Add padding on view programmatically

Question 1

I am developing Android v2.2 app.

I have a Fragment. In the onCreateView(...) callback of my fragment class, I inflate an layout to the fragment like below:

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.login, null);
 
 return view;
}

The above inflated layout file is (login.xml):

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

I would like to set a paddingTop to the above <LinearLayout> element , and I want to do it in the Java code instead of do it in xml.

How to set paddingTop to <LinearLayout> in my fragment Java class code ??

Question 2

You'll need to assign an ID to your LinearLayout so that you could find it with findViewByIdand then call setPadding on it.

Question 3

@AleksG In general yes, but given that the LinearLayout is the root element of the inflated hierachy that's not neccessary here. view is already the LinearLayout, no need to find it again in this case. Given this is a special one though.

Question 4

@alextsc: yes, agree. Nevertheless, I still prefer to assign ID's to anything that I may refer to in the application.

Question 5

view.setPadding(0,padding,0,0);

This will set the top padding to padding-pixels.

If you want to set it in dp instead, you can do a conversion:

float scale = getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density;
int dpAsPixels = (int) (sizeInDp*scale + 0.5f);

Question 6

@Leem.fin as Chris says, it's pixels. If you want dp you'll have to do the conversion manually: float scale = getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density; int size = (int) (sizeInPx*scale + 0.5f);

Question 7

Where is the 0.5f coming from?

Question 8

@Georg That code is taken from here: developer.android.com/guide/practices/… The 0.5 is used to get the closest integer when casting (instead of using Math.round())

Question 9

I think the variable names should be the other way around: sizeInDp is actually the number of pixels you get when converting sizeInPx dps.

Question 10

To answer your second question:

view.setPadding(0,padding,0,0);

like SpK and Jave suggested, will set the padding in pixels. You can set it in dp by calculating the dp value as follows:

int paddingDp = 25;
float density = context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density
int paddingPixel = (int)(paddingDp * density);
view.setPadding(0,paddingPixel,0,0);

Question 11

Off course this will compile and work as expected, but for the sake of clarity you should switch the naming of your int variables. Because you define your padding in DP and calculate what it would be in pixels for this given device.

Question 12

You are converting dp to pixel. The variable names are confusing. "paddingPixel" really means dp

Question 13

If you store the padding in resource files, you can simply call

int padding = getResources().getDimensionPixelOffset(R.dimen.padding);

It does the conversion for you.

Question 14

Using Kotlin and the android-ktx library, you can simply do

view.updatePadding(top = 42)

See docs here

Question 15

You can set padding to your view by pro grammatically throughout below code -

view.setPadding(0,1,20,3);

And, also there are different type of padding available -

These, links will refer Android Developers site. Hope this helps you lot.

Question 16

@Leem.fin Have a look at this one you'll be able to know the difference.

Question 17

Using TypedValue is a much cleaner way of converting to pixels compared to manually calculating:

float paddingDp = 10f;
// Convert to pixels
int paddingPx = (int) TypedValue.applyDimension(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_DIP, paddingDp, context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics());
view.setPadding(paddingPx, paddingPx, paddingPx, paddingPx);

Essentially, TypedValue.applyDimension converts the desired padding into pixels appropriately depending on the current device's display properties.

For more info see: TypedValue.applyDimension Docs.

Kotlin; extension function

fun Float.px(m: DisplayMetrics!): Int
 get() = TypedValue.applyDimension(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_DIP, this, m).toInt()
...
val pad = 10.0f.px

Question 18

shouldn't px and dp be reversed?

Question 19

I think the gist of what I am doing is correct. However the naming is confusing I think. I will edit it to be more clear. Thanks for the feedback.

Question 20

Use the below method for setting padding dynamically

setPadding(int left, int top, int right, int bottom)

Example:

view.setPadding(2, 2, 2, 2);

Question 21

Here you can see in which section the padding is applied

bidding.subHeader.tvSubHeader.setPadding(0, 5, 0, 0);

Someone edited this answer, but I added an image that had been removed before, here it is again

enter image description here

Question 22

Step 1: First, take the padding value as an integer.

int padding = getResources().getDimensionPixelOffset(R.dimen.padding);

or int padding = 16; [Use any method]

Step 2: Then assign the padding value to the layout.

layout.setPadding(padding, padding, padding, padding);

layout.setPadding(padding_left, padding_top, padding_right, padding_bottom);

All side different padding can be assigned. layout.setPadding(16, 10, 8, 12);

For removing padding (No Padding) set padding values as 0,

layout.setPadding(0, 0, 0, 0);

Question 23

Write Following Code to set padding, it may help you.

