Android automatic horizontally scrolling TextView

Question

I am trying to implement a single-line text view that will scroll automatically. But I unfortunatly cannot get it to work. The AutoScrollTextView is declared inside a LinearLayout (width and height = fill_parent). The class basically uses a Handler that calls itself to scroll by a given amount. I have simplified the code to only show a text view that should be scrolling by 5 pixels every second.

The log output is correct, the getScrollX() method returns the appropriate scrollX position.

If I don't call requestLayout(), nothing gets drawn. invalidate() has no effect.

Would anybody have a clue?

public class AutoScrollTextView extends TextView {

    public AutoScrollTextView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
        setSingleLine();
        setEllipsize(null);
        setText("Single-line text view that scrolls automatically if the text is too long to fit in the widget");
    }

    // begin to scroll the text from the original position
    public void startScrolling() {
        scrollHandler.sendEmptyMessage(0);
    }

    private Handler scrollHandler = new Handler() {
        private static final int REFRESH_INTERVAL = 1000;

        public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
            scrollBy(5, 0);
            requestLayout();
            Log.debug("Scrolled to " + getScrollX() + " px");
            sendEmptyMessageDelayed(0, REFRESH_INTERVAL);
        }
    };
}

Typically for text to scroll , it should be in focus. Have you tried giving focus to your layout ? or say setSelected() to the view? — sat, Mar 29 '11 at 12:27
Yep, tried to do it from the activity and from the Handler within the custom widget. — Vincent Mimoun-Prat, Mar 29 '11 at 12:33

score 245 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 21 '17 at 05:57

245

If you don't need to sub-class the TextView, you can try this in your layout file:

    <TextView
        android:text="Single-line text view that scrolls automatically if the text is too long to fit in the widget" 
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:ellipsize="marquee"
        android:marqueeRepeatLimit ="marquee_forever"
        android:focusable="true"
        android:focusableInTouchMode="true" 
        android:scrollHorizontally="true"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

Also, in your code use the following:

findViewById(R.id.serviceColorCode).setSelected(true);

[Answer edited based on comments]

edited Aug 21 '17 at 05:57

Angel Koh

12,479
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answered Mar 29 '11 at 12:37

Rajath

11,787
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Hi, this works. However I'd love to understand why my custom widget does not work (I'd like to do some other scrolling movement than just right to left) – Vincent Mimoun-Prat Mar 29 '11 at 13:16
23

Is there any possible way to make this marquee line go back (reverse) when it finish one loop? – pleerock Nov 11 '11 at 17:56
4

Is it possible to increase the speed of the scrolling? – Bharath Feb 26 '13 at 13:35
I found if the TextView occupied whole width of layout, then the text will auto scroll perfectly. But if it didn't take whole width of layout, sometime it will not scroll its text... – RRTW May 29 '13 at 08:36
Is there a way to do this without using singleLine="true", since that has been deprecated? – Michell Bak Jun 26 '13 at 12:04
27

the TextView have to be set selected: textView.setSelected(true); – alfo888_ibg Nov 05 '13 at 14:02
1

Wow it won't work at all for me unless setSelected is set. Thanks! – Daniel Wilson Apr 18 '15 at 13:52
the whole text should be seen while scrolling through. the end text is dotted (too......) . so there is no point of scrolling. please suggest solution. – Sagar Nayak Aug 10 '16 at 05:01
6

Please note it should be `maxLines="1"` as `singleLine` was deprecated – Neon Warge Jan 12 '17 at 05:28
4

You must use singleLine attribute in order to make it work. Tried with maxLines only, on AppCompatTextView, nothing. So singleLine and setSelected(..) are the key. – bengous Mar 16 '17 at 16:26
Doesn't work on my Samsung Note 8 running Android 6.0.1 – FractalBob Apr 21 '17 at 21:20
Doesn't work on my Samsung Note 8 running Android 6.0.1 until I added singleLine = true (thanks, @bengous). – FractalBob Apr 21 '17 at 21:30
1

For me it works with `singleLine` (not `maxLines`) and without `setSelected`. This is the wonderful world of Android UI development. – m0skit0 Jul 21 '17 at 15:08
hi. it doesn't work for me. It only displays ellipsis at the end of the textview but it does not scroll. – Benjamin G Jul 27 '17 at 08:07
For some devices I found out it does not work unless you add the deprecated "singleLine=true" along with the "maxLines=1". And "setSelected(true)" was still needed. Cheers! – Federico Alvarez Oct 04 '17 at 14:05
1

Where does the id come from? This code doesn't work. -1 – Niklas Rosencrantz Nov 21 '17 at 14:24
3

How do I do the same, but vertically scrolling? – Spikatrix Jun 01 '18 at 09:45
It showed me the scrollbar for a moment and then it was deleted. I changed the scrollbars value in **xml** to `"none"` – Nima May 19 '20 at 13:56
linter warn about maxLines with message: "Combining ellipsize=marquee and maxLines=1 can lead to crashes. Use singleLine=true instead." – iddqdpwn Jul 08 '22 at 12:45

score 25 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 11 '15 at 07:24

25

After these xml code as answered by @rajat

<TextView
        android:text="Single-line text view that scrolls automatically if the text is too long to fit in the widget" 
        android:singleLine="true" 
        android:ellipsize="marquee"
        android:marqueeRepeatLimit ="marquee_forever"
        android:focusable="true"
        android:focusableInTouchMode="true" 
        android:scrollHorizontally="true"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

