In android, how to make empty TextView stay in the middle vertically?

Question

In android, I want to add an empty message in the middle of screen when my GridView is empty. But the layout below makes the text in the middle-top of the screen. How can I make the text in the middle also in vertical direction ?

GridView gridview = (GridView) findViewById(R.id.gridview);        
TextView emptyText = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.empty);
gridview.setEmptyView(emptyText);



   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">


    <GridView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
       android:id="@+id/gridview"
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:columnWidth="100dp"
       android:numColumns="auto_fit"
       android:verticalSpacing="10dp"
       android:horizontalSpacing="10dp"
       android:stretchMode="columnWidth"
        android:paddingTop="?android:attr/actionBarSize"
       android:gravity="center"

       />


        <TextView
        android:id="@+id/empty"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"

        android:gravity="center"
        android:text="No project files found"
        android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />


    </LinearLayout>

@mehdiakbarian That doesn't work in a LinearLayout for vertically centering — OneCricketeer, Jul 15 '16 at 19:58
@mehdiakbarian using your TextView. the text is not displayed at all. Why ? — J. Doe, Jul 15 '16 at 20:07
@J.Doe because of grid view! if your gridview fill with data it will get all space of screen and textView will go out!! its better handle this with RelativeLayout — Mehdi Akbarian Rastaghi, Jul 15 '16 at 20:10
This should help you. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3482742/gravity-and-layout-gravity-on-android — OneCricketeer, Jul 15 '16 at 20:11

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 15 '16 at 21:15

2

Make the parent view as RelativeLayout and then set centerInParent="true" for TextView

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@color/grey">

    <TextView
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />

</RelativeLayout>

edited Jul 15 '16 at 21:15

lgdroid57

699
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answered Jul 15 '16 at 19:57

Ekansh Rastogi

2,418
2
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In my original code; changed to RelativeLayout and add layout_centerInParent = "true" in TextView. The text is not displayed at all. – J. Doe Jul 15 '16 at 20:03
change android:textColor="#FFFFFF" to something else, this is setting color to white – Ekansh Rastogi Jul 15 '16 at 20:09
@EkanshRastogi What if the theme background is dark? – OneCricketeer Jul 15 '16 at 20:09
@EkanshRastogi Yes. it works now. textColor was same as the background. – J. Doe Jul 15 '16 at 20:16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 15 '16 at 20:00

0

If you are unable to make the parent view a Relative layout, try this:

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/empty"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:text="No project files found"
    android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />

answered Jul 15 '16 at 20:00

Bill

4,506
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This method makes the text appear at the left-top corner. – J. Doe Jul 15 '16 at 20:05
that's weird, what happens if you delete the `GridView` block, does it center then? – Bill Jul 15 '16 at 20:06
How to remove gridview. In my code I need to add the text view as empty view to the gridView. – J. Doe Jul 15 '16 at 20:11
You can't add a `TextView` as a child to `GridView`, in Android Studio it won't even render the preview screen if you tried. – Bill Jul 15 '16 at 20:13
Nice option iff GridView visibility is set to gone. – Krrishnaaaa Jul 15 '16 at 20:22

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 15 '16 at 20:01

0

Try this:

<TextView
        android:id="@+id/empty"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:text="No project files found"
        android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />

answered Jul 15 '16 at 20:01

Sagar Jogadia

1,330
1
16
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When your gridview is empty change its visibility to gone then the text will be visible in center – Sagar Jogadia Jul 15 '16 at 20:13

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 15 '16 at 20:17

I think the best way to place the TextView center vertical is to make the parent layout a RelativeLayout and place the TextView in a LinearLayout centered vertical to the LinearLayout which is centered to the parent layout.

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">

<GridView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/gridview"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:columnWidth="100dp"
    android:numColumns="auto_fit"
    android:verticalSpacing="10dp"
    android:horizontalSpacing="10dp"
    android:stretchMode="columnWidth"
    android:paddingTop="?android:attr/actionBarSize"
    android:gravity="center"

    />


<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_centerInParent="true">
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/empty"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="center_vertical"
        android:text="No project files found"
        android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

You added extra complexity by adding LinearLayout as root of TextView — Krrishnaaaa, Jul 15 '16 at 20:20
without the LinearLayout, i don't think it is possible to set the TextView center vertical. The LinearLayout was used to Hold the TextView center in parent and to make it possible to set TextView center vertical. — Franklyn, Jul 15 '16 at 20:24
Instead of doing that, you can add the centerInParent attribute to the TextView — Krrishnaaaa, Jul 15 '16 at 20:29
oh i think i understand the J.Doe now, the TextView should be centered of the parent view not centered vertical of the parent view. Good one @Krrishnaaaa — Franklyn, Jul 15 '16 at 20:31

In android, how to make empty TextView stay in the middle vertically?

4 Answers4