Question

I keep browsing different posts and they all have the footer try to stay on the screen.

But I want the footer to appear on every page. Some of my pages do not have a scroll, but some do. Whenever there is a scroll, I would like the footer to appear below the scroll. How can that be done?

For example, if I have this page:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        >

<ScrollView
      android:layout_width="fill_parent"
      android:layout_height="fill_parent" >    

<LinearLayout 
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        >    

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/page_exlain"    
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Some text that either extends far down or is pretty short."
    android:layout_marginTop ="20dp" 
    />          


</LinearLayout>

</ScrollView>

</LinearLayout>

What is a good way to add a footer to this that does not necessarily appear above the fold?

Thanks!

Answer 1

My way of doing this is by having two linear layouts inside the parent layout. The first one is what I call the content area and will have a weight of 1, meaning it will try to take as much space it can from the parent view. The footer layout on the other hand will have no weight and will therefor remain with a height matching the content inside even if the other view (the content area) is empty.

You can add a scrollview or any other type of layout inside the content part of this layout without breaking the disposition of the two elements and without needing to worry about the position of the footer since it will always be at the bottom of the screen.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
                    android:id="@+id/main"
                    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
                    android:orientation="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
                    android:id="@+id/content"
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_weight="1"
                    android:orientation="vertical" >
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout
                    android:id="@+id/footer"
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
</LinearLayout>

With a little content added to the prior code, you end with something like this, note that it’s extremely simplified. You’ll have no issues modifying it to your needs as long as you understand the weight property in place.

You just need to treat the “content” LinearLayout as if it was the parent one, inserting scrollviews or whatever your needing and forgetting about the footer. Note that if the footer is recursive, meaning you are going to be using it multiple times, you could load it in the xml directly without copying it in to all your layouts

<include layout="@layout/footer" />

Where @layout/footer is an xml file in your layouts folder with the content of the footer that you want to reuse. This is virtually the same as adding it manually but with the convenience of not having to maintain it across several files.

Hope I was of help.