GridLayout (not GridView) how to stretch all children evenly

Question

I want to have a 2x2 grid with a buttons inside. This is only ICS so I am trying to use the new GridLayout given.

Here's the XML of my layout:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GridLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/favorites_grid"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="#00ff00"
    android:rowCount="2"
    android:columnCount="2">
  <Button
      android:text="Cell 0"
      android:layout_row="0"
      android:layout_column="0"
      android:textSize="14dip" />
  <Button
      android:text="Cell 1"
      android:layout_row="0"
      android:layout_column="1"
      android:textSize="14dip" />

  <Button
      android:text="Cell 2"
      android:layout_row="1"
      android:layout_column="0"
      android:textSize="14dip" />
  <Button
      android:text="Cell 3"
      android:layout_row="1"
      android:layout_column="1"
      android:textSize="14dip" />
</GridLayout>

The problem is that my views do not stretch evenly for each row. This causes a lot of extra space to the right of my GridLayout.

I tried setting layout_gravity="fill_horizontal" but that only applies to the last view on the row. This means Cell 1 stretches all the way to give enough space for Cell 0.

Thoughts on how to tackle this?

Answer 1

Starting in API 21 the notion of weight was added to GridLayout. To support older android devices, you can use the GridLayout from the v7 support library.

The following XML gives an example of how you can use weights to fill the screen width.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:grid="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"

    android:id="@+id/choice_grid"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:padding="4dp"

    grid:alignmentMode="alignBounds"
    grid:columnCount="2"
    grid:rowOrderPreserved="false"
    grid:useDefaultMargins="true">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="100dp"
        grid:layout_columnWeight="1"
        grid:layout_gravity="fill_horizontal"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:background="#FF33B5E5"
        android:text="Tile1" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="100dp"
        grid:layout_columnWeight="1"
        grid:layout_gravity="fill_horizontal"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:background="#FF33B5E5"
        android:text="Tile2" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="100dp"
        grid:layout_columnWeight="1"
        grid:layout_gravity="fill_horizontal"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:background="#FF33B5E5"
        android:text="Tile3" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="100dp"
        grid:layout_columnWeight="1"
        grid:layout_gravity="fill_horizontal"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:background="#FF33B5E5"
        android:text="Tile4" />

</android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout>