Develop Reference

Android UI using XML (Android and Xml)

I am tying to create a UI like the image below.
This is how it SHOULD look like: (Screen shot from my app using Nexsus 5):
And this is how it look like on a Nexsus S device (4 inch):
Someone have an idea why the diffrences happen? This is my XML code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#2e2e2e"
tools:context=".MainActivity"
android:id="#+id/viewew">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:weightSum="9"
android:orientation="vertical">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_marginBottom="0dp"
android:layout_weight="8"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
>
<View
android:layout_width="0px"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="15" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/www"
android:layout_weight="2"
android:layout_width="90dp"
android:layout_height="90dp"
android:background="#drawable/www"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:paddingRight="10dp"
/>
<View
android:layout_width="0px"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="15" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/www"
android:layout_weight="2"
android:layout_width="90dp"
android:layout_height="90dp"
android:background="#drawable/www"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:paddingRight="10dp"
/>
<View
android:layout_width="0px"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="15" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/www"
android:layout_weight="2"
android:layout_width="90dp"
android:layout_height="90dp"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:paddingRight="10dp"
android:background="#drawable/www"
/>
<View
android:layout_width="0px"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="15" />
</LinearLayout>
<View
android:id="#+id/idd"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="400dp"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_weight="2"/>
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="2"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text="Doesn't belong here?"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
/>
</LinearLayout>
<include layout="#layout/buttons" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="2"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text=" here?"
android:paddingBottom="15dp"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:textColor="#f7f7f7"
android:id="#+id/tDoesntBelongHere"
/>
<com.lorentzos.flingswipe.SwipeFlingAdapterView
android:id="#+id/frame"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
app:rotation_degrees="15.5"
android:layout_above="#+id/eee"
tools:context=".MyActivity" />
</RelativeLayout>

On android studio you have to set the screen size for different devices.
your buttons have this:
android:layout_width="90dp"
android:layout_height="90dp"
So whichever screen you are using the size will always be 90dp.
In android studio you can create more xml pages for same page: one for portrait, for landscape, ecc ecc and also one for small-big-xxl ecc screen.
Have a look at this link from android developer site.
Hope it help :)
EDIT:
At the moment i don't have Android studio in the pc i'm working on, so i try to explain a possible solution.
Instead of setting height and width, set margins:
You can anchor all from botside, adding in your TextView android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" (and a margin-bottom if you want). Then keep your view with a static height of 400dp like now, then anchor it to the top of the TextView by android:layout_above="#id/TextViewId (it doesn't have id, add it)
Now you have to do the same with your LinearLayout: use android:layout_above="#id/idd and removing the the static size. At this point you can just let your buttons to set height equals to the LinearLayout's height (obiouvsly you can set margin top-bot in buttons).
Sorry if my english is not that good, i hope u got the solution

Change height of a custom actionbar using java

I am stuck in an issue. I'm a junior android developer. I want to change the height of my custom action bar on a click event. But I'm not able to find a way
how to change actionbar's height. I saw other related posts, but didnt find exactly what I need.
I want to toggle a hidden layout part of action bar, upon click event. The height of action should fit to the content size each time.
<?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="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="70dp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:background="#drawable/header_bg"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="5dp"
android:visibility="visible"
android:weightSum="5" >
<ImageView
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="2.69"
android:src="#drawable/header_image" />
<ImageView
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0.4"
android:contentDescription="Seperator"
android:src="#drawable/header_seperator" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/iv_show_searchbar"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_weight="0.8"
android:contentDescription="search"
android:src="#drawable/header_search" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/iv_hidesearchbar"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_weight="0.8"
android:contentDescription="search"
android:src="#drawable/header_search_active"
android:visibility="gone" />
<ImageView
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0.4"
android:contentDescription="Seperator"
android:src="#drawable/header_seperator" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/iv_header_navigation"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_weight="0.6"
android:contentDescription="navigation"
android:src="#drawable/header_navigation" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="57dp"
android:background="#F0F0F0"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="4dp"
android:weightSum="5"
android:visibility="gone" >
<EditText
android:id="#+id/editText1"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="48dp"
android:layout_marginRight="10dp"
android:layout_weight="3"
android:background="#drawable/fields"
android:ems="10"
android:hint="Keyword"
android:padding="15dp"
android:textSize="20sp" >
<requestFocus />
</EditText>
<Spinner
android:id="#+id/spinner1"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="48dp"
android:layout_weight="2.0"
android:background="#drawable/header_language"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:paddingRight="10dp" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
On a click event, i want to toggle the second inner linear layout. Is It possible? or should i use fragments in activity?

