Question

I have a layout issue. What I do is this:

1. create TableLayout in xml with zero children:
   <TableLayout android:id="@+id/t_layout_contents"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="@id/l_layout_tags"
android:stretchColumns="1"
android:paddingLeft="5dip"
android:paddingRight="5dip" />
2. Insert first row programmatically in onCreate():
   TableLayout tLayoutContents = (TableLayout)findViewById(R.id.t_layout_contents);
NoteElement nr_1 = new NoteElement(this);
tLayoutContents.addView(nr_1);

Class “NoteElement” extends TableRow. The 1st row just consists of a blank ImageView as a placeholder and an EditText to enter text. NoteElement’s constructor looks like this:

public NoteElement(Context c) {  
    super(c);  
    this.context = c;  
    defaultText = c.getResources().getString(R.string.create_note_help_text);  

    imageView = new ImageView(context);
    imageView.setImageResource(android.R.color.transparent);

    LayoutParams params = new LayoutParams(0);
    imageView.setLayoutParams(params);

    addView(imageView);
    addView(addTextField());
}

Method addTextField() specifies the attributes for the EditText widget:

private EditText addTextField() {  
    editText = new EditText(context);  
    editText.setImeOptions(EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE);  
    editText.setMinLines(4);  
    editText.setRawInputType(InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_MULTI_LINE);
    editText.setHint(R.string.create_note_et_blank_text);
    editText.setAutoLinkMask(Linkify.ALL);
    editText.setPadding(5, 0, 0, 0);
    editText.setGravity(Gravity.TOP);
    editText.setVerticalScrollBarEnabled(true);

    LayoutParams params = new LayoutParams(1);
    editText.setLayoutParams(params);

    return editText;
}

So far, so good. But my problem occurs as soon as the available space for the chars is depleted. The EditText does not resize itself but switches to a single line EditText.
I am desperatly looking for a way in which the EditText resizes itself in its height dynamically, being dependant on the inserted text length.

Does anyone have a hint on this?

Answer 1

Okay, I got it. This seems to be an issue of TableLayout in general. I reimplemented the Layout with a simple LinearLayout. I serves the purpose equally and the EditText is displayed properly. In fact I don’t see a reason to use a TableLayout and right now I can’t think of a situation in which one would actually need it, i.e. a LinearLayout would be insufficient.
So I recommend using other Layouts like LinearLayout or RelativeLayout whenever possible. But note that these are just my two cents…