Android: Putting a vertical divider/separator line between textviews in a horizontal linear layout nested in vertical linear layout?

Question

For an android content view, I have a vertical linearlayout with some textviews that have some lines to divide and separated the vertical elements, this works fine and the xml is below.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >
    <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal" >
        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="@string/A" />                 
        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="@string/B" />
        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="@string/C" />    
    </LinearLayout>    
    <View 
         android:background="#ffffff" 
         android:layout_width = "fill_parent"
         android:layout_height="1dip"/>    
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/D" />
    <View  
         android:background="#ffffff" 
         android:layout_width = "fill_parent"
         android:layout_height="1dip" />
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/E" />
    </LinearLayout>

Now I want to add a vertical separator line between the horizontally placed text views in the nested textviews with strings A/B/C. When I try to do so by adding the hardcoded width View, the line spans the whole height from the parent linear layout.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >
    <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal" >
        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="@string/A" />         
        <!--the vertical line separator-->
        <View  
     android:background="#ffffff" 
     android:layout_width = "1dip"
     android:layout_height="fill_parent" />         
        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="@string/B" />
        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="@string/C" />    
    </LinearLayout>    
    <View 
         android:background="#ffffff" 
         android:layout_width = "fill_parent"
         android:layout_height="1dip"/>    
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/D" />
    <View  
         android:background="#ffffff" 
         android:layout_width = "fill_parent"
         android:layout_height="1dip" />
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/E" />
    </LinearLayout>

For this vertical separator view I have tried to use android:layout_height="wrap_content"/> instead but the same result is presented.

Is there a way to have a vertical separator here where the height is preserved with the introduction of a vertical line to separate textviews? Or must I choose a different layout?

Solution 1

Another option may be to include android:layout_margin (or separate layout_marginTop and layout_marginBottom) to create a space between the top and bottom of the drawn vertical line and the respective horizontal edges of the LinearLayout.

Other than that, I might try a RelativeLayout, and have your vertical line view adjusted to align its top and bottom to one of the adjacent TextViews.

Solution 2

You have to give a fix height either to your LinearLayout or your Vertical Seperator

Comments

[Vass]

yes that is in a way a solution but it does not work well with changing the text size. I was hoping that there is a more elegant solution. I put 20dip, and yes that works. But Im worried that with hardcoded height this might cause problems later on.