Can i group controls together?

Question

I want to group some TextView together, to show/hide them together. Preferably that the space in the view is available for other controls which are placed below the grouped textviews

How can I do that?

p.s.: In .Net i would use a Panel or a Groupbox.

Answer 1

Use a LinearLayout (or other ViewGroup like RelativeLayout) and put TextView (and other component) inside it:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/container"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:visibility="visible">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"      
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
</LinearLayout>

From code

LinearLayout container = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.container);
container.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE); //to show it

or

container.setVisibility(View.GONE); //to hide it

Answer 2

You should wrap your TextViews in a ViewGroup (like FrameLayout). Then you can put other views below / above this ViewGroup, and show/hide the ViewGroup so all the Views inside it will be shown/hidden.