Develop Reference

Android Nested LinearLayout, Gravity not having expected results

Having a problem with nested LinearLayouts to use as a custom row in a ListView.
App is a kind of internal corporate phone book and this row will be repeated in the ListView.
The "Details Witheld" on the right looks fine when gravity is set to left for it, but if gravity is set to center then it appears half off the page.
I'd guess my parent LinearLayout is too wide for the screen but it's set as fill_parent so I don't see how.
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
Full XML source is below.
Aligned Left looks like this and I'd like Details to be a space in so it's centered above the Witheld.
Aligned Center looks like this
Full XML Source
<?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="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<!-- Left side name & post / parish -->
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="80"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/txtrowname"
android:layout_marginBottom="2dp"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Smtih, Mr John"
android:textSize="24sp"
android:textColor="#color/darkblue_text"
android:textStyle="normal" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/txtrowpost"
android:layout_marginBottom="2dp"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="12 Some Street, SomeTown. SS11 1SS"
android:textSize="12sp"
android:textColor="#000000"
android:textStyle="normal" />
</LinearLayout>
<!-- Details withheld on right -->
<TextView
android:id="#+id/txtrowwitheld"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:text="Details Witheld"
android:layout_weight="20"
android:textSize="18sp"
android:gravity="center"
android:lines="2"
android:maxLines="2"
android:textColor="#FF0000"
android:layout_marginBottom="2dp"
android:textStyle="normal" />
</LinearLayout>
Image with layout_gravity as suggested by Ramesh

try layout_gravity in place of gravity that will work and dont use line="2". it will automatically fit into 2 lines if width exceeds.

I ended up just making do without it being centered.

Center multiple items in a RelativeLayout without putting them in a container?

I have a RelativeLayout containing a pair of side-by-side buttons, which I want to be centered within the layout. I could just put the buttons in a LinearLayout and center that in the RelativeLayout, but I want to keep my xml as clean as possible.
Here's what I tried, this just puts the "apply" button in the center and the "undo" button to the left of it:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="15sp">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/instructions"
android:text="#string/instructions"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginBottom="15sp"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/apply"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="#string/apply"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_below="#id/instructions"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/undo"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="#string/undo"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/apply"
android:layout_below="#id/instructions"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

android:gravity will align the content inside the view or layout it is used on.
android:layout_gravity will align the view or layout inside of his parent.
So adding
android:gravity="center"
to your RelativeLayout should do the trick...
Like this:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="15sp">
</RelativeLayout>

Here is an extension of BrainCrash's answer. It is a non nested option that groups and centers all three horizontally and vertically. In addition, it takes the top TextView and centers it horizontally across both buttons. If desired, you can then center the text within the TextView with android:gravity="center". I also removed the margins, added color, and set the RelativeLayout height to fill_parent to highlight the layout. Tested on API 11.
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:background="#android:color/black"
>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/instructions"
android:text="TEST"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:background="#android:color/darker_gray"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_alignLeft="#+id/undo"
android:layout_alignRight="#+id/apply"
android:gravity="center"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/apply"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="APPLY"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_below="#id/instructions"
/>
<Button
android:id="#+id/undo"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="UNDO"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#id/apply"
android:layout_below="#id/instructions"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

android:layout_gravity="center"
will almost give what you're looking for.

Here is a combination of the above answer's that solved my specific situation:
Centering two separate labels within a layout that also includes a button in the left most position of the same layout (button, label, label, from left to right, where the labels are centered relative to the layout containing all three views - that is, the button doesn't push the labels off center).
I solved this by nesting two RelativeLayout's, where the outer most layout included the
Button and an Inner-RelativeLayout.
The Inner-RelativeLayout contained the two text labels (TextView's).
Here is a snippet that provides the details of how the centering and other layout stuff was done:
see: RelativeLayout Gravity not applied? and
Gravity and layout_gravity on Android
for the difference's between gravity and layout_gravity.
Tweak the paddingLeft on the btn_button1 Button to see that the TextView's do not move.
(My apologies to havexz for the downvotes. I was too hasty in thinking that just b/c your suggestions didn't solve the exact question being ask, that they do help to solve very similar situations (the answer here solves a very specific situation, and only the combination of all these answer's solved my problem. I tried upvoting, but it won't let me unless I edit the answer's, which I don't want to do.)
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/rl_outer"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="50dip"
android:background="#FF0000FF">
<Button
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/btn_button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#FF00FF00"
android:text="<"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:paddingLeft="40dip"/>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/rl_inner"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#FFFF00FF"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:gravity="center">
<TextView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/tv_text1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#FF505050"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:textColor="#FFFFFFFF"
android:text="Complaint #"
android:gravity="center"/>
<TextView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/tv_text2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#FF505050"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:textColor="#FFFFFFFF"
android:layout_toRightOf="#id/tv_text1"
android:gravity="center"/>
</RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

LinearLayout is a good option. Other than that there are options like create an invisible view and center that and then align left button to the left it and right on the right of it. BUT those are just work arounds.

