How to add padding for background image

Question

I have a LinearLayout which has a background image (a 9 patched png file). How can I add padding to left and right so that the background image does not take up the whole width? I have tried android:paddingLeft and android:paddingRight, but that does not change anything.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     android:orientation="horizontal"     android:layout_width="fill_parent"     android:layout_height="fill_parent"     android:paddingLeft="25dip"     android:paddingRight="25dip"     android:background="@drawable/background"> 

The whole background still stretches the whole screen width.

Answer 1

You should use xml drawable, specially designed for this purposes - Inset Drawable: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/drawable-resource.html#Inset

For example:

res/drawable/inset_background.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <inset xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     android:drawable="@drawable/your_background_image"     android:insetRight="25dip"     android:insetLeft="25dip" /> 

and then in your xml layout:

<LinearLayout  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     android:orientation="horizontal"     android:layout_width="fill_parent"     android:layout_height="fill_parent"     android:background="@drawable/inset_background">