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Android Studio ConstraintLayout visibility GONE not retaining constraints

The Crazy Moon answered on October 23, 2023 Popularity 1/10 Helpfulness 8/10

answer Android Studio ConstraintLayout visibility GONE not retaining constraints

Android Studio ConstraintLayout visibility GONE not retaining constraints

Comment

1. Use `0dp` Dimensions:
   - In your XML layout, set the `android:layout_height` or
   `android:layout_width` attribute of the view to `0dp`.
   This instructs the `ConstraintLayout`
   to distribute the available space evenly between views with `0dp`. 
   As a result, views with `0dp` dimensions won't take up space when hidden.

```xml
<TextView
    android:id="@+id/goneTextView"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="0dp"
    android:visibility="gone"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent" />
```

2. Utilize ConstraintLayout Guidelines:
   - Guidelines are invisible reference lines within `ConstraintLayout`.
   Aligning views with guidelines ensures consistent spacing,
   even when some views are set to `GONE`.
   Guidelines can help maintain the desired layout without unnecessary
   space occupation.

```xml
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.Guideline
    android:id="@+id/guideline"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    app:layout_constraintGuide_begin="your_margin_value" />

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/goneTextView"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:visibility="gone"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@id/guideline"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent" />
```

Runnable Java/Kotlin Code Examples:

Here are Java and Kotlin code examples to toggle the visibility of 
a view programmatically:


Java

//java Example:

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TextView;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private TextView goneTextView;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        // Initialize your TextView
        goneTextView = findViewById(R.id.goneTextView);
    }

    public void toggleVisibility(View view) {
        if (goneTextView.getVisibility() == View.VISIBLE) {
            goneTextView.setVisibility(View.GONE);
        } else {
            goneTextView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
        }
    }
}


Kotlin Example:

import android.os.Bundle
import android.view.View
import android.widget.TextView
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    private lateinit var goneTextView: TextView

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        // Initialize your TextView
        goneTextView = findViewById(R.id.goneTextView)
    }

    fun toggleVisibility(view: View) {
        if (goneTextView.visibility == View.VISIBLE) {
            goneTextView.visibility = View.GONE
        } else {
            goneTextView.visibility = View.VISIBLE
        }
    }
}

Issue Description:
When using ConstraintLayout in Android Studio, 
you may encounter a problem where views with visibility set to GONE
do not retain their constraints as expected. This can lead to unexpected
behavior in your layout. Here's how to understand and resolve this issue:

Understanding the Problem:
By default, when you set a view's visibility to GONE, 
it should become invisible and not occupy any space in the layout. 
However, ConstraintLayout doesn't always handle this automatically. 
Views may still maintain their constraints and take up space, affecting
the overall layout.

Helpful sites:

1. [Android Official Documentation - View.setVisibility]
(https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/View#setVisibility(int)):
Official documentation explaining how to set the visibility of views in Android.

2. [ConstraintLayout Guidelines]
(https://developer.android.com/reference/androidx/constraintlayout/widget/Guideline):
Official Android documentation on how to use guidelines within ConstraintLayout to maintain consistent spacing between views.

3. [Managing the Invisible]
(https://medium.com/google-developers/managing-the-invisible-4f4a1f6dd4e6):
An article by a Google Developer Expert discussing the management of view visibility in ConstraintLayout.

4. [Stack Overflow Discussion]
(https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56991519/android-constraint-layout-how-to-control-visibility-without-affecting-other-vie):
A Stack Overflow discussion on controlling visibility in ConstraintLayout.

By following these practices and utilizing the provided code example,
you can effectively manage view visibility and ensure that views
set to `GONE` behave as expected without affecting the layout constraints.

Popularity 1/10 Helpfulness 8/10 Language whatever

Source: Grepper

Tags: android-constraintlayout android-studio constraints hide space view views visibility whatever

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Contributed on Oct 23 2023

The Crazy Moon

0 Answers Avg Quality 2/10

Android Studio ConstraintLayout visibility GONE not retaining constraints

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