CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidandroid-layout
Xiao
Xiao

Reputation: 1582

Removing the left padding on an Android EditText

The default EditText background seems to put ~ 4dp of padding on the left. This causes misalignment with other widgets.

I made a simple app to demonstrate. Screenshot:

Left padding on EditText

Layout:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">


    <TextView
        android:background="#00ff00"
        android:text="@string/hello_world"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
    <EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="HINT"
        android:text="TEXT"
        android:singleLine="true"/>
    <TextView
        android:background="#00ff00"
        android:text="@string/hello_world"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

</LinearLayout>

Is there anyway to stop it from doing this?

Upvotes: 25

Views: 10996

Answers (6)

Hoa Nguyen
Hoa Nguyen

Reputation: 91

This issue comes from the default value of ?android:attr/editTextBackground.

<inset xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:insetBottom="@dimen/abc_edit_text_inset_bottom_material"
    android:insetLeft="@dimen/abc_edit_text_inset_horizontal_material"
    android:insetRight="@dimen/abc_edit_text_inset_horizontal_material"
    android:insetTop="@dimen/abc_edit_text_inset_top_material">

    <selector>
        <item android:state_enabled="false">
            <nine-patch
                android:alpha="?android:attr/disabledAlpha"
                android:src="@drawable/abc_textfield_default_mtrl_alpha"
                android:tint="?attr/colorControlNormal" />
        </item>
        <item
            android:state_focused="false"
            android:state_pressed="false">
            <nine-patch
                android:src="@drawable/abc_textfield_default_mtrl_alpha"
                android:tint="?attr/colorControlNormal" />
        </item>
        <item>
            <nine-patch
                android:src="@drawable/abc_textfield_activated_mtrl_alpha"
                android:tint="?attr/colorControlActivated" />
        </item>
    </selector>

</inset>

As you can see the inset value for all edges of EditText is abc_edit_text_inset_top_material = 4dp. That makes EditText has small padding around its content. To remove that padding you should create a new EditText style with modified editTextBackground attribute. For example:

<style name="Widget.App.TextField" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.EditText">
        <item name="colorControlActivated">#303E44</item>
        <item name="colorControlHighlight">#E5E9EC</item>
        <item name="colorControlNormal">#E5E9EC</item>
        <item name="editTextBackground">@drawable/background_new_edit_text</item>
<item name="android:editTextBackground">@drawable/background_new_edit_text</item>
    </style>

New background_edit_text.xml (Remember to put this file into correct drawable directory so it will not be overried such as drawable-v21...)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<inset xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:inset="@dimen/spacing_0dp">
    <selector>
        <item android:state_enabled="false">
            <nine-patch
                android:alpha="?android:attr/disabledAlpha"
                android:src="@drawable/abc_textfield_default_mtrl_alpha"
                android:tint="?attr/colorControlNormal" />
        </item>
        <item
            android:state_focused="false"
            android:state_pressed="false">
            <nine-patch
                android:src="@drawable/abc_textfield_default_mtrl_alpha"
                android:tint="?attr/colorControlNormal" />
        </item>
        <item>
            <nine-patch
                android:src="@drawable/abc_textfield_activated_mtrl_alpha"
                android:tint="?attr/colorControlActivated" />
        </item>
    </selector>

</inset>

Apply new style to your EditText:

<EditText
        android:id="@+id/edt_phone"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/Widget.App.TextField"
        />

Upvotes: 3

Allen Koch
Allen Koch

Reputation: 174

Use android:layout_marginLeft="-4dp" in edit text field as follows.

<EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="HINT"
        android:text="TEXT"
        android:layout_marginLeft="-4dp"
        android:singleLine="true"/>

Upvotes: 4

N.T.
N.T.

Reputation: 2611

If you want to align only the text and not the line underneath, you can overwrite the padding programmatically.

So let's say this layout is for an activity. Once the activity has been created you can do something like:

findViewById(R.id.edit_text).setPaddding(
                                 0,
                                 old_top_paddding,
                                 old_right_paddding,
                                 old_bottom_padding);

The key is to re-set the padding once the background has been applied. You might need to watch for cases where the background is set again, so maybe one idea is to override the setBackground*() methods and re-set the padding there.

Upvotes: -1

Jorge Casariego
Jorge Casariego

Reputation: 22212

Did you try adding android:background="@android:color/transparent"?

I did the same example with this result

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">


    <TextView
        android:background="#00ff00"
        android:text="@string/hello_world"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
    <EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="HINT"
        android:text="TEXT"
        android:background="@android:color/transparent"
        android:singleLine="true"/>
    <TextView
        android:background="#00ff00"
        android:text="@string/hello_world"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

</LinearLayout>

enter image description here

Second way with lines

Add an xml file in drawable like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item>
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <solid android:color="@android:color/transparent" /> <!--background color of box-->
        </shape>
    </item>

    <item
        android:top="-2dp"
        android:right="-2dp"
        android:left="-2dp">
        <shape>
            <solid android:color="@android:color/transparent" />
            <stroke
                android:width="1dp"
                android:color="#000000" />  <!-- color of stroke -->
        </shape>
    </item>
</layer-list>

then in your layout add this in your EditText android:background="@drawable/edittext_background"

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">


    <TextView
        android:background="#00ff00"
        android:text="@string/hello_world"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
    <EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="HINT"
        android:text="TEXT"
        android:background="@drawable/edittext_background"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:layout_marginBottom="3dp"/>
    <TextView
        android:background="#00ff00"
        android:text="@string/hello_world"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

</LinearLayout>

and you will have this enter image description here

Upvotes: 7

Peckata
Peckata

Reputation: 139

One workaround is to use negative margin on the sides (-4dp)

This will only work when the EditText background matches the Layout background, and you don't have anything on the sides in the Layout that would be covered by the EditText

Upvotes: 13

ArtKorchagin
ArtKorchagin

Reputation: 4863

Change background of EditText to custom, it have nine-patch padding

Upvotes: 2

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