Vertical line using XML drawable

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I'm trying to figure out how to define a vertical line (1dp thick) to be used as a drawable. To make a horizontal one,it's pretty straightforward: <shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="line"> <stroke android:width="1dp" android:color="#0000FF"/> <size android:height="50dp" /> </shape> The question is,how to make this line vertical? Yes,there are workarounds,such as drawing a rectangle shape 1px thick,but that complicates the drawable XML,if it consists of multiple<item>elements. Anyone had any chance with this? UPDATE Case is still unsolved. However,For anyone on a Android documentation crusade - you might find this useful:Missing Android XML Manual UPDATE I found no other way other than the one that I marked as correct. It does the trick though feels a bit "heavy",thus if you happen to know the answer don't forget to share ;) android android-layout line android-xml android-drawable share improve this question editedDec 30 '13 at 13:51 Jonik 43.1k 46 192 279 asked Apr 17 '10 at 14:57 Kaspa 681 2 9 17

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13 Answers

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up vote 295 down vote accepted

Instead of a shape,you could try aView: <View android:layout_width="1dp" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:background="#FF0000FF" /> I have only used this for horizontal lines,but I would think it would work for vertical lines as well. Use: <View android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="1dp" android:background="#FF0000FF" /> for a horizontal line. improve this answer editedOct 6 '14 at 19:14 Jared Burrows 30.9k 16 100 132 answered Apr 17 '10 at 16:08 CommonsWare 660k 105 1598 1652

2 thanks Mark :)! I am aware I can use a view to achieve this. The thing is I'm assembling a bit more complex view that I want to use as a drawable for the background of a table cell. There are different types of shapes/gradients/lines there. Using a view WOULD be a solution,however I would have to put it in a different drawing "layer" and that is potentially shooting yourself in the foot when I will come across resizing etc. I wonder just why there is no documentation on the "shape" xmls,maybe someone from google could enlighten us? :)– Kaspa Apr 17 '10 at 17:14 Found no other way :)– Jun 1 '10 at 22:04 brilliant idea ...– Abhijit Gujar Mar 6 '15 at 6:29 great idea......– Arpit Patel Aug 29 '16 at 8:04 add a comment

79 down vote

You can nest your shape inside a rotate tag.

<rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:fromDegrees="90"
    android:toDegrees="90">
    <shape 
        android:shape="line">
        <stroke
            android:width="1dp"
            android:color="#ff00ff"
            android:dashWidth="1dp"
            android:dashGap="2dp" />
    </shape>
</rotate>

However,the only problem is the layout params defined in your layout xml will be the dimensions used to draw the original shape. Meaning if you want your line to be 30dp tall,you need to define a layout_width of 30dp in your layout xml. But the final width will also be 30dp in that case,which is likely undesirable for most situations. This essentially means both width and height have to be the same value,the value of your desired length for the line. I couldn't figure out how to fix this.

This seems to be the "android way" solution,but unless there's some fix or workaround for the dimensions issue I mention then this likely won't work for most people. What we really need is an orientation attribute in <shape/> or <stroke/>.

You can also try referencing another drawable in the rotate tag's attributes,such as:

<rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:fromDegrees="90"
    android:toDegrees="90"
    android:drawable="@drawable/horizontal_line" />

However I haven't tested this and expect it to have the same issues.

-- EDIT --

Oh,I actually figured out a fix. You can use a negative margin in your layout xml to get rid of the undesired extra space. Such as:

<ImageView
    android:layout_width="35dp"
    android:layout_height="35dp"
    android:layout_marginLeft="-15dp"
    android:layout_marginRight="-15dp"
    android:src="@drawable/dashed_vertical_line" />

editedOct 6 '14 at 19:15 answered Sep 22 '10 at 20:56 cephus 1,317 9 10

4

while the negative margin will work for 99% of the devices....just know,there are devices out there that will Force Close if you do this. Some devices have trouble inflating a negative margin– Kent Andersen Nov 30 '12 at 4:44

@cephus I use your first code,but I need the line on top of the view. It's in the center of my view. How can I set a gravity for it(inside the shape xml file)?– Behzad Jan 10 '13 at 19:22

Negative margin... genius.– zgc7009 Dec 31 '15 at 18:32

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15 down vote

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:shape="rectangle" >
    <stroke android:width="1dp" android:color="@color/white" />
    <size android:width="2dp" />
</shape>

Work's for me . Put it as background of view with fill_parent or fixed sized in dp height

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editedOct 4 '12 at 20:21

answered Sep 8 '12 at 12:43 logcat 2,447 1 18 32

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9 down vote

I came up with a different solution. The idea is to fill the drawable first with the color that you like the line to be and then fill the whole area again with the background color while using left or right padding. Obviously this only works for a vertical line in the far left or right of your drawable.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item android:drawable="@color/divider_color" />
    <item android:left="6dp" android:drawable="@color/background_color" />
</layer-list>

answered Jun 27 '13 at 15:13 Eric Kok 1,495 3 19 28

I needed background with borders on the left,right,bottom and this worked for me,thanks!– Andrii Chernenko Aug 2 '13 at 10:02

Awesome,with this I managed to create neat dividers in my LinearLayout (showDividers="middle"). To get a 2dp divider,I needed to specifyandroid:left="3dp"here.– Jonik Dec 30 '13 at 10:14

Tip: to make this drawable useful more generally,use@android:color/transparentinstead of hardcoding@color/background_color.– Dec 30 '13 at 10:16

Actually for my vertical divider needs,this solution is even simpler. :)– Dec 30 '13 at 10:28

@Jonik Sure,but that only works with a fixed height view,not withwrap_content.– Eric Kok Mar 13 '14 at 14:09

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