Question

Why won’t this center the contents in the view?

<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <EditText 
        android:id="@+id/messageTextField"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:inputType="number"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="@string/messageTextFieldPlaceholder"
    />
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/sendButton"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/sendButtonTitle"
        android:onClick="sendMessage"
    />

</LinearLayout>

I saw a few SO threads about vertical alignment and I have also seen this, but I only have a horizontal LinearLayout, so setting the gravity will adjust the views from side to side.

Since the LinearLayout has the parent’s dimensions, does it not fill the whole screen?

Shouldn’t android:layout_gravity="center_vertical" align it’s subviews in the center (vertically) of it’s dimensions?

This is what makes sense to me across the coding that I’ve done, so why is android not making sense?

Do I need another LinearLayout that is vertical that holds everything else inside of it and have that with android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"?

Answer 1

layout_gravity:
Standard gravity constant that a child can supply to
its parent.

gravity:
Specifies how to place the content of an object, both
on the x- and y-axis, within the object itself.

So if you want your content to be vertically centered you need gravity not layout_gravity.