This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
LinearLayout
The LinearLayout is the most basic layout, and it arranges its elements sequentially, either horizontally or vertically. To arrange controls within a linear layout, the following attributes are used:
- android:orientation—Used for arranging the controls in the container in horizontal or vertical order
- android:layout_width—Used for defining the width of a control
- android:layout_height—Used for defining the height of a control
- android:padding—Used for increasing the whitespace between the boundaries of the control and its actual content
- android:layout_weight—Used for shrinking or expanding the size of the control to consume the extra space relative to the other controls in the container
- android:gravity—Used for aligning content within a control
- android:layout_gravity—Used for aligning the control within the container
Applying the orientation Attribute
The orientation attribute is used to arrange its children either in horizontal or vertical order. The valid values for this attribute are horizontal and vertical. If the value of the android:orientation attribute is set to vertical, the children in the linear layout are arranged in a column layout, one below the other. Similarly, if the value of the android:orientation attribute is set to horizontal, the controls in the linear layout are arranged in a row format, side by side. The orientation can be modified at runtime through the setOrientation() method. That is, by supplying the values HORIZONTAL or VERTICAL to the setOrientation() method, we can arrange the children of the LinearLayout in row or column format, respectively.
Applying the height and width Attributes
The default height and width of a control are decided on the basis of the text or content that is displayed through it. To specify a certain height and width to the control, we use the android:layout_width and android:layout_height attributes. We can specify the values for the height and width attributes in the following three ways:
- By supplying specific dimension values for the control in terms of px (pixels), dip/dp (device independent pixels), sp (scaled pixels), pts (points), in (inches), and mm (millimeters). For example, the android:layout_width="20px" attribute sets the width of the control to 20 pixels.
- By providing the value as wrap_content. When assigned to the control’s height or width, this attribute resizes the control to expand to fit its contents. For example, when this value is applied to the width of the TextView, it expands so that its complete text is visible.
- By providing the value as match_parent. When assigned to the control’s height or width, this attribute forces the size of the control to expand to fill up all the available space of the enclosing container.
Applying the padding Attribute
The padding attribute is used to increase the whitespace between the boundaries of the control and its actual content. Through the android:padding attribute, we can set the same amount of padding or spacing on all four sides of the control. Similarly, by using the android:paddingLeft, android:paddingRight, android:paddingTop, and android:paddingBottom attributes, we can specify the individual spacing on the left, right, top, and bottom of the control, respectively.
The following example sets the spacing on all four sides of the control to 5 pixels:
android:padding="5dip"
Similarly, the following example sets the spacing on the left side of the control to 5 pixels:
android:paddingLeft="5dip"
Let’s see how the controls are laid out in the LinearLayout layout using an example. Create a new Android Project called LinearLayoutApp. The original default content of the layout file activity_linear_layout_app.xml appears as shown in Listing 3.1.
Listing 3.1. Default Code in the Layout File activity_linear_layout_app.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" >
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:text="@string/hello_world"
tools:context=".LinearLayoutAppActivity" />
</RelativeLayout>
Let’s apply the LinearLayout and add three Button controls to the layout. Modify the activity_linear_layout_app.xml to appear as shown in Listing 3.2.
Listing 3.2. The activity_linear_layout_app.xml File on Adding Three Button Controls
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<Button
android:id="@+id/Apple"
android:text="Apple"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Mango"
android:text="Mango"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Banana"
android:text="Banana"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
The orientation of LinearLayout is set to vertical, declaring that we want to arrange its child elements vertically, one below the other. The height and width of the layout are set to expand to fill up all the available space of the enclosing container, that is, the device screen. Three Button controls are added to the layout, which appear one below the other. The IDs and text assigned to the three Button controls are Apple, Mango, and Banana, respectively. The height of the three controls is set to wrap_content, which is enough to accommodate the text. Finally, the width of the three controls is set to match_parent, so that the width of the three controls expands to fill up the available space of the LinearLayout container. We see the output shown in Figure 3.1.