If what you mean is that you want make the 2nd LinearLayout (the one that has visibility:"gone") be visible on a click event. You have first to set an id for that layout and do something like this:
LinearLayout yourLinearLayout =(LinearLayout)findViewById(R.id.yourLinearLayoutId);
and inside your click event
yourLinearLayout.setVisibility(View.Visible);
that will make your layout appear and because the father has layout_height="wrap_content" it will fit to the size of the child when it is visible.

ImageView on top of Button

I'm trying to put a small ImageView on top of a button, but somehow it stays under it. I don't understand why as this sort of layout work perfectly with other views.
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<Button
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#color/background_white_clickable"
android:text="#string/book_now"
android:id="#+id/but_book_now"
/>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="35dp"
android:layout_height="35dp"
android:id="#+id/img_bookmark"
android:src="#drawable/ic_action_bookmark_full"
android:layout_marginRight="15dp"
android:layout_marginEnd="15dp"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentEnd="true" />
</RelativeLayout>
I've tried with different background for the button, but the image can be seen only when it is transparent. I also tried to replace the ImageView with a colored View, still doesn't work.
Any idea? Thx
EDIT:
There is a confusion in answers I get, I mean to make the ImageView on top of the Button in its Z-order, not y-axis.
EDIT 2 :
I don't want to use an image button, the image is just a "pin" on the button that will appear/disappear.
I don't want to use a drawable on the button, I need to place it where I want exactly.
Using FrameLayout instead of RelativeLayout doesn't change anything.
Using imgView.bringToFront() doesn't work.
EDIT 3 :
The problem doesn't appear on device before Lollipop. On KitKat, the layout works as intended.

<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
android:layout_marginTop="80dp" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/filter"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_margin="7dp"
android:background="#0000FF"
android:gravity="center"
android:paddingBottom="25dp"
android:paddingTop="25dp"
android:text="Sort"
android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/widget_title_icon"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="top|right"
android:adjustViewBounds="true"
android:paddingTop="-10dp"
android:scaleType="fitStart"
android:src="#drawable/ic_launcher" />
</FrameLayout>
Try it,though I haven't tested it.

Try
findViewById(R.id.img_bookmark).bringToFront();

You need to set the button below the imageview so:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<Button
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#color/background_white_clickable"
android:text="#string/book_now
android:id="#+id/but_book_now"
android:layout_below="#+id/img_bookmark"/>
<ImageView
android:layout_width="35dp"
android:layout_height="35dp"
android:id="#+id/img_bookmark"
android:src="#drawable/ic_action_bookmark_full"
android:layout_marginRight="15dp"
android:layout_marginEnd="15dp"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_alignParentEnd="true" />
</RelativeLayout>
EDIT
I noticed now that you wanted an image ON TOP of a button not ABOVE so don't care to my code above and use ImageButton:
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#color/background_white_clickable"
android:text="#string/book_now
android:id="#+id/but_book_now"
android:src="#drawable/ic_action_bookmark_full"/>
</RelativeLayout>

Sample code:
<RelativeLayout
android:id="#+id/relativeLayout1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/img_bookmark"
android:layout_width="35dp"
android:layout_height="35dp"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:src="#drawable/ic_launcher" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/but_book_now"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/img_bookmark"
android:text="Test" />
</RelativeLayout>
Note :
Edit the text and src, for your needs

If you want image view with button :
<Button
android:id="#+id/but_book_now"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:drawableTop="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:background="#ff00ff"
android:text="This is button"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textColor="#ffff00"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
If you want image view without button :
<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="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/but_book_now"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:text="This is button"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textColor="#ffff00"
/>
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#ff00ff"
android:text="This is button"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textColor="#ffff00"
/>
</LinearLayout>

