Question

Here is my layout:

The issue I’m facing is with the drawable checkmark. How would I go about aligning it next to the text, both of them centered within the button? Here is the XML:

<RelativeLayout 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"
    tools:context=".PostAssignmentActivity" >

    <LinearLayout
        style="?android:attr/buttonBarStyle"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:orientation="horizontal" >

        <Button
            style="?android:attr/buttonBarButtonStyle"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:drawableLeft="@drawable/ic_checkmark_holo_light"
            android:text="Post" />

        <Button
            style="?android:attr/buttonBarButtonStyle"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="Cancel" />
    </LinearLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

Applying android:gravity=”center_vertical” pulls the text and drawable together, but then the text is no longer aligned in the center.

Answer 1

Solution 1

Set android:paddingLeft inside your first button. This will force the drawableLeft by paddingLeft amount to the right. This is the fast/hacky solution.

Solution 2

Instead of using a ButtonView, use a LinearLayout that contains both a textview and imageview. This is a better solution. It gives you more flexibility in the positioning of the checkmark.

Replace your ButtonView with the following code. You need the LinearLayout and TextView to use buttonBarButtonStyle so that the background colors are correct on selection and the text size is correct. You need to set android:background="#0000" for the children, so that only the LinearLayout handles the background coloring.

<LinearLayout
    style="?android:attr/buttonBarButtonStyle"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    android:orientation="horizontal" >
    <ImageView 
        style="?android:attr/buttonBarButtonStyle"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:clickable="false"
        android:background="#0000"
        android:src="@drawable/ic_checkmark_holo_light"/>
    <TextView
        style="?android:attr/buttonBarButtonStyle"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:clickable="false"
        android:background="#0000"
        android:text="Done" />
</LinearLayout>

Here are some screenshots I took while trying this out.