_foreground"
android:background="#color/footer_background">
<TableRow>
<Button
android:id="#+id/map_infobutton"
android:layout_width="0px"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="#string/map_infobutton" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/map_selectbutton"
android:layout_width="0px"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="#string/map_selectbutton" />
</TableRow>
</TableLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/map_selectiondetails"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_above="#id/map_footer"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:gravity="center"
android:textColor="#color/main_foreground"
android:background="#color/main_background" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/map_selectionname"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingRight="4px"
android:textColor="#color/main_foreground"
android:background="#color/main_background"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/map_selectiondistance"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingLeft="4px"
android:paddingRight="4px"
android:textColor="#color/main_foreground"
android:background="#color/main_background"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/map_selectionvar1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingLeft="4px"
android:paddingRight="4px"
android:textColor="#color/main_foreground"
android:background="#color/main_background"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/map_selectionvar2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingLeft="4px"
android:paddingRight="4px"
android:textColor="#color/main_foreground"
android:background="#color/main_background"/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/map_selectionvar3"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:paddingLeft="4px"
android:textColor="#color/main_foreground"
android:background="#color/main_background"/>
</LinearLayout>
<SurfaceView
android:id="#+id/map_map"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_above="#id/map_selectiondetails"
android:layout_below="#id/map_header"
android:clickable="true"/>
</RelativeLayout>
Any ideas? Also if you have any comments on how I'm creating the layout, as I'm new to this and it seems like there are a lot of options available, but I'm trying to make it as simple as possible.

I had a similar problem.
I see that you have multiple buttons that you want to have the same width, so you specify the button's width as "0px" and the weight as "1". This is exactly what I did.
When I set the button text within the XML file, things look fine. However, I have one button that changes is text depending on whether a process is running or not. In my case, it is similar to the situation where a button toggles from "Start..." to "Stop..." After the text changes, it prints vertically and only the top one or two letters of each button are shown.
After reading your post, it occurred to me that, perhaps, the text was being set before the button width had been determined, and then not updated once the button width changes according to the "weight".
I modified it such that in each button, it now reads:
android:layout_width="fill_parent" instead of "0px"
In theory, this should have the same effect. However, in practice, the button width is adjusted before the text is updated. The behaviour is now correct.
Rob