How to make TextView scrollable?(Android)

Question

I have tried making ScrollView parent of the TextView, but then I also have a background image set on this RelativeLayout, and it gives me an error saying:"This ScrollView Layout or its RelativeLayout parent is useless; transfer the background attribute to the other view". And if I make ScrollView the parent of my RelativeLayout, it stretches the background image, which I don't want. Here's my xml code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@drawable/hp_instr" >

<ScrollView android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<TextView
    android:id="@+id/textView1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:text="@string/instr"
    android:textColor="#FFFFFF"
    android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />
</ScrollView>

</RelativeLayout>

Answer 1

ScrollView needs only one child ViewGroup which will contain other child views. And as your hint said: "The parent RelativeLayout is useless" indeed, because now you can have only the ScrollView and set to it the background:

<ScrollView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:background="@drawable/hp_instr" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical" >

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/textView1"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
            android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
            android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
            android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
            android:text="@string/instr"
            android:textColor="#FFFFFF"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />

    </LinearLayout>

</ScrollView>

NOTE: A last thing to know, when you'll use a ScrollView, the child ViewGroup (LinearLayout, RelativeLayout, TableLayout, whatever) must to declare its height to wrap_content because the height expands regarding its content (same for HorizontalScrollView but for the width).

Answer 2

<ScrollView  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<RelativeLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@drawable/hp_instr" >


<TextView
    android:id="@+id/textView1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:text="@string/instr"
    android:textColor="#FFFFFF"
    android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />


</RelativeLayout>

Answer 3

You need to place your scrollview first (below xml-tag) with layout_width and height to fill_parent and your relativelayout can match_parent.

I hope this solution will help for you.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ScrollView android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

  <RelativeLayout 
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@drawable/hp_instr" >

    <TextView
      android:id="@+id/textView1"
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
      android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
      android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
      android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
      android:text="@string/instr"
      android:textColor="#FFFFFF"
      android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />

  </RelativeLayout>
</ScrollView>