How many views can be chained(add relationship) inside ConstraintLayout

Question

Constraint layout in Android supports view chaining (https://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/constraint/ConstraintLayout#chain-style)

I checked several examples, everywhere only 3 views are showcased to demonstrate the concept.

Is 3 the limit?

I tried to add 4th element, but its not chained as per the concept.

chaining with 3 elements

Chaining with 4 elements

Code - https://gist.github.com/vamsigp/784be59f8ae1e2137ece1349c726d1f8

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 29 '19 at 14:07

1

You have an error in your layout:

app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="share2"

Should be:

app:layout_constraintRight_toLeftOf="@+id/share2"

answered Apr 29 '19 at 14:07

Philio

3,675
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Thanks, mistakes due to copypaste hard to find. – Vamsi Apr 30 '19 at 05:04

Tamir Abutbul · Answer 2 · 2019-04-29T14:30:46.020

3 Is not the limit, you can have 4 or more views that are chained together.

Here is an example of 4 view chain:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout 
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
  xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
  android:layout_width="match_parent"
  android:layout_height="match_parent">

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button9"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button10"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button12"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button10"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button11"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button11"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button10"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button12"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

And it works fine :

So chains are very flexible, here, for example, a 9 view chain:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout 
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
  xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
  android:layout_width="match_parent"
  android:layout_height="match_parent">

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button9"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button13"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button13"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button14"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button14"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button15"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button13"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button15"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button16"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button14"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button16"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button17"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button15"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button17"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button18"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button16"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button18"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button19"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button17"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button19"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button20"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button18"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button20"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Button"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button19"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button9" />

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

And like before it looks good :

You can play with this even to the point when you have so many views that it just looks like stripes (I won't share the XML for this one because, well, you got the point) :

Thanks Tamir, but in your layout file we are no where mentioning chaining concept. I am very specific of having chaining between the views. If we chaining, we no need to control the spacing between the views. Please refer (https://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/constraint/ConstraintLayout#chain-style) — Vamsi, Apr 30 '19 at 04:27

How many views can be chained(add relationship) inside ConstraintLayout

2 Answers2