Set gravity of a View Programmatically

Question

Im working on a View over Android Source Code. I was wondering how can we setup multiple gravities, to a custom View

This is the XML

<com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock
        android:id="@+id/clock"
        android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Clock"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:paddingLeft="6dip"
        android:gravity="center_vertical|left"
        />

As you see, default gravity is center_vertical|left, so my Java code should be something like this

    View clock = mStatusBarView.findViewById(R.id.clock);

    if (clock != null) {
        SOMEHOW SET GRAVITY -> mCenterClock ? Gravity.CENTER : (Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL | Gravity.LEFT);
    }

setGravity method don't work on View. So is there an alternative of setting gravity without losing the width and height by default?.

Thanks in advance.

Inoculation

do you really want gravity or do you want layout_gravity? – Liris

android:gravity="center_vertical|left", this is the attribute I wanna change. So I guess is just gravity? am I wrong? – Inoculation

no, I understand, now - but Agarwal is right: use the actual type, not View, since the actual type will likely respond to setGravity – Liris

Answer 1

Since com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock extends TextView just cast it to a TextView and set the gravity.

 TextView clock = (TextView) mStatusBarView.findViewById(R.id.clock);
 clock.setGravity(mCenterClock ? Gravity.CENTER : (Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL | Gravity.LEFT));

Ref: Source code

Potboiler

Could you take a look here github.com/AOKP/frameworks_base/blob/ics/packages/SystemUI/src/… and here github.com/AOKP/frameworks_base/blob/ics/packages/SystemUI/res/… Seems like is the best way. I think your way is not working because is a linearLayout. – Inoculation

I ended up by porting code from AOKP source, however your answer was the more accurate. Thanks. – Inoculation

Answer 2

Have you tried?

clock.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER | Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL);

Edit:

Since you cannot use setGravity for a plain View, do something like this,

You can use a RelativeLayout and set a rule like this...

RelativeLayout.LayoutParams params = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT);
params.addRule(RelativeLayout.CENTER_HORIZONTAL|RelativeLayout.CENTER_IN_PARENT, clock.getId());

Flight

Yes. setGravity method is not available for this View. So it wont compile – Inoculation

does Clock extend a certain type of viewgroup? Or just a generic view? It may make more sense to extend a viewgroup, such as LinearLayout. – Sherlene

I'll give it a try, however HandlerExploit solution seems also possible – Inoculation

Yes that is the best solution, my answer would have been the same if I knew that your Custom View extends TextView. +1 for his answer.. You can also do this if in future your View doesn't extend TextView. Thanks. – Flight

Answer 3

 com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock clock = (com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock)mStatusBarView.findViewById(R.id.clock);

 clock.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL);

try the above code and remove View clock = mStatusBarView.findViewById(R.id.clock);

Pahlavi

Or just import com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock to not clutter your codebase, if you prefer – Liris