How can I create a table with borders in Android?

Question

I use a table layout to display data as table, but I want a table with user-defined columns and rows with borders. Suggestions?

Answer 1

My solution for this problem is to put an xml drawable resource on the background field of every cell. In this manner you could define a shape with the border you want for all cells. The only inconvenience is that the borders of the extreme cells have half the width of the others but it's no problem if your table fills the entire screen.

An Example:

drawable/cell_shape.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape= "rectangle"  >
        <solid android:color="#000"/>
        <stroke android:width="1dp"  android:color="#ff9"/>
</shape>

layout/my_table.xml

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

    <TableRow
        android:id="@+id/tabla_cabecera"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"></TableRow>

    <TableLayout
        android:id="@+id/tabla_cuerpo"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tableRow1"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content">

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

        </TableRow>

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tableRow2"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content">

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>
        </TableRow>

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tableRow3"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content">

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

        </TableRow>

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tableRow4"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content">

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/textView1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@drawable/cell_shape"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:text="TextView"
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"></TextView>

        </TableRow>
    </TableLayout>


</LinearLayout>

Edit: An example

Edit2: Another example (with more elements: circle corners, gradients...)

I have explained this issue with more details in http://blog.intelligenia.com/2012/02/programacion-movil-en-android.html#more. It's in spanish but there are some codes and images of more complex tables.

Answer 2

I have to agree with Brad. That was an awful answer. The Android documentation states that TableLayout containers do not display border lines, so sending them to the Android site wont help them a bit. I was able to find a "dirty" solution on droidnova, which involves setting a background color for the TableLayout, then setting a different background color for the TableRow and adding layout_margin to the row. I'm not fond of this solution, but it does work for row borders. I guess you could do the same thing with the items composing each "cell" item but I haven't verified.

An example similar to the one on DroidNova:

<TableLayout android:background="#000000"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
  <TableRow android:background="#FFFFFF"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:layout_margin="1dp">
     ...
  </TableRow>
</TableLayout>