Vertical line using XML drawable

Question

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 ;)

score 414 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 13 '20 at 05:55

414

Instead of a shape, you could try a View:

<View
    android:layout_width="1dp"
    android:layout_height="match_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="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="1dp"
    android:background="#FF0000FF" />

for a horizontal line.

edited Aug 13 '20 at 05:55

Jeehut

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answered Apr 17 '10 at 16:08

CommonsWare

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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
1

Using marginRight/Start and Left/End is also sometimes interesting to get space on the sides. – George Oct 02 '17 at 22:08

score 114 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 06 '14 at 19:15

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" />

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 04:44
@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

score 22 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 17 '15 at 06:00

22

You can use the rotate attribute

 <item>
    <rotate
        android:fromDegrees="90"
        android:toDegrees="90"
        android:pivotX="50%"
        android:pivotY="50%" >
        <shape
            android:shape="line"
            android:top="1dip" >
            <stroke
                android:width="1dip"
                 />
        </shape>
    </rotate>
</item>

answered Mar 17 '15 at 06:00

user4679242

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This is definitely a better (or the best) answer because, while @commonsware's answer suffice for normal vertical lines. If we wan't to create dashed lines (say for example), this is the only answer that would work properly. – Subin Sebastian Aug 25 '15 at 04:43

logcat · Answer 4 · 2012-10-04T20:21:18.120

16

<?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

edited Oct 04 '12 at 20:21

answered Sep 08 '12 at 12:43

logcat

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score 13 · Answer 5 · answered May 10 '18 at 13:08

13

I think this is the simplest solution:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item
        android:gravity="center">
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <size android:width="1dp" />
            <solid android:color="#0000FF" />
        </shape>
    </item>

</layer-list>

answered May 10 '18 at 13:08

a.ch.

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Wonderful. Add `android:height` to `size` if you want to control also that dimension. – Giulio Piancastelli Sep 03 '19 at 15:44

score 12 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 27 '13 at 15:13

12

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

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I needed background with borders on the left, right, bottom and this worked for me, thanks! – Andrii Chernenko Aug 02 '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 specify `android:left="3dp"` here. – Jonik Dec 30 '13 at 10:14
Tip: to make this drawable useful more generally, use `@android:color/transparent` instead of hardcoding `@color/background_color`. – Jonik Dec 30 '13 at 10:16
Actually for my vertical divider needs, [this solution is even simpler](http://stackoverflow.com/a/15128873/56285). :) – Jonik Dec 30 '13 at 10:28
@Jonik Sure, but that only works with a fixed height view, not with `wrap_content`. – Eric Kok Mar 13 '14 at 14:09
Here is the perfection of this technique : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10457135/how-to-add-border-around-linear-layout-except-at-the-bottom – Todd Freed Aug 21 '14 at 06:47

score 5 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 21 '13 at 13:24

I needed to add my views dynamically/programmatically, so adding an extra view would have been cumbersome. My view height was WRAP_CONTENT, so I couldn't use the rectangle solution. I found a blog-post here about extending TextView, overriding onDraw() and painting in the line, so I implemented that and it works well. See my code below:

public class NoteTextView extends TextView {
    public NoteTextView(Context context) {
       super(context);
    }
    private Paint paint = new Paint();
    @Override
    protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {
        super.onDraw(canvas);
        paint.setColor(Color.parseColor("#F00000FF"));
        paint.setStrokeWidth(0);
        paint.setStyle(Paint.Style.FILL);
        canvas.drawLine(0, 0, 0, getHeight(), paint);
    }
}

I needed a vertical line on the left, but the drawline parameters are drawLine(startX, startY, stopX, stopY, paint) so you can draw any straight line in any direction across the view. Then in my activity I have NoteTextView note = new NoteTextView(this); Hope this helps.

score 4 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 23 '13 at 15:54

4

its very simple... to add a vertical line in android xml...

<View
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="1dp"
android:layout_marginTop="5dp"
android:rotation="90"
android:background="@android:color/darker_gray"/>

answered Dec 23 '13 at 15:54

user3130068

57
1

This works great when you can't use fill_parent for height because the parent height is set to wrap_content. – Sergey Aldoukhov Nov 15 '14 at 19:53

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered May 07 '14 at 09:31

Depends, where you want to have the vertical line, but if you want a vertical border for example, you can have the parent view have a background a custom drawable. And you can then define the 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">
            <stroke android:width="1dp" android:color="#000000" />
            <solid android:color="#00ffffff" />

        </shape>
    </item>

    <item android:right="1dp">
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <solid android:color="#00ffffff" />
        </shape>
    </item>

</layer-list>

This example will create a 1dp thin black line on the right side of the view, that will have this drawable as an background.

score 2 · Answer 10 · edited Mar 14 '19 at 09:49

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item
        android:bottom="-3dp"
        android:left="-3dp"
        android:top="-3dp">

        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <solid android:color="@color/colorPrimary" />
            <stroke
                android:width="2dp"
                android:color="#1fc78c" />
        </shape>

    </item>

</layer-list>

score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Sep 04 '19 at 02:50

2

It looks like no one mentioned this option:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item android:drawable="@color/white" android:width="1dp"/>
</layer-list>

edited Sep 04 '19 at 02:50

Paul Roub

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answered Sep 04 '19 at 02:47

Sergey Neskoromny

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score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Nov 06 '13 at 10:23

You can use a shape but instead of a line make it rectangle.

android:shape="rectangle">
<stroke
    android:width="5dp"
    android:color="#ff000000"
    android:dashGap="10px"
    android:dashWidth="30px" />

and In your layout use this...