We need to set

TextView tv=(TextView)findViewById(R.id.textview1);
  tv.setSelected(true);

which finally made mine work

edited Dec 11 '15 at 07:24

CinCout

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answered Dec 11 '15 at 06:10

Sujeet Kumar Mehta

2,761
2
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the whole text should be seen while scrolling through. the end text is dotted (too......) . so there is no point of scrolling. please suggest solution. – Sagar Nayak Aug 10 '16 at 05:02
I think you might have set android:ellipsize="end". Check once. Let me know if its not the case. Also if possible please share your code here – Sujeet Kumar Mehta Aug 10 '16 at 05:58
no i have "marquee" . but i am doing this inside an recyclerview. the outer recyclerview has a element that contains the textview. then the text view has a long text. i want to show it in one line . and this will scroll automatically for infinity. – Sagar Nayak Aug 10 '16 at 06:25
1

Ok. Not sure why using it is recycler view will disable the auto scroll. – Sujeet Kumar Mehta Aug 10 '16 at 09:43

score 18 · Answer 3 · edited May 06 '17 at 16:37

My solution works:

<TextView
     android:id="@+id/titolotxt"
     android:layout_width="..."
     android:layout_height="..."
     android:ellipsize="marquee"
     android:gravity="left"
     android:marqueeRepeatLimit="marquee_forever"
     android:singleLine="true"
     android:text="@string/titolo"/>

And the TextView have to be setted selected: textView.setSelected(true); by code in onCreate for example.

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 22 '16 at 09:06

// this TextView will marquee because it is selected
TextView marqueeText1 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.marquee_text_1);
marqueeText1.setSelected(true);

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/marquee_text_1"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit."
    android:textSize="24sp"
    android:singleLine="true"
    android:ellipsize="marquee"
    android:marqueeRepeatLimit="marquee_forever"
    android:scrollHorizontally="true" />

Deepak Pradhan · Answer 5 · 2022-02-14T05:52:51.163

Hint: Your Text should be big in length otherwise it won't work for small-length text if it does not exceed your screen size.

<  TextView
        android:id="@+id/support"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text=" enter the large text that wont fit on screen "
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:scrollHorizontally="true"
        android:ellipsize="marquee"
        android:marqueeRepeatLimit="marquee_forever"
        />

and in your activity

 TextView textView=findViewById(R.id.support);
        textView.setSelected(true);

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 12 '21 at 12:23

In order to move text, besides adding attributes:

android:ellipsize="marquee"
android:singleLine="true"
android:marqueeRepeatLimit="marquee_forever"
android:focusable="true"
android:clickable="true"
android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
android:scrollHorizontally="true"

it is necessary for View to be in focus, so this can be done in two ways:

Programmatically:
```
tv.setSelected (true);
```

Do everything in XML by adding requestFocus tag:

<TextView 
     android:layout_width="match_parent"
     android:layout_height="wrap_content"
     android:ellipsize="marquee"
     android:singleLine="true"
     android:marqueeRepeatLimit="marquee_forever"
     android:focusable="true"
     android:clickable="true"
     android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
     android:scrollHorizontally="true">
     <requestFocus />
</TextView>

Thanks. I wondered why all the solutions in the other answers didn't work by me. Because of the absence of the instruction `android:clickable="true"` — ka3ak, Feb 24 '22 at 06:38

Felipe Silva Vieira · Answer 7 · 2022-08-11T14:00:27.340

The only thing that worked for my case was using scrollview and setting the scroll programatically

Text View inside fragment

<HorizontalScrollView
        android:id="@+id/hsv_fragment_drafting_now_header_info"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
        android:scrollbars="none">

        <TextView
               android:id="@+id/tv_fragment_drafting_now_header_info"
               android:layout_width="wrap_content"
               android:layout_height="wrap_content"
               android:fontFamily="@font/circular_std_book"
               android:maxLines="1"
               android:text="A very long text that will be reaching out the screen or view container"
               android:textSize="16sp" />

</HorizontalScrollView>

Animation, sliding_text.xml

<translate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      android:duration="8000"
      android:fromXDelta="100%"
      android:interpolator="@android:anim/linear_interpolator"
      android:repeatCount="infinite"
      android:repeatMode="restart"
      android:toXDelta="-100%" />

Block manual scroll and start animation

headerInfoScroll.setOnTouchListener(object : View.OnTouchListener{
    override fun onTouch(p0: View?, p1: MotionEvent?): Boolean {
         return true
    }
})

headerInfo.startAnimation(AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(this.context, R.anim.sliding_text))

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 06 '14 at 13:28

0

Sometimes invalidate wont work until you call invalidate in main thread like follows:

handler.post(new Runnable() {

        @Override
        public void run() {
            yourView.invalidate();
        }
    });

answered Feb 06 '14 at 13:28

Vitaliy A

3,651
1
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Alex IP · Answer 9 · 2021-05-22T08:08:11.770

0

setMovementMethod(new ScrollingMovementMethod()) with setHorizontallyScrolling(true) work in my case.

in .java:

tv = findViewById(R.id.textViewID);
tv.setMovementMethod(new ScrollingMovementMethod());
tv.setHorizontallyScrolling(true);

edited May 22 '21 at 08:08

answered May 22 '21 at 03:16

Alex IP

21
4

Android automatic horizontally scrolling TextView

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