How can I place objects in my view based on the actual screen size in Android?

Question

Suppose I have a background in my Activity's root layout. I wish to place some buttons on the screen which always stay in the same place relative to the screen. How can I accomplish that?

I tried using dp and sp but if I test the layout in another screen it all falls apart. (So if it is OK in WVGA it is not working in QVGA. Am I doing something wrong?

This is my layout xml:

<?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"
        android:background="@drawable/menu_activity_bg" >
        <Button
            android:id="@+id/continueButton"
            android:layout_width="110sp"
            android:layout_height="30sp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="100sp"
            android:layout_marginTop="180sp"
            android:background="@drawable/menu_activity_continue" />
        <Button
            android:id="@+id/newGameButton"
            android:layout_width="130sp"
            android:layout_height="35dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="90sp"
            android:layout_marginTop="220sp"
            android:background="@drawable/menu_activity_new_game" />
            <!-- ... -->
    </RelativeLayout>

What I tend to do is to have different styles I use, for different sized screens. Then making the pixels dp beyond that should take care of any residue. — PearsonArtPhoto, Dec 03 '12 at 11:49
Sure. It can work, and I have made it work. It's still a bit tricky, however. — PearsonArtPhoto, Dec 03 '12 at 11:50
Basically, a lot of trial and error, and using different styles. I'll post a small example here. — PearsonArtPhoto, Dec 03 '12 at 11:52
Agree with @PearsonArtPhoto, You also need to create separate artworks for multiple devices, reference http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12242111/application-skeleton-to-support-multiple-screen — Mohammed Azharuddin Shaikh, Dec 03 '12 at 11:54

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 03 '12 at 11:54

My solution to this is to have a number of style types, which I place in the values-large, values-small, values-normal, and values-xlarge folders. A typical entry will look like this:

<resources>
<style name="bigText">
    <item name="android:textSize">60dp</item>
    <item name="android:layout_height">wrap_content</item>
    <item name="android:layout_width">wrap_content</item>
    <item name="android:layout_marginTop">5dp</item>
    <item name="android:layout_marginBottom">5dp</item>
    <item name="android:textColor">#000000</item>
</style>
</resources>

Then my layout XMLs would look like:

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/somTextValue"
    style="@style/bigText"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="@string/someText" />

Having a number of these styles, I apply them to my objects that need to scale. Trial and error will allow me to find something that works well for all screen sizes.

My problem with this that my button looks good on WVGA and HVGA but not on QVGA. I don't see how a style will help me here. Can you clarify this? — Adam Arold, Dec 03 '12 at 11:59
You can, in linear layouts. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6203609/android-percentage-layout-height — PearsonArtPhoto, Dec 03 '12 at 12:10

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 03 '12 at 12:07

0

I have one another 2 approaches:

Use layout weight to your view so that it will take space accordingly
Use of DisplayMetrics metrics = new DisplayMetrics(); getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(metrics); int height = metrics.heightPixels; int wwidth = metrics.widthPixels; This will give you width & height of screen then while creating give measurement in percentage e.g. 20% of width. It is helpful when you are dynamically creating UI.

answered Dec 03 '12 at 12:07

R World

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I have a static UI I just wish to scale based on percentages. – Adam Arold Dec 03 '12 at 12:08
if all above are not working for you & app having few layouts then create separate UI layout & put on appro. folders. this is also simple way Ref[link](http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html#terms) – R World Dec 03 '12 at 12:15

How can I place objects in my view based on the actual screen size in Android?

2 Answers2