Android below 4.2 how to set layoutDirection to be RTL

Question

trying to set the layout elements to be RTL ordered

in 4.2 and above the line: layoutDirection="rtl" and in the manifest: android:supportsRtl="true" is working just fine.

but for below 4.2 its not.

solution anyone ?

check [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15746091/how-to-handle-rtl-languages-on-pre-4-2-versions-of-android) answer, please — molhamaleh, Nov 09 '16 at 08:30

score 24 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 23 '16 at 03:23

24

Just use ViewCompat using android.support.v4.view to do it.

ViewCompat.setLayoutDirection(findViewById(R.id.my_view), ViewCompat.LAYOUT_DIRECTION_RTL);

answered Jul 23 '16 at 03:23

Aref Bahreini

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Magic!! Great solution! – idish Jul 05 '17 at 21:46
@ArefBahreini This method work on api 17 and above. Check inside of this method - if (VERSION.SDK_INT >= 17) { view.setLayoutDirection(layoutDirection); } – Reza Mar 19 '19 at 15:44

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 04 '13 at 14:05

6

You won't be able to. It was added to in API Level 17 which is 4.2 so the older versions do not support it.

edited Dec 04 '13 at 14:05

Marcin Orlowski

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answered Dec 04 '13 at 14:03

Boardy

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so r u suggesting me to change the order of the elements in the xml ? – Nadav Dec 04 '13 at 14:04
1

Probably the best way you create a layout file for specific android API levels. e.g. ``layout-v17`` so that the new APIs use the RTL layout, then create a layout for older verions that have the XML in the way round you need – Boardy Dec 04 '13 at 14:57

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 01 '17 at 17:59

you can change your application language and solve this problem :

String languageToLoad  = "en";
Locale locale = new Locale(languageToLoad);
Locale.setDefault(locale);
Configuration config = new Configuration();
config.locale = locale;
getBaseContext().getResources().updateConfiguration(config,
getBaseContext().getResources().getDisplayMetrics());

Android below 4.2 how to set layoutDirection to be RTL

3 Answers3

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