Develop Reference

TextView showing very small in the screen

In my app I have the following layout, and no matter what value I give the textview doesn't change its width. Can someone please help me in correcting this layout.
Here is the XML code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TableLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="?android:attr/listPreferredItemHeight"
android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
android:descendantFocusability="blocksDescendants" >
<TableRow
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:gravity="center_horizontal" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/rec_name"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/fill_rece"
android:ems="10"
android:focusable="false"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/btn_rec_delete"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:contentDescription="#string/content"
android:src="#drawable/ipad_postcare_landscape_from" />
</TableRow>
</TableLayout>
I also get a warning near TableRow saying "This TableRow layout or its TableLayout parent is useless". Please guide me.
Thanks in advance.

Try this one Insted of table use Linear Layout with and set LAYOUT_WEIGHT property. This property shares the equal amount of space for text view and image button
<?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"
>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/rec_name"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:background="#drawable/fill_rece"
android:focusable="false"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />
<ImageButton
android:id="#+id/btn_rec_delete"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:contentDescription="#string/content"
android:src="#drawable/ipad_postcare_landscape_from" />
</LinearLayout>

try this....,you can add android:textSize="some value" which you want t o give
<TextView
android:id="#+id/rec_name"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:focusable="false"
android:padding="10dp"
android:text="hllo"
android:textSize="25dp" />

You might need to use
android:layout_weight
I am mentioning one example for your help, also make sure your every element has height and weight with it, to display everything correctly
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:background="#drawable/layout_border"
android:weightSum="1.0"
android:id="#+id/r1c1r2">
<TextView
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0.5"
android:textIsSelectable="true"
android:id="#+id/key"/>
<TextView
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0.5"
android:textIsSelectable="true"
android:id="#+id/key2" />
</LinearLayout>

Give the textsize using:
android:textSize="some value"

try to give size according to your requirement you have the width of the table row and textview set as match_parent hence it(textview) can't change it's size.
android:layout_width="50dp"

RelativeLayout: align View centered horizontal or vertical relative to other view

Is it possible to align a view in XML in a RelativeLayout centered horizontal or vertical according another already existing view.
For example: lets say there is something like this:
The second text view should be displayed centered below the first text view:
<?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" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_marginLeft="72dp"
android:text="dynamic text" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/second"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#id/textView"
android:layout_marginLeft="43dp" <!-- Is there a rule to center it? -->
android:text="centered below text 1" />
</RelativeLayout>
Is is possible to implement something like that in XML? Is there a rule that i have missed yet? I do not want to calculate the position programmatically

I have a much better solution than the accepted one. NO EXTRA NESTING! You can do this by combining two attributes on the smaller view. if you are centering horizontally you can use both align_start & align_end to the bigger view. Make sure the text gravity is centered btw "android:gravity="center". For Vertical alignment use both align_top & align_bottom. below is the modified implementation of your layout.
<?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:paddingLeft="43dp" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignStart="#+id/second"
android:layout_alignEnd="#+id/second"
android:gravity="center"
android:text="dynamic text" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/second"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#id/textView"
android:gravity="center"
android:text="centered below text 1" />
</RelativeLayout>
No need for unnecessary nesting like the accepted answer.

Use a separate parent layout for those views and add it in your main layout(can contain other things if you have)
<?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" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_marginLeft = "30dp">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="dynamic text" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/second"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="centered below text 1" />
</LinearLayout>
...
...
other veiws go here
...
</RelativeLayout>

Use the followings which suits you
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"

Correct solution is to use ConstraintLayout
I tried to align a textview horizontally below a button in a RelativeLayout but it was not possible as align_bottom and layout_below didn't play well together. Finally i picked up constraintLayout and tried the same logic and it worked like a charm. here is the code below.
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:clipChildren="false"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<Button
android:id="#+id/episode_recording_header_stop"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#mipmap/ic_launcher"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.399" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/button_selected_text"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_margin="8dp"
android:textAlignment="center"
android:textColor="#android:color/black"
android:textSize="12sp"
android:text="text which is exactly center aligned w.r.t the Button above"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="#+id/episode_recording_header_stop"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="#+id/episode_recording_header_stop"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/episode_recording_header_stop"
/>
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
The final output is attached below

Do this->
<?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" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text="dynamic text" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/second"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" <!-- Is there a rule to center it? -->
android:text="centered below text 1" />
</RelativeLayout>

I found the solution:
Wrap the content into another RelativeLayout and then you can place this LayoutWrapper wherever you want:
<?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" >
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_marginLeft="58dp"
android:layout_marginTop="58dp" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="dynamic text" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/second"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="centered below text 1" />
</RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

