How can I get an Android TableLayout to fill the screen?

Question

I'm battling with Android's awful layout system. I'm trying to get a table to fill the screen (simple right?) but it's ridiculously hard.

I got it to work somehow in XML like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<TableLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_width="fill_parent">
<TableRow android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1">
<Button android:text="A" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1"/>
<Button android:text="B" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1"/>
</TableRow>
<TableRow android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1">
<Button android:text="C" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1"/>
<Button android:text="D" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1"/>
</TableRow>

However I can not get it to work in Java. I've tried a million combinations of the LayoutParams, but nothing ever works. This is the best result I have which only fills the width of the screen, not the height:

    table = new TableLayout(this);
    // Java. You suck.
    TableLayout.LayoutParams lp = new TableLayout.LayoutParams(
                                    ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,
                                    ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT);
    table.setLayoutParams(lp); // This line has no effect! WHYYYY?!
    table.setStretchAllColumns(true);
    for (int r = 0; r < 2; ++r)
    {
        TableRow row = new TableRow(this);
        for (int c = 0; c < 2; ++c)
        {
            Button btn = new Button(this);
            btn.setText("A");
            row.addView(btn);
        }
        table.addView(row);
    }

Obviously the Android documentation is no help. Anyone have any ideas?

Boys

I don't think you're going to get a lot of people rushing to provide you with an answer with all that negativity in your question. – Blackett

Yeah I know. It's just really frustrating when you struggle for ages with what should be a simple task. – Boys

+1 for the Android's retarded layout system – Loos

Answer 1

Finally worked out how to do this. Gave up on TableLayout and just used horizontal LinearLayouts inside a vertical one. The critical key is to set the weight. If you specify FILL_PARENT but with the default weight, it doesn't work:

LinearLayout buttonsView = new LinearLayout(this);
buttonsView.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
for (int r = 0; r < 6; ++r)
{
    LinearLayout row = new LinearLayout(this);
    row.setOrientation(LinearLayout.HORIZONTAL);
    for (int c = 0; c < 4; ++c)
    {
        Button btn = new Button(this);
        btn.setText("A");
        LinearLayout.LayoutParams lp = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(LinearLayout.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LinearLayout.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT);
        lp.weight = 1.0f;
        row.addView(btn, lp);
    }
    LinearLayout.LayoutParams lp = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(LinearLayout.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LinearLayout.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT);
    lp.weight = 1.0f;
    buttonsView.addView(row, lp);
}  

ViewGroup.LayoutParams lp = new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT);
setContentView(buttonsView, lp);

Boys

Answer 2

There are two mistakes in the above discussion.

1. It is possible to programatically set the weight by specifying TableLayout.LayoutParams and TableRow.LayoutParams and using the appropriate constructor, e.g.

   TableLayout.LayoutParams rowInTableLp = new TableLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, 1.0f);
   

2. A widget must have the LayoutParams of its parent. Therefore, the rows must use TableLayout.LayoutParams.

This gives you the following working version of your initial code:

TableLayout table = new TableLayout(this);
// Java. You succeed!
FrameLayout.LayoutParams lp = new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT);
table.setLayoutParams(lp);
table.setStretchAllColumns(true);

TableLayout.LayoutParams rowLp = new TableLayout.LayoutParams(
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,
        1.0f);
TableRow.LayoutParams cellLp = new TableRow.LayoutParams(
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,
        1.0f);
for (int r = 0; r < 2; ++r)
{
    TableRow row = new TableRow(this);
    for (int c = 0; c < 2; ++c)
    {
        Button btn = new Button(this);
        btn.setText("A");
        row.addView(btn, cellLp);
    }
    table.addView(row, rowLp);
}
setContentView(table);

Thanks to Romain Guy's comment on Android developer's forum for the solution.

Costello

Whooah, been struggling with other examples for ages! Finally this one works! Thaaanks! – Vacla

This sentence did the trick for me: 'A widget must have the LayoutParams of its parent. Therefore, the rows must use TableLayout.LayoutParams' – Folklore

I've spent hours on this until I read this... "A widget must have the LayoutParams of its parent." Thanks you saved me lots of time! – Doubleacting

Answer 3

Found the answer: apparently it is the layout_weight that makes it work and there is no way to set it from Java. Damnit.

See How can I get an Android TableLayout to fill the parent in landscape mode?

Boys

Answer 4

You never set the row or button layout parameters whereas in the posted xml you do that..change the details of the for loops to set both the row layout parameters and the button layout parameters than it should give the same result as your xml.

Hurff

It doesn't - I tried that (in many ways!). Additionally in the Android docs it says: "The children of a TableLayout cannot specify the layout_width attribute. Width is always FILL_PARENT. However, the layout_height attribute can be defined by a child; default value is WRAP_CONTENT. If the child is a TableRow, then the height is always WRAP_CONTENT." And "The children of a TableRow do not need to specify the layout_width and layout_height attributes in the XML file. TableRow always enforces those values to be respectively FILL_PARENT and WRAP_CONTENT." – Boys

Answer 5

To set TableLayout LayoutParams, we logically expect to use TableLayout.LayoutParams class, but you will get a cast error stating that TableLayout.LayoutParams cannot be casted into FrameLayout.LayoutParams.

So, you should use FrameLayout.LayoutParams, if you want to programmatically set TableLayout properties. For example:

FrameLayout.LayoutParams layoutParams = new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(TableLayout.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,TableLayout.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT);
            layoutParams.setMargins(80, 0, 0, 0);
            TableLayout tableLayout = (TableLayout) findViewById(R.id.header_detail);
            tableLayout.setLayoutParams(layoutParams);

Poundal