[android] How do I align views at the bottom of the screen?

Here's my layout code;

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

    <TextView android:text="@string/welcome"
        android:id="@+id/TextView"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content">
    </TextView>

    <LinearLayout android:id="@+id/LinearLayout"
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="bottom">

            <EditText android:id="@+id/EditText"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content">
            </EditText>

            <Button android:text="@string/label_submit_button"
                android:id="@+id/Button"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content">
            </Button>

    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

What this looks like is on the left and what I want it to look like is on the right.

The obvious answer is to set the TextView to fill_parent on height, but this causes no room to be left for the button or entry field.

Essentially the issue is that I want the submit button and the text entry to be a fixed height at the bottom and the text view to fill the rest of the space. Similarly, in the horizontal linear layout I want the submit button to wrap its content and for the text entry to fill the rest of the space.

If the first item in a linear layout is told to fill_parent it does exactly that, leaving no room for other items. How do I get an item which is first in a linear layout to fill all space apart from the minimum required by the rest of the items in the layout?

Relative layouts were indeed the answer:

    <?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">

    <TextView
        android:text="@string/welcome"
        android:id="@+id/TextView"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true">
    </TextView>

    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/InnerRelativeLayout"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" >

        <Button
            android:text="@string/label_submit_button"
            android:id="@+id/Button"
            android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content">
        </Button>

        <EditText
            android:id="@+id/EditText"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_toLeftOf="@id/Button"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content">
        </EditText>

    </RelativeLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

1. Use ConstraintLayout in your root Layout

And set app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent" to let the Layout on the bottom of the screen:

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/LinearLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent">
</LinearLayout>

2. Use FrameLayout in your root Layout

Just set android:layout_gravity="bottom" in your layout

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/LinearLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="bottom"
    android:orientation="horizontal">
</LinearLayout>

3. Use LinearLayout in your root Layout (android:orientation="vertical")

(1) Set a layout android:layout_weight="1" on the top of the your Layout

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/TextView"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="0dp"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    android:text="welcome" />

(2) Set the child LinearLayout for android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:gravity="bottom"

The main attribute is ndroid:gravity="bottom", let the child View on the bottom of Layout.

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/LinearLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="bottom"
    android:orientation="horizontal">
</LinearLayout>

4. Use RelativeLayout in the root Layout

And set android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" to let the Layout on the bottom of the screen

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/LinearLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:orientation="horizontal">
</LinearLayout>

Output

The answer above (by Janusz) is quite correct, but I personnally don't feel 100% confortable with RelativeLayouts, so I prefer to introduce a 'filler', empty TextView, like this:

<!-- filler -->
<TextView android:layout_height="0dip" 
          android:layout_width="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1" />

before the element that should be at the bottom of the screen.

You can just give your top child view (the TextView @+id/TextView) an attribute: android:layout_weight="1".

This will force all other elements below it to the bottom.

Creating both header and footer, here is an example:

Layout XML

<RelativeLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:background="@color/backgroundcolor"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="40dp"
        android:background="#FF0000">
    </RelativeLayout>

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="40dp"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:background="#FFFF00">
    </RelativeLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

Screenshot

In a ScrollView this doesn't work, as the RelativeLayout would then overlap whatever is in the ScrollView at the bottom of the page.

I fixed it using a dynamically stretching FrameLayout :

<ScrollView 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" 
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:fillViewport="true">
    <LinearLayout 
        android:id="@+id/LinearLayout01"
        android:layout_width="match_parent" 
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:orientation="vertical">

                <!-- content goes here -->

                <!-- stretching frame layout, using layout_weight -->
        <FrameLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent" 
            android:layout_height="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1">
        </FrameLayout>

                <!-- content fixated to the bottom of the screen -->
        <LinearLayout 
            android:layout_width="match_parent" 
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:orientation="horizontal">
                                   <!-- your bottom content -->
        </LinearLayout>
    </LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>

You can do this with a LinearLayout or a ScrollView, too. Sometimes it is easier to implement than a RelativeLayout. The only thing you need to do is to add the following view before the Views you want to align to the bottom of the screen:

<View
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="0dp"
    android:layout_weight="1" />

This creates an empty view, filling the empty space and pushing the next views to the bottom of the screen.

If you don't wish to make many changes, then you could just put:

android:layout_weight="1"

for the TextView having ID as @+id/TextView i.e

<TextView android:text="@string/welcome" 
    android:id="@+id/TextView" 
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_weight="1">
</TextView>

You can keep your initial linear layout by nesting the relative layout within the linear layout:

<LinearLayout
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <TextView android:text="welcome" 
        android:id="@+id/TextView" 
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content">
    </TextView>

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">
        <Button android:text="submit" 
            android:id="@+id/Button" 
            android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
            android:layout_alignParentRight="true">
        </Button>
        <EditText android:id="@+id/EditText" 
            android:layout_width="match_parent" 
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_toLeftOf="@id/Button"
            android:layout_alignParentBottom="true">
        </EditText>
    </RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>

In case you have a hierarchy like this:

<ScrollView> 
  |-- <RelativeLayout> 
    |-- <LinearLayout>

First, apply android:fillViewport="true" to the ScrollView and then apply android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" to the LinearLayout.

This worked for me perfectly.

<ScrollView
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:scrollbars="none"
    android:fillViewport="true">
    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content">
        <LinearLayout
            android:orientation="horizontal"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:id="@+id/linearLayoutHorizontal"
            android:layout_alignParentBottom="true">
        </LinearLayout>
    </RelativeLayout>
</ScrollView>

I used the solution Janusz posted, but I added padding to the last View since the top part of my layout was a ScrollView.

The ScrollView will be partly hidden as it grows with content. Using android:paddingBottom on the last View helps show all the content in the ScrollView.

Use the below code. Align the button to buttom. It's working.

<?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" >

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btn_back"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="80dp"
        android:text="Back" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="0.97"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:text="Payment Page" />

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

        <EditText
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"/>

        <Button
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Submit"/>
    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

This can be done with a linear layout too.

Just provide Height = 0dp and weight = 1 to the layout above and the one you want in the bottom. Just write height = wrap content and no weight.

It provides wrap content for the layout (the one that contains your edit text and button) and then the one that has weight occupies the rest of the layout.

I discovered this by accident.

This also works.

<LinearLayout 
    android:id="@+id/linearLayout4"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:layout_below="@+id/linearLayout3"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:orientation="horizontal" 
    android:gravity="bottom"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
>

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button" 

    />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button2"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button" 


    />

</LinearLayout>

For a case like this, always use RelativeLayouts. A LinearLayout is not intended for such a usage.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/db1_root"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <!-- Place your layout here -->

    </LinearLayout>

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_gravity="bottom"
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        android:paddingLeft="20dp"
        android:paddingRight="20dp" >

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/setup_macroSavebtn"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="Save" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/setup_macroCancelbtn"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="Cancel" />

        </LinearLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

Following up on Timores's elegant solution, I have found that the following creates a vertical fill in a vertical LinearLayout and a horizontal fill in a horizontal LinearLayout:

<Space
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_weight="1" />

You don't even need to nest the second relative layout inside the first one. Simply use the android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" in the Button and EditText.

Use android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" in your <RelativeLayout>.

This will definitely help.