How to switch from the default ConstraintLayout to RelativeLayout in Android Studio

Question

I have the latest android Studio (2.3 beta 3) and it seems ConstraintLayout is the default when creating a project. How can I make Android Studio use the RelativeLayout as the default layout element for new projects ?

Answer 1

Well, I saw the answer above and it worked for me too. But, I gave it a shot, and succeded converting my current project to Relative Layout. Do as follows:

At activity_main.xml tab, change it to text. At the top of it, you'll find the following:

<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

Just change all before xmlns to RelativeLayout. Doing so will also change the very bottom line where you would find:

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

to

</RelativeLayout>

Problem solved! Be happy :P

Answer 2

I am answering this for android studio 2.3.1. One of the easiest ways to set RelativeLayout as default layout is going to text mode and editing the XML file as follows:

Change this line:

<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

To

<android.widget.RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

And do check your ending tag changes to this:

</android.widget.RelativeLayout>

Also (optionally) go ahead and delete this line if it's being shown in grey:

xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"

Edit:

This is an optional change to make in project, I came across this tip while going through Udacity's Android Developer Course

If the constraint layout is not needed in the project remove the following dependency from build.gradle by deleting this line and then doing gradle sync:

    compile 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.0.0-beta4'