ConstraintLayout margins

Question

I have a simple layout.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@color/colorDarkGray">


    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/container3"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="8dp"
        android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="8dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="8dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:alpha="0.7"
            android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
            android:letterSpacing="0.03"
            android:text="Another text"
            android:textColor="@color/colorWhite"
            android:textSize="11sp"
            android:textStyle="normal" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
            android:letterSpacing="0.03"
            android:text="Some text"
            android:textColor="@color/colorWhite"
            android:textSize="11sp"
            android:textStyle="normal" />
    </RelativeLayout>
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

In design view, it looks so As you can see there is no left and right margins. Top and bottom margins work well. If I remove left or right margin my relative layout moves beyond the screen a bit. Guess I can do it without a relative layout at all, BUT I'm interested why that happened.

Answer 1

You should avoid using nested views inside ConstraintLayout. The reasons are:

• ConstraintLayout allows you to create large and complex layouts with a flat view hierarchy (no nested view groups) as it's stated in Build a Responsive UI with ConstraintLayout

• Traditional nested layout hierarchy negatively impacts on performance as it's stated in Understanding the performance benefits of ConstraintLayout

The result layout source should look like:

<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@color/colorDarkGray">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:alpha="0.7"
        android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
        android:letterSpacing="0.03"
        android:text="Another text"
        android:textColor="@color/colorWhite"
        android:textSize="11sp"
        android:textStyle="normal"
        android:id="@+id/textView"
        android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="8dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="8dp"
        android:layout_marginBottom="8dp"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toLeftOf="@+id/textView2"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintHorizontal_chainStyle="spread" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:gravity="end"
        android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
        android:letterSpacing="0.03"
        android:text="Some text"
        android:textColor="@color/colorWhite"
        android:textSize="11sp"
        android:textStyle="normal"
        android:id="@+id/textView2"
        android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="8dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="8dp"
        android:layout_marginBottom="8dp"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="@+id/textView"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent" />

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

You can learn how to build layouts with ConstraintLayouts by following steps in Google's Codelab.

Answer 2

Try this change your RelativeLayout width to android:layout_width="0dp"

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@color/colorDarkGray">


    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/container3"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="8dp"
        android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="8dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="8dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:alpha="0.7"
            android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
            android:letterSpacing="0.03"
            android:text="Another text"
            android:textColor="@color/colorWhite"
            android:textSize="11sp"
            android:textStyle="normal" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:fontFamily="sans-serif"
            android:letterSpacing="0.03"
            android:text="Some text"
            android:textColor="@color/colorWhite"
            android:textSize="11sp"
            android:textStyle="normal" />
    </RelativeLayout>
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>