Question

Simple question, perhaps frustratingly-complex-but-hopefully-simple answer?

What is the “Best Practice” for getting the actual height of an element that has its size set to FILL_PARENT?

Answer 1

Definitely is more complicated than it seems it should be. An easier way that I’ve found compared to the answer in the suggested question, is to use a ViewTreeObserver. In your onCreate() method, you can use some code such as the following:

TextView textView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.my_textview);
ViewTreeObserver observer = textView.getViewTreeObserver();
observer.addOnGlobalLayoutListener(new ViewTreeObserver.OnGlobalLayoutListener() {
    @Override
    public void onGlobalLayout() {
        //in here, place the code that requires you to know the dimensions.
        //this will be called as the layout is finished, prior to displaying.
    }
});