Declaratively display ads to the bottom of screen in Android activity without overlapping main content?

Question

In my activity the adview displays at the bottom of the screen but it overlaps my main content instead of resizing it. How to accomplish this?

I followed this guide.

XML:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/mainLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/contentsLayout"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
        android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" >

        <ListView
            android:id="@+id/list"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
        </ListView>
    </LinearLayout>


    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/adLayout"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/contentsLayout"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:gravity="bottom|center"
        android:orientation="horizontal" >
    </LinearLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

Answer 1

tell your content layout to be above the adView. Also you will have to reorder the XML like this:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/mainLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/adLayout"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:gravity="bottom|center"
        android:orientation="horizontal" >
    </LinearLayout>

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/contentsLayout"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:layout_above="@id/adLayout"
        android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
        android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" >

        <ListView
            android:id="@+id/list"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
        </ListView>
    </LinearLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

with android:layout_above="@id\adLayout" the content will never get under the adLayout. You need to reorder the xml because the id of the adLayout must be defined to be used with the layout_above

also remove android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/contentsLayout" from the adLayout