How to add spacing to tab widget in Android?

Question

I'd like to add extra spacing on the sides and between tabs on the tab widget, but padding and margins dont seem to make any difference. I also played with setting the divider, tab strip left and right drawables, which didn't seem to make any difference either.

Trying to make the tabs look like this: alt text

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 17 '12 at 10:03

You can use this code to do that

TabWidget widget = getTabWidget();
final int tabChildrenCount = widget.getChildCount();
LinearLayout.LayoutParams currentLayout;
for (int i = 0; i < tabChildrenCount; i++) {
    currentLayout = (LinearLayout.LayoutParams) widget.getChildAt(i).getLayoutParams();
    if (i == 0) {
        currentLayout.setMargins(10, 0, 5, 0);
    } else if (i == (tabChildrenCount - 1)) {
        currentLayout.setMargins(5, 0, 10, 0);
    } else {
        currentLayout.setMargins(5, 0, 5, 0);
    }
    currentLayout.height = 40;
}
widget.requestLayout();

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

1

You need to set the divider between the Tab widgets. Take a look at dividers between TabWidgets

edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

Community

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answered Nov 11 '10 at 15:40

Peter Knego

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Yes, I *am* setting the divider in the layout XML but it doesn't seem to work. Ill try doing it programmatically as your link suggests. Thanks. – Eno Nov 13 '10 at 10:44

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 11 '10 at 16:32

1

The Google IO schedule app has tabs that look just like yours. I would check out that app and browse their source code: http://code.google.com/p/iosched/ (the middle screenshot has the tabs)

answered Nov 11 '10 at 16:32

Josh Clemm

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Good call - that's a neat looking app and reading the source is very instructive so thanks for the pointer. – Eno Nov 13 '10 at 10:48

How to add spacing to tab widget in Android?

3 Answers3