center 5 items packed in linear layout

Question

I have 5 items.

I want to center all of them horizontally and make them packed to each other.

I know in constraint layout I would create a horizontal chain and app:layout_constraintHorizontal_chainStyle=”packed”

But is it possible to do with LinearLayout? how?

here is my try:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<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="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    tools:context=".MainActivity"
    android:layout_gravity="center"
    tools:showIn="@layout/activity_main">


  <TextView
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:layout_weight="1"
      android:text="AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" />

  <TextView
      android:id="@+id/textView"
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:text="DOT" />

  <TextView
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:layout_weight="1"



      android:text="BBB" />


</LinearLayout>

but it's not packed in the middle:

@ErwinKurniawanA I added my code. I would expect the space to before the AAAA and after the BBB — Elad Benda, Dec 01 '19 at 16:58

p00ns · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-01T17:07:25.020

Use android:gravity="center" in your LinearLayout.

You have to put the textviews into another linealayout

<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="wrap_content"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    tools:context=".MainActivity"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:layout_gravity="center">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/textView"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="DOT" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="BBB" />

    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

https://stackoverflow.com/a/26190050/3528912 the difference between gravity and layout_gravity. But maybe we are talking past each other. You could port an example to exactly know what you mean. — p00ns, Dec 01 '19 at 15:32
for me: when I set parent's gravity it's equal to setting the child's layout_gravity. no? — Elad Benda, Dec 01 '19 at 16:43
For example, how would you set only one element to be in the center and the rest packed to it with a fix margin, in a Linear layout? — Elad Benda, Dec 01 '19 at 16:44

center 5 items packed in linear layout

1 Answers1