CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidandroid-layout
sandalone
sandalone

Reputation: 41759

Layout for unusual screens

Some of users downloading my apps complain that they were unable to install the app as it exited with MainActivity.class layout not being found. After investigating, I realized that those mobile phones have unusual screens.

For example, one of those phones is HTC ChaCha which screen is 480 x 320 pixels, 2.6 inches (~222 ppi pixel density). According to these specifications, it is a Normal screen, MDPI.

However, as its screen is set in the landscape mode (wide mobile screen), Android does not recognize it as Normal MDPI, but as something else and then it tries to pull XML layout from /layout dir. The Main.xml layout in this directory does not envisage such unusual screens and the layout gets broken (layout icons too big and probably pulled from HDPI drawable directory).

How to make the XML layout for such unusual phones?

PS. One more Question. When I create an emulator for this phone via Android SDK Manager, should I set "Abstracted LCD density" to 222 or keep it to 160???

Upvotes: 2

Views: 429

Answers (3)

ol_v_er
ol_v_er

Reputation: 27284

The problem of the HTC Chacha is in fact it's screen aspect. It's a "notlong" screen (like the HTC Wildfire if I'm correct).

To make a specific layout for this phone (and all screens with a 4/3 ratio), just make a layout in layout-notlong directory.

res
|---layout-notlong
    |----mylayout.xml

Upvotes: 2

jobesu
jobesu

Reputation: 620

Perhaps the good start to identify the problem is to check the Application Error Reports

in your android market publisher account.

Click on Erros(2) just next your app in the apps listing.

Upvotes: -1

Greyson
Greyson

Reputation: 3678

Are you sure that the error is that the activity's class can't be found?

Several device vendors will incorrectly describe the density of their screens. The density is not derived from the physical size and pixel count. Some have done this for compatibility reasons; for instance, the original Samsung Galaxy Tab (released before Honeycomb, therefore not technically "tablet ready") reports itself as HDPI so that graphics and layouts are selected to make it use the screen more like a phone.

In regards to your layouts, if you have a decent default (in res/layout/) this will be chosen if no more specific layouts are available (e.g. res/layout-land/ or res/layout-large/). Keep in mind that each of the view ids that you reference in code must be available in all layouts. Keep them all up to date with each other or you will end up with inconsistent behaviour.

If you're diligent about making graphics for at least the main three densities (ldpi, mdpi, and hdpi) then you should not see over-large icons except where the screen is physically smaller than your layout expects it. Also, use dp in your layouts instead of px.

Upvotes: 1

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