Adding a button underneath a listview on android

Question

So Ive been trying to add a button underneath a listview in android, the problem is that the button does not appear.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<AbsoluteLayout
    android:id="@+id/widget0"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/messagelist"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_x="0px"
        android:layout_y="0px">
    </ListView>
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/addbutton"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button"
        android:layout_x="0px"
        android:layout_y="379px">
    </Button>
</AbsoluteLayout>

Answer 1

AbsoluteLayout is deprecated. I would suggest instead that you use a LinearLayout:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/widget0"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/messagelist"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1">
    </ListView>
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/addbutton"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button">
    </Button>
</LinearLayout>

I'd also suggest reading through the developer docs on layouts for a good introduction.

Answer 2

There is an example of such a layout in the "API Demos" sample. The following page links to the samples:

http://developer.android.com/resources/samples/index.html

Look for the file LinearLayout9.java, and its corresponding layout file linear_layout9.xml. For convenience, I've pasted them here:

LinearLayout9.java:

/*
 * Copyright (C) 2007 The Android Open Source Project
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package com.example.android.apis.view;

import com.example.android.apis.R;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;

/**
 * Demonstrates how the layout_weight attribute can shrink an element too big
 * to fit on screen.
 */
public class LinearLayout9 extends Activity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.linear_layout_9);
        ListView list = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.list);
        list.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
                android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, AutoComplete1.COUNTRIES));
    }

}

linear_layout9.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- Copyright (C) 2007 The Android Open Source Project

     Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
     you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
     You may obtain a copy of the License at

          http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

     Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
     distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
     WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
     See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
     limitations under the License.
-->

<!--
    Demonstrates a simple linear layout. The layout fills the screen, with the
    children stacked from the top.
    -->

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <ListView android:id="@+id/list"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1.0" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/linear_layout_9_button" />

</LinearLayout>