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Figure 3.1. Three Button controls arranged vertically in LinearLayout
To see the controls appear horizontally, set the orientation attribute of the LinearLayout to horizontal. We also need to set the layout_width attribute of the three controls to wrap_content; otherwise, we will be able to see only the first Button control, the one with the Apple ID. If the layout_width attribute of any control is set to match_parent, it takes up all the available space of the container, hiding the rest of the controls behind it. By setting the values of the layout_width attributes to wrap_content, we make sure that the width of the control expands just to fit its content and does not take up all the available space. Let’s modify the activity_linear_layout_app.xml to appear as shown in Listing 3.3.
Listing 3.3. The activity_linear_layout_app.xml File on Setting Horizontal Orientation to the Button Controls
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<Button
android:id="@+id/Apple"
android:text="Apple"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Mango"
android:text="Mango"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Banana"
android:text="Banana"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
The controls are arranged horizontally, as shown in Figure 3.2.
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Figure 3.2. Three Button controls arranged horizontally in LinearLayout
Applying the weight Attribute
The weight attribute affects the size of the control. That is, we use weight to assign the capability to expand or shrink and consume extra space relative to the other controls in the container. The values of the weight attribute range from 0.0 to 1.0, where 1.0 is the highest value. Let’s suppose a container has two controls and one of them is assigned the weight of 1. In that case, the control assigned the weight of 1 consumes all the empty space in the container, whereas the other control remains at its current size. If we assign a weight of 0.0 to both the controls, nothing happens and the controls maintain their original size. If both the attributes are assigned the same value above 0.0, both the controls consume the extra space equally. Hence, weight lets us apply a size expansion ratio to the controls. To make the middle Button control, Mango, take up all the available space of the container, let’s assign a weight attribute to the three controls. Modify the activity_linear_layout_app.xml file to appear as shown in Listing 3.4.
Listing 3.4. The activity_linear_layout_app.xml File on Applying the weight Attribute to the Button Controls
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<Button
android:id="@+id/Apple"
android:text="Apple"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0.0" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Mango"
android:text="Mango"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1.0" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Banana"
android:text="Banana"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="0.0" />
</LinearLayout>
By setting the layout_weight attributes of Apple, Mango, and Banana to 0.0, 1.0, and 0.0, respectively, we allow the Mango button control to take up all the available space of the container, as shown in Figure 3.3 (left). If we set the value of layout_weight of the Banana button control to 1.0 and that of Mango back to 0.0, then all the available space of the container is consumed by the Banana button control, as shown in Figure 3.3 (middle). Similarly if we set the layout_weight of all controls to 1.0, the entire container space will be equally consumed by the three controls, as shown in Figure 3.3 (right).
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Figure 3.3. (left) The weight attribute of the Mango Button control set to 1.0, (middle) the weight attribute of the Banana Button control set to 1.0, and (right) all three Button controls set to the same weight attribute
Similarly if we set the weight of Apple, Mango, and Banana to 0.0, 1.0, and 0.5, respectively, we get the output shown in Figure 3.4.
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Figure 3.4. The weight attribute of the Apple, Mango, and Banana Button controls set to 0.0, 1.0, and 0.5
We can see that the text of the three controls is center-aligned. To align the content of a control, we use the Gravity attribute.
Applying the Gravity Attribute
The Gravity attribute is for aligning the content within a control. For example, to align the text of a control to the center, we set the value of its android:gravity attribute to center. The valid options for android:gravity include left, center, right, top, bottom, center_horizontal, center_vertical, fill_horizontal, and fill_vertical. The task performed by few of the said options is as follows:
- center_vertical—Places the object in the vertical center of its container, without changing its size
- fill_vertical—Grows the vertical size of the object, if needed, so it completely fills its container
- center_horizontal—Places the object in the horizontal center of its container, without changing its size
- fill_horizontal—Grows the horizontal size of the object, if needed, so it completely fills its container
- center—Places the object in the center of its container in both the vertical and horizontal axis, without changing its size
We can make the text of a control appear at the center by using the android:gravity attribute, as shown in this example:
android:gravity="center"
We can also combine two or more values of any attribute using the | operator. The following example centrally aligns the text horizontally and vertically within a control:
android:gravity="center_horizontal|center_vertical"
Figure 3.5 shows the android:gravity attribute set to left and right for the Button controls Mango and Banana.
