How to achieve this layout in Jetpack Compose

Question

I'm trying to use the new Jetpack Compose UI framework, but I'm running into an issue. I'd like to achieve this layout, which in xml is pretty easy to achieve:

But I can't figure out how to make the vertical divider take up the available vertical space, without specifying a fixed height. This code that I've tried doesn't seem to work:

@Composable
fun ListItem(item: PlateUI.Plate) {
    Surface(
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth(),
        shape = RoundedCornerShape(8.dp),
        elevation = 2.dp
    ) {
        Row(
            modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth(),
            verticalAlignment = Alignment.CenterVertically
        ) {
            Column(
                modifier = Modifier
                    .padding(8.dp),
                horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally
            ) {
                Text(text = "Code")
                Text(text = item.code)
            }
            Spacer(
                modifier = Modifier
                    .preferredWidth(1.dp)
                    .background(color = MaterialTheme.colors.onSurface.copy(0.12f))
            )
            Spacer(modifier = Modifier.weight(1f))
            Text(
                modifier = Modifier
                    .padding(horizontal = 8.dp, vertical = 34.dp),
                text = item.name
            )
            Spacer(modifier = Modifier.weight(1f))
        }
    }
}

I keep getting this result:

I also tried with ConstraintLayout, but it still didn't work

@Composable
fun ListItem(item: PlateUI.Plate) {
    Surface(
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth(),
        shape = RoundedCornerShape(8.dp),
        elevation = 2.dp
    ) {
        ConstraintLayout(
            modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth(),
        ) {
            val(column, divider, text) = createRefs()
            Column(
                modifier = Modifier
                    .padding(8.dp)
                    .constrainAs(column){
                        top.linkTo(parent.top)
                        bottom.linkTo(parent.bottom)
                        start.linkTo(parent.start)
                    },
                horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally
            ) {
                Text(text = "Code")
                Text(text = item.code)
            }
            Spacer(
                modifier = Modifier
                    .preferredWidth(1.dp)
                    .background(color = MaterialTheme.colors.onSurface.copy(0.12f))
                    .constrainAs(divider){
                        top.linkTo(parent.top)
                        bottom.linkTo(parent.bottom)
                        start.linkTo(column.end)
                    }
            )
            Text(
                modifier = Modifier
                    .padding(horizontal = 8.dp, vertical = 34.dp)
                    .constrainAs(text){
                        start.linkTo(divider.end)
                        end.linkTo(parent.end)
                        top.linkTo(parent.top)
                        bottom.linkTo(parent.bottom)
                    },
                text = item.name
            )
        }
    }
}

But nothing seems to work. Is this a bug, a missing feature or am I just missing something?

EDIT: Apparently the real problem is that the divider doesn't know how to measure when the Surface doesn't have a fixed height, setting height equal to some number solves the issue, but then the view doesn't adapt to the content height anymore, so this can't be the solution

Answer 1

You can apply:

• the modifier .height(IntrinsicSize.Max) to the Row
• the modifiers .width(1.dp).fillMaxHeight() to the Spacer

You can read more about the Intrinsic measurements here.

Something like:

Row(
    modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth().height(IntrinsicSize.Max),
    verticalAlignment = Alignment.CenterVertically
) {
    Column(
        horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally,
        ....
    ) {
        Text(text = "....")
    }
    Spacer(
        modifier = Modifier
            .width(1.dp)
            .fillMaxHeight()
            .background(color = MaterialTheme.colors.onSurface.copy(0.12f))
    )
    Text(...)
}

Answer 2

You can set Intrinsic.Max for the preferredHeight of the Row, then set the Spacer to fill max height. You can read more on Intrinsics in this codelab section.

@Composable
fun ListItem() {
    Surface(
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth(),
        shape = RoundedCornerShape(8.dp),
        elevation = 2.dp
    ) {
        Row(
            modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth().preferredHeight(IntrinsicSize.Max),
            verticalAlignment = Alignment.CenterVertically
        ) {
            Column(
                modifier = Modifier
                    .padding(8.dp),
                horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally
            ) {
                Text(text = "Code")
                Text(text = "2456")
            }
            Spacer(
                modifier = Modifier
                    .preferredWidth(1.dp)
                    .fillMaxHeight()
                    .background(color = Color.Black.copy(0.12f))
            )
            Spacer(modifier = Modifier.weight(1f))
            Text(
                modifier = Modifier
                    .padding(horizontal = 8.dp, vertical = 34.dp),
                text = "Some name"
            )
            Spacer(modifier = Modifier.weight(1f))
        }
    }
}