How to add a TextView to a LinearLayout dynamically in Android

Question

I try to add a TextView to a LinearLayout dynamically such as in the following code  but it doesn t appear when I run the application   setContentView R layout advanced    m vwJokeLayout  LinearLayout  this findViewById R id m vwJokeLayout   m vwJokeEditText  EditText  this findViewById R id m vwJokeEditText   m vwJokeButton  Button  this findViewById R id m vwJokeButton    TextView tv new TextView this   tv setText  test    this m vwJokeLayout addView tv     What s the problem

User · Answer

Here is a more general answer for future viewers of this question. The layout we will make is below:

enter image description here

Method 1: Add TextView to existing LinearLayout

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.dynamic_linearlayout);

    LinearLayout linearLayout = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.ll_example);

    // Add textview 1
    TextView textView1 = new TextView(this);
    textView1.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
            LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
    textView1.setText("programmatically created TextView1");
    textView1.setBackgroundColor(0xff66ff66); // hex color 0xAARRGGBB
    textView1.setPadding(20, 20, 20, 20);// in pixels (left, top, right, bottom)
    linearLayout.addView(textView1);

    // Add textview 2
    TextView textView2 = new TextView(this);
    LayoutParams layoutParams = new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
            LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
    layoutParams.gravity = Gravity.RIGHT;
    layoutParams.setMargins(10, 10, 10, 10); // (left, top, right, bottom)
    textView2.setLayoutParams(layoutParams);
    textView2.setText("programmatically created TextView2");
    textView2.setTextSize(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_SP, 18);
    textView2.setBackgroundColor(0xffffdbdb); // hex color 0xAARRGGBB
    linearLayout.addView(textView2);
}

Note that for LayoutParams you must specify the kind of layout for the import, as in

import android.widget.LinearLayout.LayoutParams;

Otherwise you need to use LinearLayout.LayoutParams in the code.

Here is the xml:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/ll_example"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="#ff99ccff"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

</LinearLayout>

Method 2: Create both LinearLayout and TextView programmatically

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    // NOTE: setContentView is below, not here

    // Create new LinearLayout
    LinearLayout linearLayout = new LinearLayout(this);
    linearLayout.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
            LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT));
    linearLayout.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
    linearLayout.setBackgroundColor(0xff99ccff);

    // Add textviews
    TextView textView1 = new TextView(this);
    textView1.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
            LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
    textView1.setText("programmatically created TextView1");
    textView1.setBackgroundColor(0xff66ff66); // hex color 0xAARRGGBB
    textView1.setPadding(20, 20, 20, 20); // in pixels (left, top, right, bottom)
    linearLayout.addView(textView1);

    TextView textView2 = new TextView(this);
    LayoutParams layoutParams = new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
            LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
    layoutParams.gravity = Gravity.RIGHT;
    layoutParams.setMargins(10, 10, 10, 10); // (left, top, right, bottom)
    textView2.setLayoutParams(layoutParams);
    textView2.setText("programmatically created TextView2");
    textView2.setTextSize(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_SP, 18);
    textView2.setBackgroundColor(0xffffdbdb); // hex color 0xAARRGGBB
    linearLayout.addView(textView2);

    // Set context view
    setContentView(linearLayout);
}

Method 3: Programmatically add one xml layout to another xml layout

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.dynamic_linearlayout);

    LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) getApplicationContext().getSystemService(
            Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.dynamic_linearlayout_item, null);
    FrameLayout container = (FrameLayout) findViewById(R.id.flContainer);
    container.addView(view);
}

Here is dynamic_linearlayout.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/flContainer"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >

</FrameLayout>

And here is the dynamic_linearlayout_item.xml to add:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/ll_example"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="#ff99ccff"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#ff66ff66"
        android:padding="20px"
        android:text="programmatically created TextView1" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#ffffdbdb"
        android:layout_gravity="right"
        android:layout_margin="10px"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:text="programmatically created TextView2" />

