Why doesn't gravity work when applied to Relative Layout?

Question

I already understand that if I use layout_gravity="center_horizontal" on the text view, then the text will be center. But I don't want to use that because I want to have as little code as possible and the best way to do that is by applying gravity="center_horizontal" to my relative layout. I am also asking this question because I am concerned about even using gravity or layout_gravity with relative layouts at all. As when doing my research I came upon this answer.

Notice the part that says:

Don't use gravity/layout_gravity with a RelativeLayout. Use them for Views in LinearLayouts and FrameLayouts.

Even though it seems pretty apparent to me from the relative layout Android Documentation, which clearly lists gravity as a valid attribute, that Google intended these attributes to be used with relative layouts.

If that quote is correct, how do I center views in relative layouts?

Also, here is my code:

Notice the title is not centered horizontally

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/activity_main"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
    tools:context="com.something">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/title"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Title"
        android:textAlignment="center"
        android:text="@string/app_title"
        android:layout_marginBottom="@dimen/main_spacing"
        android:textSize="24sp" />

    <AutoCompleteTextView
        android:id="@+id/enterContact"
        android:text="Enter Contact"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAlignment="center"
        android:layout_below="@+id/title"
        android:layout_marginBottom="@dimen/main_spacing" />

</RelativeLayout>

Answer 1

This is a supplemental answer to Gravity and layout_gravity on Android.

View gravity and layout_gravity inside a Relative Layout

My original statement that gravity and layout_gravity should not be used in the subviews of a RelativeLayout was partly wrong. The gravity actually works fine. However, layout_gravity has no effect. This can be seen in the example below. The light green and light blue are TextViews. The other two background colors are RelativeLayouts.

As you can see, gravity works, but layout_gravity doesn't work.

Relative Layout with gravity

My original answer about gravity and layout_gravity dealt with these attributes being applied to the Views within a ViewGroup (specifically a LinearLayout), not to the ViewGroup itself. However, it is possible to set gravity and layout_gravity on a RelativeLayout. The layout_gravity would affect how the RelativeLayout is positioned within its own parent, so I will not deal with that here. How gravity affects the subviews, though, is shown in the image below.

I resized the widths of all the subviews so that what is happening is more clear. Note that the way RelativeLayout handles gravity is to take all the subviews as a group and move them around the layout. This means that whichever view is widest will determine how everything else is positioned. So gravity in a Relative layout is probably only useful if all the subviews have the same width.

Linear Layout with gravity

When you add gravity to a LinearLayout, it does arrange the subviews as one would expect. For example, one could "save code" by setting the gravity of LinearLayout to center_horizontally. That way there is no need individually set the layout_gravity of each subview. See the various options in the image below.

Note that when a view uses layout_gravity, it overrides the LinearLayout's gravity. (This can be seen in the title for the two layouts in the left image. The LinearLayout gravity was set to left and right, but the title TextView's layout_gravity was set to center_horizontally.)

Final notes

When positioning views within a RelativeLayout, the general way to do it is adding things like the following to each view:

• layout_alignParentTop
• layout_centerVertical
• layout_below
• layout_toRightOf

If one wants to set all the views at once, a LinearLayout would likely be better (or perhaps using a Style).

So to sum up,

• The layout_gravity does not work for subviews in a RelativeLayout.
• The gravity of a RelativeLayout does work, but not as one might expect.

Supplemental XML

XML for image "View gravity and layout_gravity inside a Relative Layout":

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

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="#e3e2ad" >

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop1"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:textSize="24sp"
            android:text="Views' gravity=" />

        <!-- examples of gravity -->
        
        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop2"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvTop1"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:gravity="left"
            android:text="left" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop3"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvTop2"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:text="center_horizontal" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop4"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvTop3"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:gravity="right"
            android:text="right" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop5"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvTop4"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="center" />

    </RelativeLayout>

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="#d6c6cd" >

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom1"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:textSize="24sp"
            android:text="Views' layout_gravity=" />

        <!-- examples of layout_gravity -->
        
        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom2"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvBottom1"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:layout_gravity="left"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:text="left" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom3"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvBottom2"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:text="center_horizontal" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom4"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvBottom3"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:layout_gravity="right"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:text="right" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom5"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvBottom4"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:text="center" />

    </RelativeLayout>

</LinearLayout>

XML for image "Relative Layout with gravity":

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

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:background="#e3e2ad" >

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop1"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:textSize="24sp"
            android:text="Views' gravity=" />

        <!-- examples of gravity -->

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop2"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvTop1"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:gravity="left"
            android:text="left" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop3"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvTop2"
            android:layout_width="300dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:text="center_horizontal" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop4"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvTop3"
            android:layout_width="100dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:gravity="right"
            android:text="right" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvTop5"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvTop4"
            android:layout_width="150dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="center" />

    </RelativeLayout>

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:background="#d6c6cd" >

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom1"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:textSize="24sp"
            android:text="Views' gravity=" />

        <!-- examples of layout_gravity -->

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom2"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvBottom1"
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:gravity="left"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:text="left" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom3"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvBottom2"
            android:layout_width="300dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:text="center_horizontal" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom4"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvBottom3"
            android:layout_width="100dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:gravity="right"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:text="right" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvBottom5"
            android:layout_below="@id/tvBottom4"
            android:layout_width="150dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:text="center" />

    </RelativeLayout>

</LinearLayout>

XML for image "Linear Layout with gravity":

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

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:background="#e3e2ad"
        android:orientation="vertical" >

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:textSize="24sp"
            android:text="View's gravity=" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:gravity="left"
            android:text="left" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="300dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:text="center_horizontal" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="100dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:gravity="right"
            android:text="right" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="150dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="center" />

    </LinearLayout>

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:background="#d6c6cd"
        android:orientation="vertical" >

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:textSize="24sp"
            android:text="View's gravity=" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:gravity="left"
            android:text="left" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="300dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:text="center_horizontal" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="100dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#bcf5b1"
            android:gravity="right"
            android:text="right" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="150dp"
            android:layout_height="40dp"
            android:background="#aacaff"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="center" />

    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>