How to prevent a TextView resize the parent LinearLayout - Android

Question

I have a LinearLayout that covers the entire width of the screen, inside I have a random number of TextView (7 in this example). I want all the TextView are the same size, so I put the attribute android:layout_weight="1" in each.

When there is not text in the TextView everything works fine:

enter image description here

but when I add the text corresponding to each TextView, the size of Textview change, not keep the weight and resize the LinearLayout

enter image description here

This is only part of the design of my Activity, so I recreated it in a new xml to see if the error persists. And I have noticed that this only happens when the LinearLayout is inside of a HorizontalScrollView

When it is not, I get the expected result:

enter image description here

My xml:

<HorizontalScrollView
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:fillViewport="true">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:orientation="horizontal">

        <TextView
            android:singleLine="true"
            android:text="LONG TEXT"
            android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="#009FDC"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:padding="5dp"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
            android:textColor="#fff"
            android:textStyle="bold"
            android:typeface="serif" />

        <TextView
            android:singleLine="true"
            android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
            android:text="LONG TEXT"
            android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="#009FDC"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:padding="5dp"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
            android:textColor="#fff"
            android:textStyle="bold"
            android:typeface="serif" />

        <TextView
            android:singleLine="true"
            android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
            android:text="LONG TEXT"
            android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="#009FDC"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:padding="5dp"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
            android:textColor="#fff"
            android:textStyle="bold"
            android:typeface="serif" />

        <TextView
            android:singleLine="true"
            android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
            android:text="LONG TEXT"
            android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="#009FDC"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:padding="5dp"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
            android:textColor="#fff"
            android:textStyle="bold"
            android:typeface="serif" />

        <TextView
            android:singleLine="true"
            android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
            android:text="LONG TEXT"
            android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="#009FDC"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:padding="5dp"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
            android:textColor="#fff"
            android:textStyle="bold"
            android:typeface="serif" />

        <TextView
            android:singleLine="true"
            android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
            android:text="LONG TEXT"
            android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="#009FDC"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:padding="5dp"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
            android:textColor="#fff"
            android:textStyle="bold"
            android:typeface="serif" />

        <TextView
            android:singleLine="true"
            android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
            android:text="LONG TEXT"
            android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="#009FDC"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:padding="5dp"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
            android:textColor="#fff"
            android:textStyle="bold"
            android:typeface="serif" />

    </LinearLayout>
</HorizontalScrollView>

Anyone know how to fix this? thanks in advance.

as you don't want scroll your view why you put your view inside `horizontalScrollView` ? — Shayan Pourvatan, Jan 02 '15 at 10:37
Ok think of a tablet placed horizontally As I mentioned, I have a random number of TextView, and I want them all have the same size. However, when I switch to portrait mode each TextView would be too small, so I add a minimum width and horizontalScrollView — Oscar Méndez, Jan 02 '15 at 10:54

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 02 '15 at 11:00

try this i tried with table layout

<HorizontalScrollView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:fillViewport="true" >

    <TableLayout
        android:id="@+id/table_dashboared"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:stretchColumns="1" >

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tablerow_header"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:weightSum="7" >

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="#009FDC"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:singleLine="true"
                android:text="LONG TEXT"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
                android:textColor="#fff"
                android:textSize="12sp"
                android:textStyle="bold"
                android:typeface="serif" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="#009FDC"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:singleLine="true"
                android:text="LONG TEXT"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
                android:textColor="#fff"
                android:textStyle="bold"
                android:typeface="serif" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="#009FDC"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:singleLine="true"
                android:text="LONG TEXT"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
                android:textColor="#fff"
                android:textStyle="bold"
                android:typeface="serif" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="#009FDC"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:singleLine="true"
                android:text="LONG TEXT"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
                android:textColor="#fff"
                android:textStyle="bold"
                android:typeface="serif" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="#009FDC"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:singleLine="true"
                android:text="LONG TEXT"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
                android:textColor="#fff"
                android:textStyle="bold"
                android:typeface="serif" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="#009FDC"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:singleLine="true"
                android:text="LONG TEXT"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
                android:textColor="#fff"
                android:textStyle="bold"
                android:typeface="serif" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="#009FDC"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:singleLine="true"
                android:text="LONG TEXT"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
                android:textColor="#fff"
                android:textStyle="bold"
                android:typeface="serif" />
        </TableRow>
    </TableLayout>

</HorizontalScrollView>

I try this and work excelent, but how I can set minWidth to each TextView? I can´t make that work — Oscar Méndez, Jan 02 '15 at 12:05
Think of a tablet placed horizontally, the size of each TextView looks ok However, but when I switch to portrait mode each TextView would be too small, so I add a minimum width and scroll the content. — Oscar Méndez, Jan 02 '15 at 12:14

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 02 '15 at 10:45

I have changed your xml a bit. Try this and let me know the result

<HorizontalScrollView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:fillViewport="true">

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:weightSum="7">

    <TextView
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
       android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
       android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

</LinearLayout>

Add android:weightSum= doesn´t make any difference but, thanks for the help — Oscar Méndez, Jan 02 '15 at 11:11
they have the same size because they have the same size, try setting different text. — Oscar Méndez, Jan 02 '15 at 11:50

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 03 '15 at 15:14

Try this code:

<HorizontalScrollView 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:fillViewport="true" >

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:weightSum="7" >

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:text="LONG TEXTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="1dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="1dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="1dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="#009FDC"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:text="LONG TEXT"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:typeface="serif" />
</LinearLayout>
</HorizontalScrollView>

enter image description here

How to prevent a TextView resize the parent LinearLayout - Android

3 Answers3