How to make my TextView width half of its parent?

Question

If I want to make my TextView width exactly equal to the width of its parent, I can use

android:layout_width="fill_parent"

What about if I want to make it half the width of the part? Or, in general, set the width relative to the parent's width?

Edit: I am using Relative Layout

My screen looks like this.

Christopher Perry · Answer 1 · 2013-03-10T10:28:32.983

The quick and dirty way is like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:weightSum="2">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="#ff0000"
            />

    </LinearLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

You have to wrap it in another container, then use only half the weight sum of the parent.

This is old advice now. Nowadays you'd use a ConstraintLayout — Christopher Perry, Jun 15 '20 at 19:54

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 10 '13 at 09:19

9

Use android:layout_weight="0.5" it will work for linearLayout

<LinearLayout
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:weightSum="1"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:orientation="vertical" >

                <TextView
                    android:id="@+id/feedback"
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_weight="0.5"
                    android:textSize="15pt" />

answered Mar 10 '13 at 09:19

DjHacktorReborn

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what if I use Relative Layout instead ?It doesn't seem to work. – Karen Tsirunyan Mar 10 '13 at 09:22
you havent mentioned which layout you are using anyways it won't work than you need to give size – DjHacktorReborn Mar 10 '13 at 09:23
1

@KarenTsirunyan but text in lineatlayout and linearLayout inside relative make android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" for ll – DjHacktorReborn Mar 10 '13 at 09:28

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

1

First of all don't use "fill_parent" it a deprecated tearm, use "match_parent".

Secondly where do you want to place the half parent TextView in the parent?

As you are using RelativeLayout this action is a little harder, try to do it from code, some thing like this:

@Override
protected void onMeasure(int widthMeasureSpec, int heightMeasureSpec) {
int parentHeight = MeasureSpec.getSize(heightMeasureSpec);
int myWidth = (int) (parentHeight * 0.5);
super.onMeasure(MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(myWidth, MeasureSpec.EXACTLY),  
heightMeasureSpec);
}

reference: How to size an Android view based on its parent's dimensions

edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Community

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1

answered Mar 10 '13 at 09:22

Emil Adz

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I want it to occupy the left half, for example. – Karen Tsirunyan Mar 10 '13 at 09:23
Sometimes Fill_Parent is useful, to support backward compatibility. – Karen Tsirunyan Mar 10 '13 at 10:45

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 10 '13 at 09:23

You may want to set the weightSum of the parent LinearLayout, something like this:-

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/linearLayout1"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:padding="6dp"
    android:weightSum="2">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textView1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:text="@string/hello"
        android:layout_weight="1" />

</LinearLayout>

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 22 '14 at 14:21

If you want to use RelativeLayout, then best approach is to put a dummy view at the center of the screen and put the first view to the right and second to the left hand side of the dummy view like this;

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_contentt"
        android:background="#ff0000"
        android:layout_toLeftOf="@id/dummyView/>
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#ff0000"
         android:layout_toRightOf="@id/dummyView"/>
     <View
        android:id="+@id/dummyView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:visibility="invisible"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"/>

</RelativeLayout>

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 10 '13 at 09:30

0

Wrap your TextView with a Linear Layout, like @r-j and @djhacktorreborn have suggested, and then put the whole thing into a Relative Layout.

answered Mar 10 '13 at 09:30

Anton Cherkashyn

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How to make my TextView width half of its parent?

6 Answers6