Create a new TextView programmatically then display it below another TextView

Question

String[] textArray={"one","two","asdasasdf asdf dsdaa"};
int length=textArray.length;
RelativeLayout layout = new RelativeLayout(this);
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams relativeParams = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(
        LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
for(int i=0;i<length;i++){
    TextView tv=new TextView(getApplicationContext());
    tv.setText(textArray[i]);
    relativeParams.addRule(RelativeLayout.BELOW, tv.getId());
    layout.addView(tv, relativeParams);
}

I need to do something like that.. so it would display as

one
two
asdfasdfsomething

on the screen..

Briefly, what's wrong with your code? What doesn't work? Btw, if this is an Activity, just use `this` instead of `getApplicationContext()`. — EboMike, Dec 09 '10 at 02:33
your question title says "display it _below_ another textview" but your question states differently, with all texts in one row - please clarify or format the question text accordingly. — Mathias Conradt, Dec 09 '10 at 02:34
The question wasn't formatted right - I fixed that. (It's probably not intuitive that newlines get swallowed up) — EboMike, Dec 09 '10 at 02:40

WeNeigh · Answer 1 · 2015-08-10T05:17:27.430

If it's not important to use a RelativeLayout, you could use a LinearLayout, and do this:

LinearLayout linearLayout = new LinearLayout(this);
linearLayout.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);

Doing this allows you to avoid the addRule method you've tried. You can simply use addView() to add new TextViews.

Complete code:

String[] textArray = {"One", "Two", "Three", "Four"};
LinearLayout linearLayout = new LinearLayout(this);
setContentView(linearLayout);
linearLayout.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);        
for( int i = 0; i < textArray.length; i++ )
{
    TextView textView = new TextView(this);
    textView.setText(textArray[i]);
    linearLayout.addView(textView);
}

Don't use application context to create views. Use activity context. — bryn, May 29 '15 at 17:54

score 23 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 29 '15 at 00:57

Try this code:

final String[] str = {"one","two","three","asdfgf"};
final RelativeLayout rl = (RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.rl);
final TextView[] tv = new TextView[10];

for (int i=0; i<str.length; i++)
{
    tv[i] = new TextView(this); 
    RelativeLayout.LayoutParams params=new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams
         ((int)LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,(int)LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
    params.leftMargin = 50;
    params.topMargin  = i*50;
    tv[i].setText(str[i]);
    tv[i].setTextSize((float) 20);
    tv[i].setPadding(20, 50, 20, 50);
    tv[i].setLayoutParams(params);
    rl.addView(tv[i]);  
}

How do I define rl in the activity_main.xml file? – gimmegimme Feb 16 '17 at 18:03 — gimmegimme, Feb 16 '17 at 18:03

WeNeigh · Answer 3 · 2015-04-30T17:25:11.920

public View recentView;

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        //Create a relative layout and add a button
        relativeLayout = new RelativeLayout(this);
        btn = new Button(this);
        btn.setId((int)System.currentTimeMillis());
        recentView = btn;
        btn.setText("Click me");
        relativeLayout.addView(btn);


        setContentView(relativeLayout);

        btn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

            @Overr ide
            public void onClick(View view) {

                //Create a textView, set a random ID and position it below the most recently added view
                textView = new TextView(ActivityName.this);
                textView.setId((int)System.currentTimeMillis());
                layoutParams = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
                layoutParams.addRule(RelativeLayout.BELOW, recentView.getId());
                textView.setText("Time: "+System.currentTimeMillis());
                relativeLayout.addView(textView, layoutParams);
                recentView = textView;
            }
        });
    }

This can be modified to display each element of a String array in different TextViews.

I had issues when using this logic with multiple views, as multiple items were assigned the same id, I changed the current time with a counter to solve the issue — Roberto, Aug 19 '18 at 08:44

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 09 '10 at 02:33

4

You're not assigning any id to the text view, but you're using tv.getId() to pass it to the addRule method as a parameter. Try to set a unique id via tv.setId(int).

You could also use the LinearLayout with vertical orientation, that might be easier actually. I prefer LinearLayout over RelativeLayouts if not necessary otherwise.

answered Dec 09 '10 at 02:33

Mathias Conradt

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How can you assign a unique id programmatically ? I mean how to be sure it will be unique, when you'll never know the values of the ids in xml, and the ids to come – Dany Y Jun 19 '13 at 16:08
You will know the values of the ids in xml, why wouldn't you? Make ids like `thisKindofElem001`, `thisKindofElem002` etc. – fiatjaf Jul 25 '13 at 23:52

Create a new TextView programmatically then display it below another TextView

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