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Android

Posted by Eric Drake
Eric Drake
6,339 Points

Size one element to fill the remaining space on the screen

I'm working on an app that has a few EditText elements and buttons. It also has a NestedScrollView that I would like to size to fill whatever space remains on the screen. It should stretch from the bottom of my nameSaveButton to my startDrawingButton. Can anyone help me with this?

<?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:padding="10dp"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/nameEditText"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="0"
        android:ems="10"
        android:hint="@string/name_entry_hint"
        android:inputType="textPersonName"
        android:maxLength="35"
        android:textSize="24dp"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/scoreEditText"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="0"
        android:ems="10"
        android:hint="@string/score_entry_hint"
        android:inputType="numberSigned"
        android:textSize="24dp"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/nameEditText" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/nameSaveButton"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="0"
        android:text="@string/entry_save_button"
        android:textSize="24dp"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/scoreEditText" />

    <android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView
        android:id="@+id/namesListView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="400dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:fillViewport="true"
        android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/nameSaveButton">

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

    </android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView>

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/startDrawingButton"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="0"
        android:text="Button"
        android:textSize="24dp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent" />

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

1 Answer

Eric Drake
Eric Drake
6,339 Points

I found an answer. Hopefully, it will be useful to someone else. Here is my activity_main.xml:

<?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:padding="10dp"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/nameEditText"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="0"
        android:ems="10"
        android:hint="@string/name_entry_hint"
        android:inputType="textPersonName"
        android:maxLength="35"
        android:textSize="24dp"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/scoreEditText"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="0"
        android:ems="10"
        android:hint="@string/score_entry_hint"
        android:inputType="numberSigned"
        android:textSize="24dp"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/nameEditText" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/nameSaveButton"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="0"
        android:text="@string/entry_save_button"
        android:textSize="24dp"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/scoreEditText" />

    <android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView
        android:id="@+id/namesListView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:fillViewport="true"
        android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/nameSaveButton"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@id/startDrawingButton">

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

    </android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView>

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/startDrawingButton"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="0"
        android:text="Button"
        android:textSize="24dp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent" />

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

The actual fix is applied to the NestedScrollView. You'll notice that I've added two constraints: app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/nameSaveButton" and app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@id/startDrawingButton". Then I set the android:layout_height="0dp" to force Android to calculate the height of the NestedScrollView at runtime.