How to create a TextArea in Android

Question

How do I display a TextArea for my android project? From xml, the only choice is TextField, multi lined. But thats editable. I need a TextArea which is only for displaying messages/text can't be edit/input by the user.

You need something in style like EditText field or TextView? — Robert, Dec 29 '11 at 10:45
Use Text-view for this purpose it is the best suitable for your case. — Dharmendra, Dec 29 '11 at 10:47
the problem of textview i find it shows what ever is it of my background which i had images making reading difficult — Kenneth Lhv, Dec 29 '11 at 11:03
Try to use `EditText` view - [EditText documentation](http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/EditText.html). — Natali, Dec 29 '11 at 10:37
Try this code, will help you sure. https://stackoverflow.com/a/47813929/3448003 — Bajrang Hudda, Dec 14 '17 at 13:11

score 53 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 06 '17 at 07:32

53

Try this:

<EditText
        android:id="@+id/edit_text"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="150dp"
        android:inputType="text|textMultiLine"
        android:gravity="top"/>

edited Jun 06 '17 at 07:32

answered Jan 04 '16 at 14:30

Vagner Gonçalves Gonçalves

681
1
6
3

2

Common language is English. – Jun 06 '17 at 07:32

score 18 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 19 '14 at 05:22

18

Use TextView inside a ScrollView

<ScrollView
    android:id="@+id/ScrollView01"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="150dip">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

</ScrollView>

edited Nov 19 '14 at 05:22

Allan Veloso

5,823
1
38
36

answered Dec 29 '11 at 10:46

Sunil Kumar Sahoo

53,011
55
178
243

1

How do i insert multi lined description into that? – Kenneth Lhv Dec 29 '11 at 11:13

Inzimam Tariq IT · Answer 3 · 2018-02-10T08:03:41.613

If you do not want to allow user to enter text TextView is the best option here. Any how you can also add EditText for this purpose. here is a sample code for that.

This would automatically show scrollbar if there is more text than the specified lines.

<EditText
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:inputType="textMultiLine"
    android:lines="8"
    android:maxLines="10"
    android:minLines="6"
    android:scrollbars="vertical" />

Edit: Adding attributes below to textView would make it a textArea that would not be editable.

android:lines="8"
android:maxLines="10"
android:minLines="6" // optional

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 29 '11 at 10:40

11

Its really simple, write this code in XML:

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/fname"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:hint="First Name"
/>

edited Dec 29 '11 at 10:40

sll

61,540
22
104
156

answered Dec 29 '11 at 10:39

Newts

1,354
14
23

score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 23 '19 at 04:32

8

       <EditText
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="160dp"
            android:ems="10"
            android:gravity="left|top"
            android:hint="Write your comment.."
            android:inputType="textMultiLine"
            android:textSize="15sp">
            <requestFocus />
       </EditText>

answered Jul 23 '19 at 04:32

Bellal Hossain

240
3
8

Thank you bro. It helped me very much. But may i know why you used android:ems="10" and – Akshay Masram Dec 20 '22 at 13:16

score 7 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 25 '17 at 10:39

7

Use TextView inside a ScrollView to display messages with any no.of lines. User can't edit the text in this view as in EditText.

I think this is good for your requirement. Try it once.

You can change the default color and text size in XML file only if you want to fix them as below:

<TextView 
    android:id="@+id/tv"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="100px"
    android:textColor="#f00"
    android:textSize="25px"
    android:typeface="serif"
    android:textStyle="italic"/>

or if you want to change dynamically whenever you want use as below:

TextView textarea = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.tv);  // tv is id in XML file for TextView
textarea.setTextSize(20);
textarea.setTextColor(Color.rgb(0xff, 0, 0));
textarea.setTypeface(Typeface.SERIF, Typeface.ITALIC);

edited Jan 25 '17 at 10:39

Vasily Kabunov

6,511
13
49
53

answered Dec 29 '11 at 10:42

Yugandhar Babu

10,311
9
42
67

let me try that see how it goes – Kenneth Lhv Dec 29 '11 at 11:04
Yes it is very good for my requirement. Now how do i changes its font/size/color ? Default text seem to be gray faded-ish, which visibility is poor. – Kenneth Lhv Jan 03 '12 at 09:57
in where should i put textarea.setTextSize(20); ,it doesnt look like it is for xml. – Kenneth Lhv Jan 03 '12 at 18:41
No i am not, and i am using eclipse. – Kenneth Lhv Jan 04 '12 at 05:45
Yes, i am using textview now instead of edittext. Can you check my other questions? – Kenneth Lhv Jan 04 '12 at 05:55
@KennethLhv did you mean other questions asked by you ? – Yugandhar Babu Jan 04 '12 at 05:59
here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8717385/android-how-to-link-xml-with-button – Kenneth Lhv Jan 04 '12 at 06:01

score 6 · Answer 7 · edited May 15 '18 at 16:39

6

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/comments_textbox"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:hint="comments"
    android:inputType="textMultiLine"
    android:longClickable="false" />

use it to create multi line text box like textArea in Html

edited May 15 '18 at 16:39

Kasia Gogolek

3,374
4
33
50

answered May 15 '18 at 12:17

david jeyaseelan

361
3
3

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 04 '17 at 20:17

Defining an Android Mulitline EditText Field is done via the inputType=”textMultiline”. Unfortunately the text looks strangely aligned. To solve that also use the gravity=”left|top” attribute.

<EditText
   android:id="@+id/editText1"
   android:layout_width="match_parent"
   android:layout_height="match_parent"
   android:ems="10"
   android:gravity="left|top"
   android:inputType="textMultiLine" >

   <requestFocus />

check this vogella blog

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Apr 14 '20 at 12:42

All of the answers are good but not complete. Use this.

 <EditText
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="0dp"
      android:layout_marginTop="12dp"
      android:layout_marginBottom="12dp"
      android:background="@drawable/text_area_background"
      android:gravity="start|top"
      android:hint="@string/write_your_comments"
      android:imeOptions="actionDone"
      android:importantForAutofill="no"
      android:inputType="textMultiLine"
      android:padding="12dp" />

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Dec 27 '16 at 11:58

this short answer might help someone who is looking to do. add this simple code in your code

<EditText
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:editable="false"
    android:focusable="false"
    android:singleLine="true" />

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 30 '19 at 23:20

<android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="100dp">
<EditText
    android:id="@+id/question_input"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:ems="10"
    android:inputType="text|textMultiLine"
    android:lineSpacingExtra="5sp"
    android:padding="5dp"
    android:textAlignment="textEnd"
    android:typeface="normal" />

</android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView>

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Nov 02 '22 at 08:41

   <EditText
    android:id="@+id/edit_text"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="100dp"
    android:background="@drawable/border_layout"
    android:inputType="text|textMultiLine"
    android:gravity="top"/>

Create a Drawable Resource file called border_layout

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="rectangle">
    <stroke
    android:width="1dp"
    android:color="@color/custom_grey" />
    </shape>

custom grey color under values->colors.xml

    <color name="custom_grey">#494646</color>

How to create a TextArea in Android

12 Answers12

Linked