Use RadioButtons without RadioGroup?

Question

Can i use RadioButtons without a RadioGroup? If not then please explain why? I am programming a layout for an android app in xml.

Answer 1

The Answer is Yes. you can used RadioButton without RadioGroup.But if you are using RadioButton without RadioGroup then you have doing Programming for that to make it perfect way.

I have posted both the Example so you can better understand.

RadioButton without RadioGroup Example :

Let's say this is your layout with RadioGroup.

layout.xml:

<RadioButton 
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/radBtnMM"
/>
<RadioButton 
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/radBtnInch"
/>

To handle it selection the java code is below.

public class MainActivity extends Activity implements OnCheckedChangeListener {
  @Override
  public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    rb1 = (RadioButton) findViewById(R.id.radBtnInch);
    rb1.setOnCheckedChangeListener(this);
    rb2 = (RadioButton) findViewById(R.id.radBtnMM);
    rb2.setOnCheckedChangeListener(this);
    return true;
  }
  @Override
  public void onCheckedChanged(CompoundButton buttonView, boolean isChecked) {
    if (isChecked) {
      if (buttonView.getId() == R.id.radBtnInch) {
        rb2.setChecked(false);
      }
      if (buttonView.getId() == R.id.radBtnMM) {
        rb1.setChecked(false);
      }
    }
  }

RadioButton with RadioGroup Example :

Let's say you used RadioGroup like below.

<RadioGroup
   android:layout_width="fill_parent"
   android:layout_height="90dp"
   android:layout_marginTop="58dp"
   android:weightSum="1"
   android:id="@+id/radioGroup">

   <RadioButton
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="55dp"
      android:text="Male"
      android:id="@+id/radioButton"
      android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
      android:checked="false"
      android:textSize="25dp" />

   <RadioButton
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:text="Female"
      android:id="@+id/radioButton2"
      android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
      android:checked="false"
      android:textSize="25dp"
      android:layout_weight="0.13" />
</RadioGroup>

<Button
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:text="New Button"
   android:id="@+id/button"
   android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
   android:layout_below="@+id/radioGroup"
   android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />

then you can simple handle selection and display selection in Toast like this,

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
   private RadioGroup radioSexGroup;
   private RadioButton radioSexButton;
   private Button btnDisplay;

   @Override
   protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
      super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
      setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
      radioSexGroup=(RadioGroup)findViewById(R.id.radioGroup);

      btnDisplay=(Button)findViewById(R.id.button);

      btnDisplay.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
         @Override
         public void onClick(View v) {
            int selectedId=radioSexGroup.getCheckedRadioButtonId();
            radioSexButton=(RadioButton)findViewById(selectedId);
            Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,radioSexButton.getText(),Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
         }
      });
   }

Answer 2

RadioButton can be used without RadioGroup. RadioGroup is just a helper wrapper around RadioButtons to give you some capabilities like if you select a RadioButton, all other RadioButtons in that group will automatically be deselected. If you do without RadioGroup then you have to implement those functionalities yourself.