How to center RecyclerView items horizontally with vertical GridLayoutManager

Question

I have a vertical RecyclerView using a GridLayoutManager. I want each column to be centered, but the columns begin all the way on the left. In the following picture you can see what I'm talking about. I used the ugly color scheme to illustrate the columns and background. The green is the background for each item in the RecyclerView, the red is the background of the RecyclerView itself:

https://i.stack.imgur.com/DGGTY.jpg

I'm setting it up with:

mRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(new GridLayoutManager(this, 2));

Here's the column_item.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
              android:layout_width="120dp"
              android:layout_height="180dp"
              android:orientation="vertical"
              android:padding="4dp">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/movie_column_photo"
        android:layout_width="80dp"
        android:layout_height="120dp"/>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/movie_column_title"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
</LinearLayout>

Here's the recyclerview xml:

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
        android:id="@+id/company_details_recyclerview"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:scrollbars="vertical">
    </android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView>
</LinearLayout>

score 178 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 28 '16 at 01:42

178

Try letting the column item fill the width of the column while centering everything inside:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
              android:layout_width="match_parent"
              android:layout_height="180dp"
              android:orientation="vertical"
              android:padding="4dp">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/movie_column_photo"
        android:layout_width="80dp"
        android:layout_height="120dp"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"/>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/movie_column_title"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="center"/>
</LinearLayout>

answered Jul 28 '16 at 01:42

kris larson

30,387
5
62
74

3

Item with filled width solved the issue to me! thanks – Amr Mohammed Jan 19 '18 at 19:40
2

Also, if you have another nested cointainer like a constraintLayout that should use android:layout_width="match_parent" to keep the same – dreinoso Dec 12 '19 at 03:11
What if I want to column item height to fill screen? – Abdulsamet Kılınçarslan Sep 15 '21 at 22:08

elyar abad · Answer 2 · 2020-07-28T05:26:12.523

To restate @kris larson's answer;

If you are using ConstraintLayout, adding android:layout_gravity="center" or android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal" to the parent layout in item's XML would be enough (the first parent in hierarchy).

In your case, the codes would be something similar to this:

<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="180dp"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:padding="4dp"
        android:layout_gravity="center">

        <ImageView

            android:id="@+id/movie_column_photo"
            app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
            app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
            android:layout_width="80dp"
            android:layout_height="120dp"/>

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/movie_column_title"
            app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
            app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 07 '22 at 18:22

1

Simply set the width of the root layout for your `column_item.xml` to `match_parent` will center RecyclerView items horizontally.

answered Aug 07 '22 at 18:22

Marawan Mamdouh

584
1
6
15

score -4 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 11 '18 at 04:08

Wrap your recyclerview inside the constraintlayout, something like this:

<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
 xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
 android:layout_width="match_parent"
 android:layout_height="match_parent" >

<androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView
    android:id="@+id/book_list"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    app:layoutManager="androidx.recyclerview.widget.GridLayoutManager"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:spanCount="2" />

Hope it helps!!

How to center RecyclerView items horizontally with vertical GridLayoutManager

4 Answers4

Simply set the width of the root layout for your column_item.xml to match_parent will center RecyclerView items horizontally.

Simply set the width of the root layout for your `column_item.xml` to `match_parent` will center RecyclerView items horizontally.