What is the value of default EditText padding?

Question

I have an EditText defined like this:

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/input_password"
        android:hint="@string/password"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:inputType="textPassword" />

And it has some default paddings, looking like this with "Show layout bounds" option: (or is it really margins, I'm not sure. I'm referring to the space between red inner box and the blue corners). But what is the value of these paddings/margins? In the platforms/android-19/data/res/values/themes.xml I found Widget.EditText style defined like this:

<style name="Widget.EditText">
    <item name="android:focusable">true</item>
    <item name="android:focusableInTouchMode">true</item>
    <item name="android:clickable">true</item>
    <item name="android:background">?android:attr/editTextBackground</item>
    <item name="android:textAppearance">?android:attr/textAppearanceMediumInverse</item>
    <item name="android:textColor">?android:attr/editTextColor</item>
    <item name="android:gravity">center_vertical</item>
</style>

But there are no margins/paddings mentioned. So where are they defined?

Answer 1

This issue comes from the default value of ?android:attr/editTextBackground.

<inset xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:insetBottom="@dimen/abc_edit_text_inset_bottom_material"
    android:insetLeft="@dimen/abc_edit_text_inset_horizontal_material"
    android:insetRight="@dimen/abc_edit_text_inset_horizontal_material"
    android:insetTop="@dimen/abc_edit_text_inset_top_material">

    <selector>
        <item
            android:drawable="@drawable/abc_textfield_default_mtrl_alpha"
            android:state_enabled="false" />
        <item
            android:drawable="@drawable/abc_textfield_default_mtrl_alpha"
            android:state_focused="false"
            android:state_pressed="false" />
        <item android:drawable="@drawable/abc_textfield_activated_mtrl_alpha" />
    </selector>

</inset>

As you can see the inset value for all edges of EditText is 4dp. That makes EditText has small padding around its content. To remove that padding you should create a new EditText style with modified editTextBackground attribute. For example:

<style name="Widget.App.TextField" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.EditText">
        <item name="colorControlActivated">#303E44</item>
        <item name="colorControlHighlight">#E5E9EC</item>
        <item name="colorControlNormal">#E5E9EC</item>
        <item name="editTextBackground">@drawable/background_new_edit_text</item>
<item name="android:editTextBackground">@drawable/background_new_edit_text</item>
    </style>

New background_new_edit_text.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<inset xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:inset="@dimen/spacing_0dp">
    <selector>
        <item
            android:drawable="@drawable/abc_textfield_default_mtrl_alpha"
            android:state_enabled="false" />
        <item
            android:drawable="@drawable/abc_textfield_default_mtrl_alpha"
            android:state_focused="false"
            android:state_pressed="false" />
        <item android:drawable="@drawable/abc_textfield_activated_mtrl_alpha" />
    </selector>

</inset>

Apply new style to your EditText:

<EditText
        android:id="@+id/edt_phone"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/Widget.App.TextField"
        />