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Figure 3.5. The text in the Mango and Banana Button controls aligned to the left and right, respectively, through the android:gravity attribute
Besides the android:gravity attribute, Android provides one more similar attribute, android:layout_gravity. Let’s explore the difference between the two.
Using the android:layout_gravity Attribute
Where android:gravity is a setting used by the View, the android:layout_gravity is used by the container. That is, this attribute is used to align the control within the container. For example, to align the text within a Button control, we use the android:gravity attribute; to align the Button control itself in the LinearLayout (the container), we use the android:layout_gravity attribute. Let’s add the android:layout_gravity attribute to align the Button controls themselves. To see the impact of using the android:layout_gravity attribute to align the Button controls in the LinearLayout, let’s first arrange them vertically. So, let’s modify activity_linear_layout_app.xml to make the Button controls appear vertically, one below the other as shown in Listing 3.5.
Listing 3.5. The activity_linear_layout_app.xml File on Arranging the Button Controls Vertically
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<Button
android:id="@+id/Apple"
android:text="Apple"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Mango"
android:text="Mango"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Banana"
android:text="Banana"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
The preceding code arranges the Button controls vertically, as shown in Figure 3.6 (left). To align the Button controls Mango and Banana to the center and to the right of the LinearLayout container, add the following statements to the respective tags in the activity_linear_layout_app.xml layout file:
android:layout_gravity="center"
and
android:layout_gravity="right"
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Figure 3.6. (left) The three Button controls vertically aligned with the width attribute set to wrap_content, (middle) the Mango and Banana Button controls aligned to the center and right of container, and (right) the width of the three Button controls expanded to take up all the available space
The two Button controls, Mango and Banana, are aligned at the center and to the right in the container, as shown in Figure 3.6 (middle).
At the moment, the layout_width attribute of the three controls is set to wrap_content. The width of the three controls is just enough to accommodate their content. If we now set the value of the android:layout_width attribute for all three controls to match_parent, we find that all three Button controls expand in width to take up all the available space of the container, as shown in Figure 3.6 (right). Now we can apply the android:gravity attribute to align the text within the controls. Let’s add the following three attributes to the Button controls Apple, Mango, and Banana:
android:gravity="left" android:gravity="center"
and
android:gravity="right"
These lines of code align the content of the three Button controls to the left, to the center, and to the right within the control, as shown in Figure 3.7 (left). Because the three Button controls are arranged vertically in the layout (the orientation of the LinearLayout is set to vertical), the application of the weight attribute makes the controls expand vertically instead of horizontally as we saw earlier. To see the effect, let’s add the following statement to the tags of all three Button controls:
android:layout_weight="0.0"
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Figure 3.7. (left) The three Button controls with their text aligned to the left, center, and right, (middle) the vertical available space of the container apportioned equally among the three Button controls, and (right) the text of the three Button controls vertically aligned to the center
As expected, there will be no change in the height of any control, as the weight value assigned is 0.0. Setting an equal value above 0.0 for all three controls results in equal division of empty space among them. For example, assigning the android:layout_weight="1.0" to all three controls results in expanding their height, as shown in Figure 3.7 (middle).
In the middle image of Figure 3.7, we see that the text in the Apple and Banana controls is not at the vertical center, so let’s modify their android:gravity value, as shown here:
android:gravity="center_vertical" for the Apple control
android:gravity="center_vertical|right" for the Banana control
The center_vertical value aligns the content vertically to the center of the control, and the right value aligns the content to the right of the control. We can combine the values of the attribute using the | operator. After applying the values as shown in the preceding two code lines, we get the output shown in Figure 3.7 (right).