[android] Set position / size of UI element as percentage of screen size

I'm trying to work out if it's possible to use percentage positions/sizes when creating a layout. What I want is something like this...

^
|
|
| 68%
|
|
v
Gallery (height equivalent of 16% total screen size)
^
| 16%
v

I'm testing on a device which in landscape has a display of 800x480 actual pixels and I'm currently forcing it with the following...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" > 
    <Gallery 
        android:id="@+id/gallery"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="80px"
        android:layout_marginTop ="320px"
    />
</RelativeLayout>

Obviously I don't want to hard-code fixed px units but I can't use 68% or 0.68 for layout_marginTop (for example). I've looked at dp units but I'm not sure if I can do it that way either.

I have to admit UI design is a weak point of mine so any advice would be gratefully received.

EDIT: For future reference if anyone is looking for a similar answer, following Alan Moore's suggestion I have the following working exactly how I want it...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:background="@drawable/bground"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" >
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="0.68"
        android:background="@android:color/transparent"
    />
    <Gallery 
        android:id="@+id/gallery"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="0.16"
    />
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="0.16" 
        android:background="@android:color/transparent"
    />
</LinearLayout>

I managed to find some other examples of using layout_weight and decided to set the TextView heights to 0dp and also used floats for the weights. Working great. :)

This question is related to android android-layout

The answer is


For TextView and it's descendants (e.g., Button) you can get the display size from the WindowManager and then set the TextView height to be some fraction of it:

Button btn = new Button (this);
android.view.Display display = ((android.view.WindowManager)getSystemService(Context.WINDOW_SERVICE)).getDefaultDisplay(); 
btn.setHeight((int)(display.getHeight()*0.68));

Use the PercentRelativeLayout or PercentFrameLayout from the Percent Supoort Library

<android.support.percent.PercentFrameLayout
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
     <TextView
          android:layout_width="match_parent"
          app:layout_heightPercent="68%"/>
     <Gallery 
          android:id="@+id/gallery"
          android:layout_width="match_parent"
          app:layout_heightPercent="16%"/>
     <TextView
          android:layout_width="fill_parent"
          android:layout_height="wrap_content"
          android:layout_width="match_parent"/>
</android.support.percent.PercentFrameLayout>

The above problem can also be solved using ConstraintLayout through Guidelines.

Below is the snippet.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">

<android.support.constraint.Guideline
    android:id="@+id/upperGuideLine"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    app:layout_constraintGuide_percent="0.68" />

<Gallery
    android:id="@+id/gallery"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="0dp"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/lowerGuideLine"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/upperGuideLine" />

<android.support.constraint.Guideline
    android:id="@+id/lowerGuideLine"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    app:layout_constraintGuide_percent="0.84" />

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

Take a look at this:

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/util/DisplayMetrics.html

You can get the heigth of the screen and it's simple math to calculate 68 percent of the screen.