page.title=Hello, LinearLayout parent.title=Hello, Views parent.link=index.html @jd:body

A {@link android.widget.LinearLayout} is a GroupView that will lay child View elements vertically or horizontally.

  1. Start a new project/Activity called HelloLinearLayout.
  2. Open the layout file. Make it like so: 
    <?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">

    <LinearLayout
	android:orientation="horizontal"
	android:layout_width="fill_parent"
	android:layout_height="fill_parent"
	android:layout_weight="1">
	
	<TextView
	    android:text="red"
	    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
	    android:background="#aa0000"
	    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
	    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
	    android:layout_weight="1"/>
	
	<TextView
	    android:text="green"
	    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
	    android:background="#00aa00"
	    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
	    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
	    android:layout_weight="1"/>
	
	<TextView
	    android:text="blue"
	    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
	    android:background="#0000aa"
	    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
	    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
	    android:layout_weight="1"/>
	
	<TextView
	    android:text="yellow"
	    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
	    android:background="#aaaa00"
	    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
	    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
	    android:layout_weight="1"/>
		
    </LinearLayout>
	
    <LinearLayout
	android:orientation="vertical"
	android:layout_width="fill_parent"
	android:layout_height="fill_parent"
	android:layout_weight="1">
	
	<TextView
	    android:text="row one"
	    android:textSize="15pt"
	    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
	    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
	    android:layout_weight="1"/>
	
	<TextView
	    android:text="row two"
	    android:textSize="15pt"
	    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
	    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
	    android:layout_weight="1"/>
	
	<TextView
	    android:text="row three"
	    android:textSize="15pt"
	    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
	    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
	    android:layout_weight="1"/>
	
	<TextView
	    android:text="row four"
	    android:textSize="15pt"
	    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
	    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
	    android:layout_weight="1"/>
        
    </LinearLayout>
        
</LinearLayout>

    Carefully inspect the XML. You'll notice how this layout works a lot like an HTML layout. There is one parent LinearLayout that is defined to lay its child elements vertically. The first child is another LinearLayout that uses a horizontal layout and the second uses a vertical layout. Each LinearLayout contains several {@link android.widget.TextView} elements.

  3. Now open the HelloLinearLayout Activity and be sure it loads this layout in the onCreate() method:

    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);
}

    R.layout.main refers to the main.xml layout file.

  4. Run it.

You should see the following:

Notice how the various XML attributes define the View's behavior. Pay attention to the effect of the layout_weight. Try experimenting with different values to see how the screen real estate is distributed based on the weight of each element.

References