</LinearLayout>

User · Answer

I customized more  Suragch code  My output looks     I wrote a method to stop code redundancy    public TextView createATextView int layout widh  int layout height  int align          String text  int fontSize  int margin  int padding         TextView textView item name   new TextView this           LayoutParams layoutParams   new LayoutParams         LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT  LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT          layoutParams gravity   Gravity LEFT      RelativeLayout LayoutParams  params   new RelativeLayout LayoutParams              layout widh  layout height         params setMargins margin  margin  margin  margin        params addRule align       textView item name setLayoutParams  params        textView item name setText text       textView item name setTextSize TypedValue COMPLEX UNIT SP  fontSize       textView item name setTextColor Color parseColor   000000            textView1 setBackgroundColor 0xff66ff66      hex color 0xAARRGGBB     textView item name setPadding padding  padding  padding  padding        return textView item name       It can be called like   createATextView LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT              LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT  RelativeLayout ALIGN PARENT RIGHT              subTotal toString    20  10  20     Now you can add this to a RelativeLayout dynamically  LinearLayout is also same  just add a orientation         RelativeLayout primary layout   new RelativeLayout this        LayoutParams layoutParam   new LayoutParams LayoutParams MATCH PARENT              LayoutParams MATCH PARENT        primary layout setLayoutParams layoutParam           FOR LINEAR LAYOUT SET ORIENTATION        primary layout setOrientation LinearLayout HORIZONTAL           FOR BACKGROUND COLOR      primary layout setBackgroundColor 0xff99ccff        primary layout addView createATextView LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT              LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT  RelativeLayout ALIGN LEFT  list i               20  10  20        primary layout addView createATextView LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT              LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT  RelativeLayout ALIGN PARENT RIGHT              subTotal toString    20  10  20

User · Answer

TextView rowTextView    TextView getLayoutInflater   inflate R layout yourTextView  null           rowTextView setText text           layout addView rowTextView     This is how I m using this    private List lt Tag gt  tags   new ArrayList lt  gt       if tags isEmpty             Gson gson   new Gson            Type listType   new TypeToken lt List lt Tag gt  gt                getType            tags   gson fromJson tour getTagsJSONArray    listType            if  flowLayout    null            if  tags isEmpty                  Log e TAG   setTags     flowLayout getChildCount                  flowLayout removeAllViews                for  Tag tag   tags                    FlowLayout LayoutParams lparams   new FlowLayout LayoutParams FlowLayout LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT  FlowLayout LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT                   lparams setMargins PixelUtil dpToPx this  0   PixelUtil dpToPx this  5   PixelUtil dpToPx this  10   PixelUtil dpToPx this  5      llp setMargins left  top  right  bottom                   TextView rowTextView    TextView  getLayoutInflater   inflate R layout tag  null                   rowTextView setText tag getLabel                     rowTextView setLayoutParams lparams                   flowLayout addView rowTextView                                   Log e TAG   setTags  after    flowLayout getChildCount              And this is my custom TextView named tag    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt  lt TextView xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  android layout width  wrap content  android layout height  wrap content      android textSize  10dp  android textAllCaps  true  fontPath   string font light  android background   drawable tag shape  android paddingLeft  11dp  android paddingTop  6dp  android paddingRight  11dp  android paddingBottom  6dp  gt      this is my tag shape    lt shape xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  android shape  rectangle  gt   lt solid android color   f2f2f2    gt   lt corners android radius  15dp    gt   lt  shape gt    efect        In other place I m adding textviews with language names from dialog with listview

User · Answer

LayoutParams lparams   new LayoutParams     LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT  LayoutParams WRAP CONTENT   TextView tv new TextView this   tv setLayoutParams lparams   tv setText  test    this m vwJokeLayout addView tv     You can change lparams according to your needs

User · Answer

If you are using Linearlayout  its params should be  wrap content  to add dynamic data in your layout xml  if you use match or fill parent then you cannot see the output   It Should be like this         lt LinearLayout xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android          android layout width  wrap content  android layout height  wrap content  gt           lt ListView             android id    id list              android layout width  match parent              android layout height  match parent   gt           lt  ListView gt       lt  LinearLayout gt

User · Answer

layout    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt RelativeLayout xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android   android layout width  match parent   android layout height  match parent   gt      lt LinearLayout       android id    id layoutTest        android layout width  match parent        android layout height  wrap content        android orientation  vertical         gt     lt  LinearLayout gt   lt  RelativeLayout gt    class file   setContentView R layout layout dynamic   layoutTest  LinearLayout findViewById R id layoutTest   TextView textView   new TextView getApplicationContext      textView setText  testDynamic textView    layoutTest addView textView