<ImageView
    android:layout_width="7dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:src="@drawable/dashline"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:layerType="software"/>

You might have to play with the width, depending on the size of the dashes, to get it into a single line.

Hope this helps Cheers

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered May 15 '14 at 13:00

add this in your styles.xml

        <style name="Divider">
            <item name="android:layout_width">1dip</item>
            <item name="android:layout_height">match_parent</item>
            <item name="android:background">@color/divider_color</item>
        </style>

        <style name="Divider_invisible">
            <item name="android:layout_width">1dip</item>
            <item name="android:layout_height">match_parent</item>
        </style>

then wrap this style in a linear layout where you want the vertical line, I used the vertical line as a column divider in my table. 

     <TableLayout
                android:id="@+id/table"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:orientation="horizontal"
                android:stretchColumns="*" >

                <TableRow
                    android:id="@+id/tableRow1"
                    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                    android:layout_height="match_parent"
                    android:background="#92C94A" >

                    <TextView
                        android:id="@+id/textView11"
                        android:paddingBottom="10dp"
                        android:paddingLeft="5dp"
                        android:paddingRight="5dp"
                        android:paddingTop="10dp" />
    //...................................................................    

                    <LinearLayout
                        android:layout_width="1dp"
                        android:layout_height="match_parent" >

                        <View style="@style/Divider_invisible" />
                    </LinearLayout>
        //...................................................................
                    <TextView
                        android:id="@+id/textView12"
                        android:paddingBottom="10dp"
                        android:paddingLeft="5dp"
                        android:paddingRight="5dp"
                        android:paddingTop="10dp"
                        android:text="@string/main_wo_colon"
                        android:textColor="@color/white"
                        android:textSize="16sp" />
  //...............................................................  
                    <LinearLayout
                        android:layout_width="1dp"
                        android:layout_height="match_parent" >

                        <View style="@style/Divider" />
                    </LinearLayout>

    //...................................................................
                    <TextView
                        android:id="@+id/textView13"
                        android:paddingBottom="10dp"
                        android:paddingLeft="5dp"
                        android:paddingRight="5dp"
                        android:paddingTop="10dp"
                        android:text="@string/side_wo_colon"
                        android:textColor="@color/white"
                        android:textSize="16sp" />

                    <LinearLayout
                        android:layout_width="1dp"
                        android:layout_height="match_parent" >

                        <View style="@style/Divider" />
                    </LinearLayout>

                    <TextView
                        android:id="@+id/textView14"
                        android:paddingBottom="10dp"
                        android:paddingLeft="5dp"
                        android:paddingRight="5dp"
                        android:paddingTop="10dp"
                        android:text="@string/total"
                        android:textColor="@color/white"
                        android:textSize="16sp" />
                </TableRow>

                <!-- display this button in 3rd column via layout_column(zero based) -->

                <TableRow
                    android:id="@+id/tableRow2"
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="match_parent"
                    android:background="#6F9C33" >

                    <TextView
                        android:id="@+id/textView21"
                        android:padding="5dp"
                        android:text="@string/servings"
                        android:textColor="@color/white"
                        android:textSize="16sp" />

                    <LinearLayout
                        android:layout_width="1dp"
                        android:layout_height="match_parent" >

                        <View style="@style/Divider" />
                    </LinearLayout>

    ..........
    .......
    ......

Miloš Černilovský · Answer 14 · 2020-12-01T11:36:34.373

Although @CommonsWare's solution works, it can't be used e. g. in a layer-list drawable. The options combining <rotate> and <shape> cause the problems with size. Here is a solution using the Android Vector Drawable. This Drawable is a 1x10dp white line (can be adjusted by modifying the width, height and strokeColor properties):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<vector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:viewportWidth="1"
    android:viewportHeight="10"
    android:width="1dp"
    android:height="10dp">

    <path
        android:strokeColor="#FFFFFF"
        android:strokeWidth="1"
        android:pathData="M0.5,0 V10" />

</vector>

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Nov 08 '17 at 17:28

To make a vertical line, just use a rectangle with width of 1dp:

<shape>
    <size
        android:width="1dp"
        android:height="16dp" />
    <solid
        android:color="#c8cdd2" />
</shape>

Don't use stroke, use solid (which is the "fill" color) to specify the color of the line.

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Feb 20 '21 at 11:01

Seems like there's a bug when using rotate drawable in Android M and above as per the thread here : stackoverflow.com/a/8716798/3849039

As per my opinion, creating a custom view is the best solution for this.

Below link save my time.

https://gist.github.com/mlagerberg/4aab34e6f8bc66b1eef7/revisions

score -1 · Answer 17 · answered Jan 12 '15 at 08:46

-1

 <View
        android:layout_width="2dp"
        android:layout_height="40dp"

        android:background="#ffffff"
        android:padding="10dp" />`

answered Jan 12 '15 at 08:46

Surender Kumar

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Vertical line using XML drawable

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