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Linear Layout Tutorial With Examples In Android

Linear layout is a simple layout used in android for layout designing. In the Linear layout all the elements are displayed in linear fashion means all the childs/elements of a linear layout are displayed according to its orientation. The value for orientation property can be either horizontal or vertical.

Horizontal And Vertical Orientation In Linear Layout


Types Of Linear Layout Orientation

There are two types of linear layout orientation:

  1. Vertical
  2. Horizontal

As the name specified these two orientations are used to arrange there child one after the other, in a line, either vertically or horizontally. Let’s we describe these in detail.

1.Vertical:

In this all the child are arranged vertically in a line one after the other. In below code snippets we have specified orientation “vertical” so the childs/views of this layout are displayed vertically.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical"> <!-- Vertical Orientation set -->

    <!-- Child Views(In this case 2 Button) are here -->


    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button1"
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:background="#358a32" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button2"
        android:id="@+id/button2"
        android:background="#0058b6" />

 
</LinearLayout>

Vertical Orientation in Linear Layout
2. Horizontal:

In this all the child are arranged horizontally in a line one after the other. In below code snippets we have specified orientation “horizontal” so the childs/views of this layout are displayed horizontally.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal"> <!-- Horizontal Orientation set -->

    <!-- Child Views(In this case 2 Button) are here -->


    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button1"
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:background="#358a32" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button2"
        android:id="@+id/button2"
        android:background="#0058b6" />


</LinearLayout>

Horizontal orientation in Linear Layout
Important Note: All of the layout managers can be nested. This means that you can put a Relative Layout or Frame Layout as a child to Linear Layout.


Main Attributes In Linear Layout:

Now let’s  we discuss about the attributes that helps us to configure a linear layout and its child controls. Some of the most important attributes you will use with linear layout include:

1. orientation: The orientation attribute used to set the childs/views horizontally or vertically. In Linear layout default orientation is vertical.

Example:  Orientation vertical:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical"> <!-- Vertical Orientation set -->

    <!-- Put Child Views like Button here -->
</LinearLayout>

Example: Orientation Horizontal:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal"> <!-- Horizontal Orientation set -->

    <!-- Child Views are here -->

</LinearLayout>

Horizontal And Vertical Orientation In Linear Layout
2. gravity: The gravity attribute is an optional attribute which is used to control the alignment of the layout like left, right, center, top, bottom etc.

Example: We have set gravity right for linear layout. So the buttons gets align from right side in Horizontal orientation.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="right"
    android:orientation="horizontal">


<!--Button Child View Here--->

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button2"
        android:id="@+id/button2"
        android:background="#0e7d0d" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button1"
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:background="#761212" />
</LinearLayout>

Gravity in Android Linear Layout
3. layout_weight: The layout weight attribute specify each child control’s relative importance within the parent linear layout.

Example: weight property for button in linear layout. In the below example one button is of weight 2 and other is of weight 1.

<?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="horizontal">


<!--Add Child View Here--->

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Weight 2"
        android:background="#761212"
        android:layout_margin="5dp"
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:layout_weight="2" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#761212"
        android:layout_margin="5dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:text="Weight 1" />
</LinearLayout>

In the layout image you can notice Button with weight 2 gets more size related the other.

Weight in Linear Layout
4. weightSum: weightSum is the sum up of all the child attributes weight. This attribute is required if we define weight property of the childs.

Example: In the same above example of weight, we can define weightSum value 3.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:weightSum="3"
    android:orientation="horizontal">
    <!--Add Child View Here--->

</LinearLayout>

Example of Linear Layout:

Now lets design 2 linear layout UI. First we have designed using weight attribute and second without using it. So below layout output will clear the difference between them:

Linear Layout in Android Output
Example 1: First we will design Android Linear Layout without using weight property

In this example we have used one TextView and 4 Button. The orientation is set to vertical.

Below is the code of activity_main.xml

<!-- Vertical Orientation is set -->
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <!-- Text Displayed At Top -->

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
        android:text="Linear Layout (Without Weight)"
        android:id="@+id/textView"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal" />

    <!-- Button Used -->

    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button 1"
        android:background="#009300" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button 2"
        android:background="#e6cf00" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button 3"
        android:background="#0472f9" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button 4"
        android:background="#e100d5" />
</LinearLayout>

Output Screen:

Linear Layout in Android Example 1
Example 2: In this example of linear layout we have used weight property.

Below is the code of activity_main.xml with explanation included

<!-- Vertical Orientation is set  with weightSum-->
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:weightSum="5"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <!-- Text Displayed At Top -->

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
        android:text="Linear Layout (With Weight)"
        android:id="@+id/textView"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:layout_weight="0"/>

    <!-- Button Used -->

    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button 1"
        android:background="#009300"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>

    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button 2"
        android:background="#e6cf00"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>

    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button 3"
        android:background="#0472f9"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>

    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button 4"
        android:background="#e100d5"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>
</LinearLayout>

Output Screen:

Linear Layout with weight in Android Example 2

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6 thoughts on “Linear Layout Tutorial With Examples In Android”

  1. I am using recycleview in app programming but I have got some error and error from dependencies but I have set dependencies 25.3.1 in all but error is coming so plz tell me how to solve his error

  2. You didn’t explain what the weight values mean! What does a weight of zero mean and why does it put the TextView at the top?

    1. Hi First he mentioned android:weightSum=”5″ at Linear Layout and it means, entire screen will be divided into 5 parts vertically, and if you watch the button height is large than last Linear Layout example without weight. Hope, you understand it.

  3. Hi this tutorial is very good for android developers .
    Can u please add the facebook integration and twitter integration concepts

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