TextView ApplyPaddingTextView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.textView1);
final LayoutParams layoutparams = (RelativeLayout.LayoutParams) ApplyPaddingTextView.getLayoutParams();
layoutparams.setPadding(50,50,50,50);
ApplyPaddingTextView.setLayoutParams(layoutparams);

Use LinearLayout.LayoutParams or RelativeLayout.LayoutParams according to parent layout of the child view

Question 24

setPadding() is not an accessible method from LayoutParams. I'm not sure if it ever was.

Question 25

Context context = MainActivity.this;
TextView tView = new TextView(context);
tView.setPaddingRelative(10,0,0,0);

Question 26

Thank you for this code snippet, which might provide some limited, immediate help. A proper explanation would greatly improve its long-term value by showing why this is a good solution to the problem and would make it more useful to future readers with other, similar questions. Please edit your answer to add some explanation, including the assumptions you’ve made.

Question 27

Using Jave's solution.

public static int getResourceDimension(Context context, String name, String defType, String defPackage) {
 int sizeInDp = 0;
 int resourceId = context.getResources().getIdentifier(name, defType, defPackage);
 if (resourceId > 0) {
 sizeInDp = context.getResources().getDimensionPixelSize(resourceId);
 }
 float scale = context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density;
 int dpAsPixels = (int) (sizeInDp*scale + 0.5f);
 return dpAsPixels;
}

Then call when needed.

int statusBarHeight = getResourceDimension(getContext(), "status_bar_height", "dimen", "android");
statusBarHeight = (int) (statusBarHeight + getResources().getDimension(R.dimen.fragment_vertical_padding));
view.setPadding(0, statusBarHeight, 0, 0);

Question 28

The best way is not to write your own funcion.

Let me explain the motivaion - please lookup the official Android source code.

In TypedValue.java we have:

 public static int complexToDimensionPixelSize(int data,
 DisplayMetrics metrics)
 {
 final float value = complexToFloat(data);
 final float f = applyDimension(
 (data>>COMPLEX_UNIT_SHIFT)&COMPLEX_UNIT_MASK,
 value,
 metrics);
 final int res = (int) ((f >= 0) ? (f + 0.5f) : (f - 0.5f));
 if (res != 0) return res;
 if (value == 0) return 0;
 if (value > 0) return 1;
 return -1;
 }

and:

 public static float applyDimension(int unit, float value,
 DisplayMetrics metrics)
 {
 switch (unit) {
 case COMPLEX_UNIT_PX:
 return value;
 case COMPLEX_UNIT_DIP:
 return value * metrics.density;
 case COMPLEX_UNIT_SP:
 return value * metrics.scaledDensity;
 case COMPLEX_UNIT_PT:
 return value * metrics.xdpi * (1.0f/72);
 case COMPLEX_UNIT_IN:
 return value * metrics.xdpi;
 case COMPLEX_UNIT_MM:
 return value * metrics.xdpi * (1.0f/25.4f);
 }
 return 0;
 }

As you can see, DisplayMetrics metrics can differ, which means it would yield different values across Android-OS powered devices.

I strongly recommend putting your dp padding in dimen xml file and use the official Android conversions to have consistent behaviour with regard to how Android framework works.

Question 29

i want to follow this solution but what to do if the padding is coming as a constant from api?

Question 30

While padding programmatically, convert to density related values by converting pixel to Dp.

Question 31

 binding.appBarMain.toolbar.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener { _, insets ->
 val statusBarSize: Int =
 if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.R) {
 insets.getInsets(WindowInsets.Type.systemBars()).top
 } else {
 insets.systemWindowInsetTop
 }
 binding.appBarMain.appBarLayout.setPadding(0, statusBarSize, 0, 0)
 return@setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener insets
 }

Jave 31.9k14 gold badges83 silver badges92 bronze badges · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-13 14:11:02Z

584

view.setPadding(0,padding,0,0);

This will set the top padding to padding-pixels.

If you want to set it in dp instead, you can do a conversion:

float scale = getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density;
int dpAsPixels = (int) (sizeInDp*scale + 0.5f);

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edited Oct 11, 2013 at 7:02

answered Mar 13, 2012 at 14:11

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Jave

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Jave

Jave Over a year ago

@Leem.fin as Chris says, it's pixels. If you want dp you'll have to do the conversion manually: float scale = getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density; int size = (int) (sizeInPx*scale + 0.5f);

2012年03月13日T14:43:12.027Z+00:00

Herr von Wurst

Herr von Wurst Over a year ago

Where is the 0.5f coming from?

2013年09月26日T22:35:50.63Z+00:00

Jave

Jave Over a year ago

@Georg That code is taken from here: developer.android.com/guide/practices/… The 0.5 is used to get the closest integer when casting (instead of using Math.round())

2013年09月27日T07:17:48.69Z+00:00

friederbluemle

friederbluemle Over a year ago

I think the variable names should be the other way around: sizeInDp is actually the number of pixels you get when converting sizeInPx dps.

2013年10月11日T03:27:05.887Z+00:00

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