Why doesn't fill_parent apply to Dialogs?

Question

My Dialog layout contains:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">

The dialog still appears as small as its contents.

I had to do:

dialog.getWindow().setLayout(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT);

... within the the onCreateDialog callback in order for it to fill the screen.

I can't find any reference to this behaviour on the google dev site.

can you share the complete xml file – Ishu Apr 01 '12 at 08:49 — Ishu, Apr 01 '12 at 08:49

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:24

Answering my own question after much experimenting. Issue has to do with the usage of a Dialog class as opposed to a AlertDialog.

In short, it didn't work because I didn't use the right tools and approach. Solution was to either: continue using a Dialog class but then force it by using d.getWindow() and modifying the dimensions from there OR to use an AlertDialog and inflating the layout as such:

LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) getLayoutInflater();
View layout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.about, null);
AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);

This linked helped a lot: Why does LayoutInflater ignore the layout_width and layout_height layout parameters I've specified?

Why doesn't fill_parent apply to Dialogs?

1 Answers1