Adjust EditText size to Hint

Question

Is it possible to adjust the EditText size to match the hint size? If not, what is the best way to allow users to enter their date of birth? I have a signup form and I used an EditText for all fields and the UI would be nicer with three EditTexts for each field (DD - MM - YYYY)

Edit

In the screenshot, the last 3 fields should be for date of birth. DD - MM - YYYY In the month and year fields there is a hint but it's not shown.

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 12 '15 at 18:12

The most common and convenient way to do it is to use a date (time) picker.

Since it is a dialog box, you could call it from a button like this:

<Button android:layout_width="..." android:layout_height="..." android:text="Select birthdate" android:onClick="selectDate" />

and have it appear nicely adjusted to the device screen from the selectDate() method. Here are some examples: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/controls/pickers.html

Thank you. I was hoping to find a way only using EditText – Motassem Jalal Sep 12 '15 at 18:33 — Motassem Jalal, Sep 12 '15 at 18:33

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:29

It has been asked already. Try this one Android EditText hint

EDIT: If you are looking for something like this https://i.stack.imgur.com/txyNd.jpg

Then this is the code:

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal">

<EditText
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:hint="DD"/>

<TextView
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="-"/>

<EditText
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:hint="MM"/>

<TextView
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="-"/>

<EditText
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:hint="YYYY"/>

</LinearLayout>

Simple use the android:hint for mentioning the hint. Used TextView for adding the hyphen.And you can use "android:weight" to balance the distance between the text views if you want some presentable decoration in your UI.

Hope this helps.

@MotassemJa Can you provide some code and a screenshot that you are currently using? It might help us to understand the issue. — Aatif Ansari, Sep 13 '15 at 18:25
@MotassemJa if you are using a specific dp in your android:width, make sure you check it different screen sizes, it might cause some issues on low res screens. — Aatif Ansari, Sep 15 '15 at 10:36

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 14 '15 at 11:30

Adding a width attribute solved it.

<EditText
   android:id="@+id/input_dob_year"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:width="100dp"
   android:hint="YYYY"
   android:inputType="number"
   android:paddingRight="50dp" />

Adjust EditText size to Hint

3 Answers3