Android – Margin/Padding Shrinks ImageView

androidandroid-layoutandroid-relativelayoutmarginpadding

I recently tried to position an imageview's x and y coordinates with no luck, it seems there is no way to do it in Gingerbread. I then decided to try out paddings and margins, but when I set them, it shrinks my imageview. I set a left padding of 250dp and image view became tiny. The layout_height and width are set to wrap_content. I'm not sure what's going on. Does anyone know why setting a padding/margin would shrink an imageview?

Best Answer

You're confusing margin and padding. Margin is the area outside of your view, while padding affects the content inside your margin.

Margins and Padding Example

If you set padding, then it is going to affect your available content area, and assuming you have a ScaleType set, it's going to shrink your image down to fit the available space.

Now, you say you've tried margins, but margins will do exactly what you're asking.

For example, if you wanted an ImageView placed 10dp from the top-left corner, you can do something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    >
    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/my_image_view"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
        android:src="@drawable/my_image_id"
        />
</RelativeLayout>

Keep in mind that this places it 10dp with respect to the parent boundaries. If your parent layout also has padding, then that will affect your content placement.

Related Solutions

Android:drawableLeft margin and/or padding

As cephus mentioned android:drawablePadding will only force padding between the text and the drawable if the button is small enough.

When laying out larger buttons you can use android:drawablePadding in conjunction with android:paddingLeft and android:paddingRight to force the text and drawable inward towards the center of the button. By adjusting the left and right padding separately you can make very detailed adjustments to the layout.

Here's an example button that uses padding to push the text and icon closer together than they would be by default:

<Button android:text="@string/button_label" 
    android:id="@+id/buttonId"
    android:layout_width="160dip"
    android:layout_height="60dip"
    android:layout_gravity="center"
    android:textSize="13dip"
    android:drawableLeft="@drawable/button_icon"
    android:drawablePadding="2dip"
    android:paddingLeft="30dip"
    android:paddingRight="26dip"
    android:singleLine="true"
    android:gravity="center" />

Android – Difference between a View’s Padding and Margin

To help me remember the meaning of padding, I think of a big coat with lots of thick cotton padding. I'm inside my coat, but me and my padded coat are together. We're a unit.

But to remember margin, I think of, "Hey, give me some margin!" It's the empty space between me and you. Don't come inside my comfort zone -- my margin.

To make it more clear, here is a picture of padding and margin in a TextView:

xml layout for the image above

<?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" >

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:background="#c5e1b0"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:text="TextView margin only"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:background="#f6c0c0"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:text="TextView margin only"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#c5e1b0"
        android:padding="10dp"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:text="TextView padding only"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#f6c0c0"
        android:padding="10dp"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:text="TextView padding only"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:background="#c5e1b0"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:padding="10dp"
        android:text="TextView padding and margin"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:background="#f6c0c0"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:padding="10dp"
        android:text="TextView padding and margin"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#c5e1b0"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:text="TextView no padding no margin"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#f6c0c0"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:text="TextView no padding no margin"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

</LinearLayout>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Android:drawableLeft margin and/or padding

Android – Difference between a View’s Padding and Margin

xml layout for the image above

Related

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