how to make an EditText have a maximum width but still fill parent width

Question

I have an EditText which I want to fill all the horizontal width available but the width should not be greater than 200dp

This makes EditText adapt to any screen size and still makes it look good on large screens (stretching horizontally won't look nice on a large screen).

How to do this in Android?

I saw that maxWidth=200dp and layoutWidth=fill_parent do not work together:

 <EditText android:id="@+id/oldpassword"
           android:hint="@string/youroldpassword"
           android:inputType="textpassword"
           android:layout_width="fill_parent"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
           android:maxWidth="250dp" />

If maxWidth and layoutWidth=fill_parent do not work together, then what is the maxWidth meant for?

In other words, if the EditBox does not change its width dynamically, then what would you need maxWidth for?

Please add the whole layout so we can understand the purpose of this layouting.. — Evgeni Roitburg, Sep 18 '13 at 07:58
its within a simple LinearLayout with layout_width and layout_height set to "fill_parent" — WriteEatSleepRepeat, Sep 18 '13 at 08:04
When you set maxWidth then width not exceeds given limit and When You set minWidth then it hold given limit even less or no content — Haresh Chhelana, Sep 18 '13 at 10:07
If you want to EdiText fill rest of area then remove maxWidth properties from your code. — Haresh Chhelana, Sep 18 '13 at 10:08
Possible duplicate of [maxWidth doesn't work with fill\_parent](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13325403/maxwidth-doesnt-work-with-fill-parent) — Kirill Rakhman, Aug 19 '16 at 10:23

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 18 '13 at 07:36

4

you can set width programmatically depending on the device screen size. like

Display display = getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay(); 
int width = display.getWidth();
EditText et = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.editText);
if(width > 200)
{
    et.setWidth(200);
}
else
{
    et.setWidth(width);
}

answered Sep 18 '13 at 07:36

swati srivastav

635
4
15

3

I was afraid about that. Is this such an uncommon thing to achieve? Also, I am confused about what maxWidth is meant for. If it doesn't work with fill_parent, then what is it for? – WriteEatSleepRepeat Sep 18 '13 at 07:38
as you require to set it dynamically so i thing not possible to work on xml files. ok still m trying for alternate option. wait... – swati srivastav Sep 18 '13 at 07:41

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 18 '13 at 09:13

i have solution, look if you set android:layout_width="fill_parent" it was always having it's width which have parent but when you set android:layout_width="wrap_content" then it was increase size width with content while you entering Text in EditText, now if you use android:maxWidth="250dp" with android:layout_width="wrap_content" then it will increase it's width upto 250dp while entering value in EditText

use

<EditText android:id="@+id/oldpassword"
       android:hint="@string/youroldpassword"
       android:inputType="textpassword"
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:maxWidth="250dp" />`

or use

<EditText android:id="@+id/oldpassword"
       android:hint="@string/youroldpassword"
       android:inputType="textpassword"
       android:layout_width="fill_parent"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

I need something in between. I want the EditText to fill the parent but its width should not be over 250dp. But your explanation is useful, thanks — WriteEatSleepRepeat, Sep 18 '13 at 10:12
then you can define layout_width="250dp" fix other then no solution may be any one can help. — Rajesh, Sep 18 '13 at 10:38

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 18 '13 at 07:28

1

remove maxWidth=200dp in your layout

answered Sep 18 '13 at 07:28

Sardor Dushamov

1,665
3
17
44

did you read my question? how can I make the EditText not stretch horizontally over 200dp? – WriteEatSleepRepeat Sep 18 '13 at 07:30
post your layout file – Sardor Dushamov Sep 18 '13 at 07:31

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 18 '13 at 07:48

You can wrap edit text to relative layout.Here is what you can do -:

<RelativeLayout
    android:id="@+id/relativeLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/oldpassword"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:maxWidth="250dp"
        android:maxLines="1"
        />
</RelativeLayout>

score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 18 '13 at 07:33

-1

You can wrap the editText in layout(which have width of 200dp) and make editText to match_parent.

answered Sep 18 '13 at 07:33

Evgeni Roitburg

1,958
21
33

what's the difference? the EditText width will be fixed to 200dp – WriteEatSleepRepeat Sep 18 '13 at 07:35
Please refer to this post: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13325403/fill-parent-and-maxwidth-doesnt-work, look at the last answer's comments – Evgeni Roitburg Sep 18 '13 at 07:39
it doesn't answer my question, the EditText is not stretched horizontally – WriteEatSleepRepeat Sep 18 '13 at 07:44

score -3 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 23 '15 at 09:58

-3

I solved it using android:layout_marginRight="300dp", the greater is this value, the smaller is the width of the EditText object's line.

answered Sep 23 '15 at 09:58

Careelika

1

It's not the solution, because Android support 8000+ devices and 300 dp it's very big and you're layout should be very useless on some devices – Hugo Mallet Dec 11 '15 at 05:54

how to make an EditText have a maximum width but still fill parent width

6 Answers6