Android: setText destroys formatted string

Question

I'm new to android programming and I'm working on an financial management app. Currently I got into a problem that the setText() method destroys the string format that I pass in.

I have an Account class which has a customary toString method which returns a formatted string of the account information:

public String toString(int colWidth1, int colWidth2, int colWidth3) {
    return String.format("%-" + colWidth1 + "s", myDisplayName) +
            String.format("%-" + colWidth2 + "s", myBalance) + 
            String.format("%-" + colWidth3 + "s", myInterestRate);
}

And in the AccountInfo activity, I have:

// create a table that contains all account information of the current user
    TableLayout accountTable = (TableLayout) findViewById(R.id.tableLayout_account_details);
    List<Account> accountList = accountManager.getAllAccounts(CurrentUser.getCurrentUser().getUserName());

    // for each account, display name, balance and interest rate
    for (int i = 0; i < accountList.size(); i++) {
        Account account = accountList.get(i);
        TableRow accEntry = new TableRow(this);
        Button accButton = new Button(this);
        accButton.setText(account.toString(10, 10, 10));
        Log.i("account info", account.toString(10, 10, 10));

        // button format
        TableRow.LayoutParams params = new TableRow.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
        params.setMargins(0, -7, 0, -10);
        accButton.setLayoutParams(params);
        accButton.setGravity(Gravity.LEFT);

        // add button to the row
        accEntry.addView(accButton);

        // add row to the table
        accountTable.addView(accEntry);

        // ...more code here for button click listener
    }

Although my logcat prints nicely formatted string as I wanted, the text on button does not line up nicely

(just realized I don't have enough reputations to post a screenshot of my app...)

I've tried to debug for long but still don't have a clue. Any help is deeply appreciated!!!

EDIT: screenshot

I think you should check this link to know how to use String.Format http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3695230/how-to-use-java-string-format — Cuong Huynh, Mar 19 '14 at 02:42
my fault. Do you meet problem with the column/textview width? — Cuong Huynh, Mar 19 '14 at 02:58
I just added a dropbox link of my screenshots, that might make my question clearer — TheInvisibleFist, Mar 19 '14 at 03:19
@Kedarnath Can you put up my other screenshot too? It's missing one for the app and I don't have enough reputation to put up by myself... — TheInvisibleFist, Mar 19 '14 at 04:16
You should use [multicolumn listview](http://www.technotalkative.com/android-multi-column-listview/) please check the link. Right now you are using single textView, instead if you use multiple Textview, then your problem should be solve. — Lucifer, Mar 19 '14 at 04:28
@Kedarnath Thank you for the link! That looks really helpful! But I also want the whole row as one clickable item, i.e no matter if I click on the name, balance or interest rate, I will be directed to the next activity. That's why I originally tried to setText on a button. Is there any way to achieve that? Thanks again! — TheInvisibleFist, Mar 19 '14 at 05:10
You may call same activity on each textview ,that's way you can solve it. — Lucifer, Mar 19 '14 at 05:19
well there's a time restriction before I can accept my own answer. will do though.. — TheInvisibleFist, Mar 21 '14 at 01:01

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '14 at 18:28

1

My roommate points out the problem! He's awesome!!!

The alignment is off because the font is not monospaced. Simply do

android:typeface="monospace"

in the layout xml and problem solved!!!

answered Mar 19 '14 at 18:28

TheInvisibleFist

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 12 '17 at 07:54

I want to answer from Android Studio:

Do not concatenate text displayed with setText. Use resource string with placeholders.

When calling TextView#setText:

Never call Number#toString() to format numbers; it will not handle fraction separators and locale-specific digits properly. Consider using String#format with proper format specifications (%d or %f) instead.

Do not pass a string literal (e.g. "Hello") to display text. Hardcoded text can not be properly translated to other languages. Consider using Android resource strings instead.

Do not build messages by concatenating text chunks. Such messages can not be properly translated.

Android: setText destroys formatted string

2 Answers2