If you need to use RelativeLayout please don't use the nested layouts as far as possible. Today we have many other efficient cases to solve your task. But with use of the old faithful RelativeLayout the better way is to use attributes android:layout_alignTop, android:layout_alignBottom and android:gravity. For example, you would like to align TextView according to EditText vertically.
<RelativeLayout ...>
...
<TextView
android:id="#+id/tv1"
...
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/edt1"
android:layout_alignBottom="#id/edt1"/>
<EditText
android:id="#+id/edt1"
...
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/tv1"/>
</RelativeLayout>
In the same way you can use android:layout_alignLeft, android:layout_alignRight and android:gravity or android:layout_alignStart, android:layout_alignEnd and android:gravity horizontally.

Can't get RelativeLayout to work in Listview

I am having problems using a RelativeLayout in a ListView. I would like to have the two EditText fields one above the other, instead they completely overlap one another. I have more text to put in each row, so side by side isn't an option.
I tried taking out all extraneous code to make it work, so this is what I have:
<?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:orientation="vertical" >
<ListView android:id="#android:id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" />
</LinearLayout>
Here is my relative layout:
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<EditText
android:id="#+id/time"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="20sp" />
<EditText
android:id="#+id/room"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="#id/time"
android:textSize="20sp" />
</RelativeLayout>
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Replace
android:layout_below="#id/subject"
With
android:layout_below="#+id/time"
So That EditText with id room will be below to EditText with id time.

You need to replace android:layout_below="#id/subject"
to android:layout_below="#+id/time"

Use LinearLayout for this use case
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical>
<EditText
android:id="#+id/time"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="20sp" />
<EditText
android:id="#+id/room"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="20sp" />
</LinearLayout>

Android include layout

I have a layout like this:
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<include layout="#layout/basicinfo" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="profile" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/button2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="item" />
</LinearLayout >
the problem is that it only shows the include part,no buttons showing up. if I remove the include layout, buttons will show up. any idea what I am doing wrong here? thanks.
update: the basicinfo layout:
<?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"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView"
android:layout_width="70dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/icon"/>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/linearLayout1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_below="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/imageView"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/TextView01"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="2dp"
android:text="Name:" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/TextView02"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="2dp"
android:text="Catogery:" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="2dp"
android:text="Description" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/TextView03"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="2dp"
android:text="Owner" />
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

Define your include file layout_height and width for eample:
<include layout="#layout/basicinfo"
android:layout_width="100dp"
android:layout_height="100dp"/>

I fount out the problem. it was because I used match_parent in basic layout. I just changed that from
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
to
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
thanks for help.

I would check layout_width and layout_height. This is mostly the point in displaying errors.

included layout is as big as the screen dimension, so the buttons are outside view area. you need to give dimension to this include layout

Change the outer LinearLayout width and height to fill_parent and also place a scroll bar inside it.

One of the main issues with an include layout is that BOTH android:layout_width and android:layout_height must be included or the layout will simply fill the screen (if for instance only the height is set, it will be ignored without setting the width as well).
So something like this should be done:
<include
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
layout="#layout/myLayout" />

Use Merge...
use the element as the root view for the re-usable layout
<merge xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<Button
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/add"/>
<Button
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="#string/delete"/>
</merge>
Developer Site

How do I achieve the following result using RelativeLayout?

Pictures: http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/1402/picse.png
How do I make the layout in Pic. 2 using RelativeLayout ONLY. Below is the xml layout of the first screenshot.
<?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">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/timer_textview"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="10dip"
android:textSize="30sp"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:text="#string/timer_start" />
<ListView
android:id="#+id/questions_listview"
android:layout_below="#id/timer_textview"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" />
<Button android:id="#+id/true_btn"
android:text="#string/true_option"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/false_btn"
android:text="#string/false_option"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/true_btn"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#id/true_btn"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</RelativeLayout>

You could use LinearLayout at bottom to achieve this. But you want to use RelativeLayout layout only so:
<RelativeLayout android:layout_width="fill_parent" ... >
...
<View android:id="#+id/helper"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />
<Button android:id="#+id/true_btn"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/helper"/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/false_btn"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#id/true_btn"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/helper" />
</RelativeLayout>
Can't you really use nested layouts?

If you change the buttons to
<Button android:id="#+id/true_btn"
android:text="#string/true_option"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/false_btn"
android:text="#string/false_option"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/true_btn"
android:layout_alignBaseline="#id/true_btn"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
you use at least the full width although the false_btn gets all remaining space.
To increase the width of the first true_btn you could set the minWidth attribute - either use a fixed value or get the screen width and make the minWidth the half of it