android:gravity not changing the position of the text in a TextView

Question

I am writing code for an activity that has a table that initially contains 2 rows(see screenshot). I would like the text in those 2 rows to be in the center(not the TextView).

However, setting android:gravity = "center" or android:gravity = "center_horizontal" does not affect the text at all.
What am I missing?

Screenshot

activity_game.xml:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="@android:color/white"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="16dp"
tools:context=".MainActivity">

<TableLayout
    android:id="@+id/tl1"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_weight="1">

    <TableRow
        android:id="@+id/tr_header_p1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/player1_name"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Player 1"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="24sp" />
    </TableRow>

    <TableRow
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Guess"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Bulls"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Cows"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />
    </TableRow>
</TableLayout>

<TableLayout
    android:id="@+id/tl2"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_weight="1">

    <TableRow
        android:id="@+id/tr_header"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/player2_name"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Player 2"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="24sp" />
    </TableRow>

    <TableRow
        android:id="@+id/tr_header2"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Guess"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Bulls"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Cows"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />
    </TableRow>

</TableLayout>

Sathish Kumar J · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-06T11:00:22.563

1

Try this should work,

add android:gravity="center" to your @+id/tr_header_p1 and @+id/tr_header like,

<TableRow
    android:id="@+id/tr_header_p1"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:padding="5dp">

and

<TableRow
    android:id="@+id/tr_header"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:padding="5dp">

this might helps you

EDIT 1

or you need to mention the android:layout_weight="1" to your TextView. like

 <TextView
        android:id="@+id/player2_name"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:text="Player 2"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:textSize="24sp" />

edited Jul 06 '16 at 11:00

answered Jul 06 '16 at 10:50

Sathish Kumar J

4,280
1
20
48

Works. Can you explain why? Shouldn't this only shift the TextView to the center but since the layout_width of the TextView is match_parent, it should not have an effect at all. – Sajal Narang Jul 06 '16 at 10:54
If my answer helps you means kindly mark as answer and close the question . – Sathish Kumar J Jul 06 '16 at 11:05
1

your parent TableLayout having weight=1 but , you didn't mention any weight to your child. if u give same weight (1) to your child means , the problem will be solve – Sathish Kumar J Jul 06 '16 at 11:11

ddb · Answer 2 · 2016-07-06T11:12:42.420

0

try for the TableRow parent of TextView

android:gravity="CENTER_HORIZONTAL"

the default layout of a table it's applied to children nodes, as described in documentation here

edited Jul 06 '16 at 11:12

answered Jul 06 '16 at 10:46

ddb

2,423
7
28
38

@SajalNarang I changed the answer, apply `center_horizontal` to the parent of those textviews – ddb Jul 06 '16 at 10:51
Adding the android:gravity attribute to the parent does the trick, but I don't understand why. As far as I know, it will try aligning the TextView to the center of the TableRow, but fail because the layout_width of the TextView is set to match_parent. Why does it have any effect on the contents of the TextView? – Sajal Narang Jul 06 '16 at 11:04
@SajalNarang, as in html language, the default layout of a table it's applied to children nodes – ddb Jul 06 '16 at 11:11
then shouldn't my code do the same thing? I am just applying the layout directly to the child. – Sajal Narang Jul 06 '16 at 11:13
but if you do it in the html, it will not work :) usually you apply css style on the tablerow, not in the spans and div inside the table cell (I'm talking about layout styles – ddb Jul 06 '16 at 11:14

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 06 '16 at 10:51

Try this:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@android:color/white"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:padding="16dp"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <TableLayout
        android:id="@+id/tl1"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1">

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tr_header_p1"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
            android:padding="5dp">

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/player1_name"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:gravity="center"

                android:text="Player 1"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="24sp" />
        </TableRow>

        <TableRow
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
            android:padding="5dp">

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Guess"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Bulls"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Cows"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />
        </TableRow>
    </TableLayout>

    <TableLayout
        android:id="@+id/tl2"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1">

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tr_header"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
            android:padding="5dp">

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/player2_name"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Player 2"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="24sp" />
        </TableRow>

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tr_header2"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
            android:padding="5dp">

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Guess"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Bulls"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Cows"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />
        </TableRow>

    </TableLayout>
</LinearLayout>

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 06 '16 at 10:52

0

You can try setting layout_width to wrap_content and then set layout_gravity to center.

That align the entire TextView and not the text inside it

answered Jul 06 '16 at 10:52

rsella

337
1
7

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

0

What if you used android:layout_gravity from your TextView which is gonna affect the position of the element according its parent? There's a thread explaining the difference between both below

Gravity and layout_gravity on Android

edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

Community

1
1

answered Jul 06 '16 at 10:53

Victor Hugo Montes

1,270
1
17
28

The android:layout_width of the TextView is set to match_parent. So android:layout_gravity should not have any effect on the position, right? – Sajal Narang Jul 06 '16 at 11:10
You are right! If you change to **wrap_content** you should be good. But it is up you and your project scope. – Victor Hugo Montes Jul 06 '16 at 12:02

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 06 '16 at 10:54

<TableRow
        android:id="@+id/tr_header"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/player2_name"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Player 2"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="24sp" />
    </TableRow>

This is working for me

android:gravity not changing the position of the text in a TextView

6 Answers6