Android - Make a background image not stretch it's assigned view out

Hooray for pictures! Here's what it looks like when assigning the picture to the background, and when not.
I'd very much like for it to not stretch out the top TableView if the image is larger than the table. I've included an empty "view" to give a little bit of extra space for the table's background already as well, as you can see in the XML to follow. Tried to mess around with ScaleType, but that was a wash.
How can I get the BG to stretch to fit the layout? I'm trying to handle the "user xxx has a smaller screen than WVGA" gracefully. I lack grace, apparently.
<TableLayout
android:id="#+id/widget29"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:scaleType="fitXY"
android:background="#drawable/minetownx480"
>
<View
android:id="#+id/blankSpace"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="60dip" />
<TableRow android:id="#+id/widget40" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:orientation="horizontal">
<TextView android:id="#+id/moneyText" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Money: $$$$$$$$$" />
<TextView android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:id="#+id/savingsText" android:gravity="right" android:text="Savings: $$$$$$$" android:layout_weight="3" android:textSize="12sp"/>
</TableRow>
<TableRow android:id="#+id/widget41" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:orientation="horizontal">
<TextView android:id="#+id/wagonText" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Wagon Space: XXX/XXX" />
<TextView android:id="#+id/loanText" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Loans: $$$$$$$$" android:gravity="right" android:layout_weight="3" android:textSize="12sp"/>
</TableRow>
<TableRow android:id="#+id/widget42" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:orientation="horizontal" >
<TextView android:id="#+id/daysText" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Days Left: XX/XX" />
<TextView android:id="#+id/armedText" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Unarmed!" android:gravity="right" android:layout_weight="3" />
</TableRow>
</TableLayout>
The tablelayout is the first element of the root linearLayout, if that matters at all.
Edit: Alternatively, if you know how I could measure the tableLayout's X and Y space before assigning the image, I could scale it programmatically before assigning it.... Either solution would be good if anyone knows!

I would use FrameLayout and create two layers (i.e. add two views inside). First would be an ImageView and the second, therefore the top one, would be your table. In this way I would not rely on the table to control my image scaling but it would be independent from the ImageView which one can then hopefully more easily manipulate as it is not showing the image as 'background' but as the source.

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);

How to create column-like layout for ListView rows?

I have a relative layout which looks like this:
Here is the code:
<?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/nameText"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:padding="5dip"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:text="Symbol"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/priceText"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:padding="5dip"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/nameText"
android:gravity="right"
android:text="100"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/changeText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:padding="5dip"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/priceText"
android:gravity="right"
android:text="1.3"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
How can I get the company name to line up next to the number 1.3?

Following up on Mayra's answer, here's one way to do it using layout_weight:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TableLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>
<TableRow>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/left_text"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="left|center_vertical"
android:padding="5dip"
android:layout_weight="0"
android:text="Code"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/middle_text"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="right|center_vertical"
android:padding="5dip"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Name of Company"
/>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/right_text"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:padding="5dip"
android:gravity="right|center_vertical"
android:layout_weight="0"
android:text="1.3"
/>
</TableRow>
</TableLayout>

It's not clear exactly what you want to have happen, but here are a few options:
If you want columns to be aligned across rows, you might consider using a TableLayout.
You can also use the "weight" atribute to affect what percentage of the screen each TextView takes up. If you assign a value of 1 on the left-most text view, and 0 on the other 2, this will cause the left text view to take up all the extra space, and thus push the middle text view to the right. This will probably cause the middle text view to look right aligned though. You could instead give the left one 20%, the middle one 50% and the right one 30% by assign 2, 5 and 3.
You could also just set an explicit size for the text views (in dpi), but this might be problamatic with different sized screens.

I agree with Mayra! Use the TableView, you'll get the formatting your looking for as well as keep almost all functionality of a ListView (scolling, and list oriented functionality)