You can define a RelativeLayout as a Button and add ClickEvents on it, add a child View with color or a child ImageView with a PNG, or whatever or both, to put images or color over it.
Example
<FrameLayout android:id="#+id/buttonTextFillColor"
android:layout_width="#dimen/mini_icon_width"
android:layout_height="#dimen/mini_icon_height"
android:background="#drawable/input_button_background"
android:clickable="true">
<View
android:id="#+id/colorTextFillColor"
android:layout_width="23dp"
android:layout_height="23dp"
android:background="#FFFFFF"
android:layout_gravity="center" />
<ImageView
android:layout_width="23dp"
android:layout_height="23dp"
android:src="#drawable/button_fill_text"
android:layout_gravity="center"/>
</FrameLayout>
You get a union of elements:
How will you see it?

please add the layout_below for Button attribute

Android: How to make the margin of a button relative to screen width?

for example I want the button's margin to be 1/4 of the screen width (in pixels), what should I do? I prefer to change something in layout xml file instead of coding.

<LinearLayout 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:weightSum="4" >
<View
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
/>
<Button
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="2"
/>
<View
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
/>
</LinearLayout>

Use weightSum and layout_weight to achieve this.
For e.g
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:weightSum="100"
android:visibility="visible" >
<Button
android:id="#+id/sign_in_button"
android:layout_weight="25"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="testing" />
</LinearLayout>

Android Custom ListViewItem Layout

I dont quite get the layout of my List View Item doesnt show like I want it to.
I hope somone would give me some hints since i cannot make it work for quite some time now.
What i want is as follows:
Here is my approach:
<?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="20dip"
android:padding="6dip">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="3dip">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/nametext"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
/>
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="7dip">
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/photo"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_marginRight="6dip"
android:src="#drawable/icon" />
<LinearLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="0dip"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/toptext"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="0dip"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:gravity="center_vertical"
/>
<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="0dip"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:id="#+id/middletext"
android:singleLine="true"
android:ellipsize="marquee"
/>
<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="0dip"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:id="#+id/bottomtext"
android:singleLine="true"
android:ellipsize="marquee"
/>
</LinearLayout>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/stars"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_marginLeft="6dip"
android:src="#drawable/icon" />
</LinearLayout>
Any help would be appreciated.
I already tried different sizes and a RelativeLayout. No change.
It doesnt look anythik like i thought it should.
edit three blanks missing
edit2 added pic

You could do this with LinearLayouts, but you'll need three nested layouts:
A vertical LinearLayout containing everything.
A horizontal LinearLayout containing everything aside from the heading.
A vertical LinearLayout containing the non-heading TextViews.
The inner vertical LinearLayout will probably need android:layout_weight="1" so it stretches to fill the available space but doesn't squeeze out the right-hand ImageView.
That's all very expensive, particularly when multiplied by the numerous views in a ListView. A RelativeLayout can get this done with only one 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="wrap_content"
android:padding="6dip" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_vertical|center_horizontal"
android:textSize="40sp">
</TextView>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/icon" >
</ImageView>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView2"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/icon" >
</ImageView>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView2"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView1"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/imageView2"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:text="TextView" >
</TextView>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView3"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView2"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/imageView2"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:text="TextView" >
</TextView>
<TextView
android:id="#+id/textView4"
android:layout_below="#+id/textView3"
android:layout_toRightOf="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/imageView2"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:text="TextView" >
</TextView>
</RelativeLayout>
Edited for formatting and to add:
This is the result. Of course, text and image sizes need adjusted, but the basic result is what you've described.

Im not sure if you really want to have a 3dip headline and 7dip content...
if you want the stuff inside the outer linearlayout vertical arranged, use
android:orientation="vertical"
in the parent LinearLayout. to arrange the three items in the content part of your layout, you might use android:weight or android:alignParentLeft / Right.
I fear im not sure waht you want to do, so i can not edit your layout :(