Question

I need a box within a box, with ~33% of empty room at the top of the first box, and then another box below that. I need it to be centered. I would like this to essentially fill_parent on a mobile phone, but on a tablet (the primary device for this app), it should remain the same size but be centered in the middle of the screen. How can I do this?

I’m including to examples since it’s a little hard for me to explain.

Mobile

|---------------------------|
|     ~33% Blank space      |
|                           |
|  |---------------------|  |
|  |                     |  |
|  |                     |  |
|  |      Login Box      |  |
|  |      Password       |  |
|  |                     |  |
|  |                     |  |
|  |                     |  |
|  |                     |  |
|  |                     |  |
|  |---------------------|  |
|---------------------------| 

Tablet

|---------------------------------------|
|           ~33% Blank space            |
|                                       |
|        |---------------------|        |
|        |                     |        |
|        |                     |        |
|        |      Login Box      |        |
|        |      Password       |        |
|        |                     |        |
|        |                     |        |
|        |                     |        |
|        |                     |        |
|        |                     |        |
|        |---------------------|        |
|---------------------------------------| 

Edit Here is the XML I currently have. I’m not getting intellisense for anything, (I usually get suggestions), and I’m getting a cast exception with multiple layouts. Is there something wrong with the XML?

<?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"
    android:weightSum="1"
    >
    <LinearLayout android:id="@+id/topSpacer"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight=".33"
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        ></LinearLayout>
    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/bottomSection"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight=".67"
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        >
        <LinearLayout
            android:id="@+id/loginSection"
            android:layout_width="320dip"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:background="#FFFFFF"
            >
            <TextView
                android:text="" 
                android:id="@+id/errorMessage" 
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
                android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
            />
            <TextView 
                android:text="Please login using your active directory credentials." 
                android:id="@+id/loginMessage" 
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
                android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
            />
            <AutoCompleteTextView 
                android:id="@+id/loginUsername" 
                android:text="Username" 
                android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
            />
            <EditText
                android:id="@+id/loginPassword"
                android:text="Password"
                android:password="true"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            />
            <Button
                android:id="@+id/loginButton"
                android:text="Login"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            />
            <TextView 
                android:text="results" 
                android:id="@+id/resultsMessage" 
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
                android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
            />
        </LinearLayout>
    </LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Answer 1

Try a combination of linear layouts that utilize the weightSum property. Also notice that the inner box’s width is fixed as you mentioned on the tablet you don’t want it to re-size.

Try this:

*EDIT: i used a relative layout to get the inner box centered *

<LinearLayout
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  android:orientation="vertical"
  android:weightSum="1">
<LinearLayout android:id="@+id/thirtyThreePercentSpacer" 
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight=".33">
</LinearLayout>
<RelativeLayout android:id="@+id/RelativeLayout01" 
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="0dp"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_weight=".67">

            <LinearLayout android:id="@+id/innerBox" 
                    android:layout_width="320dip" 
                    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
                    android:layout_centerInParent="true">
            </LinearLayout>

  </RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>