Question

I’m new to Android and I wonder why I can’t drag and drop things like buttons to the display in the main.xml Graphical Layout? It seems like it’s locked or something else that I can’t figure out on myself. Help is preciated! Thanks!

EDIT: This is my code in xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:id="@+id/textview"
 android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 android:layout_height="fill_parent"
 android:text="@string/hello"
 />

Answer 1

You are not able to do so because you don’t have a Layout in your XML. Given here is an example as to how to build a basic layout. You can also refer to the Relative Layout tutorial or Linear Layout tutorial for more details, as these are widely used layouts.

Given below is the sample code for your XML:

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

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textview"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/hello" />

</LinearLayout>

You can replace Linear Layout with Relative Layout at your convenience. But do keep in mind that you can’t use the graphical layout without having a layout. To drag and drop a layout, refer the image below:

Hope this helps.