2 buttons in a horizontal LinearLayout - how to spread them out?

Question

I am following the Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide book and have a very newbish question:

In my first app named GeoQuiz - how to move the right button to the very right of the screen (and still keep the sizes of the buttons at wrap_content):

screenshot

My layout file can be seen an GitHub as activity_quiz.xml and here is an excerpt:

<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:gravity="center"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context="de.afarber.geoquiz.QuizActivity" >
....
    <LinearLayout
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/true_button"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/true_button" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/false_button"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/false_button" />

    </LinearLayout>
....       
</LinearLayout>

set linear layout width to match_parent and align false button to roght by setting layout_gravity to right — Ravi Kant, Sep 10 '14 at 10:59
set gravity of horizontal linear layout to right android:gravity="right" — Chirag Jain, Sep 10 '14 at 11:01
Ravi, I already have `match_parent` in my horizontal LinearLayout. When I add `android:gravity="right"` to the *False* button - it doesn't move anywhere. — Alexander Farber, Sep 10 '14 at 11:03

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 10 '14 at 11:00

Try this please

<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:gravity="center"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="de.afarber.geoquiz.QuizActivity" >
....
<RelativeLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/true_button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:text="@string/true_button" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/false_button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:text="@string/false_button" />

</RelativeLayout>
....       
</LinearLayout>

Farouk, I get the warning (with the latest Android SDK 23.0.2): *Invalid layout param in a LinearLayout: layout_alignParentRight* — Alexander Farber, Sep 10 '14 at 11:11
Make sure please that you replaced LinearLayout by RelativeLayout just like my example. — Farouk Touzi, Sep 10 '14 at 11:16

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 10 '14 at 11:05

Try this way,hope this will help you to solve your problem.

<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:gravity="center"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context="de.afarber.geoquiz.QuizActivity" >

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

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/true_button"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/true_button" />
        <View
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="1dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"/>
        <Button
            android:id="@+id/false_button"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/false_button" />

    </LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 19 '14 at 11:38

I hope this will be helpful for you:

<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:gravity="center"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="de.afarber.geoquiz.QuizActivity" >

<LinearLayout
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:weightSum="3">

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/true_button"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/true_button"
        android:layout_weight="1" />
    <View
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="1dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:visibility="invisible"/>
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/false_button"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/false_button"
        android:layout_weight="1" />

</LinearLayout>

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 10 '14 at 11:36

I would recommend creating two more horizontal layouts within the earlier horizontal layout and giving each a weight of 0.5. You can then place the true and false button at the center of the horizontal layout. The code is as follows:

<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:gravity="center"

android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="de.afarber.geoquiz.QuizActivity" >

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


    <LinearLayout
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_weight="0.5"
    android:gravity="center" >

   <Button
       android:id="@+id/true_button"
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:text="@string/true_button" />

       </LinearLayout>

    <LinearLayout
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:layout_weight="0.5"
    android:gravity="center">

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/false_button"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/false_button"/>

        </LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

I hope this helps as the size of your button will remain as wrap_content and you can spread your buttons out. Although you could easily solve your problem using relative layout I would strongly advise you against using relative layouts as they may create problems when the resolution of the screen is changed

Right. So while Google suggests you use a `RelativeLayout` for simpler layouts (_and this one is particularly simple_), you recommend against it? Ref: [Android Layout Tricks #1](http://android-developers.blogspot.in/2009/02/android-layout-tricks-1.html). And also, a simple implementation like this, would not create _problems_ when the resolution changes. — Siddharth Lele, Sep 10 '14 at 12:34

2 buttons in a horizontal LinearLayout - how to spread them out?

4 Answers4