Question

I’ve observed a strange thing about EditText widgets. If you adjust the layout_height downwards, say, to 36dp, the background of the widget exhibits bars above and below the text.

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/editText1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="36dp"
    android:textSize="15sp"
    android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/button1"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:layout_marginTop="80dp"
    android:inputType="text"
    android:hint="hh:mmAM" >
</EditText>

Here’s what it looks like:

The gray bars above and below the time should be one solid gray area. In fact, they do become one solid gray area when layout_height reaches 48dp. As you adjust the height toward 48dp, the gap between the gray bars becomes narrower and narrower. Is there an explanation for this behavior, or is this an Android bug? Is there a workaround?

I should add that I’m working with a 480×800 screen (Nexus S).

Answer 1

It looks like 9patch problem.
when 9patch image attached to a view that’s height is smaller than 9patch needed it looks like your case, because the minimum size needed for 9patch to look properly due to 9patch have ‘not stretchable area’.