Can't set items side to side LinearLayout

Question

I'm struggling with a weird trouble with linearlayout about setting a TextView and a spinner on the same row (side to side) in my layout.

I've already tried all the solutions found here on the forum none of them seemed to work.

I tried this: How to layout elements side by side on a Linear Layout and apply proper spacing and alignment

This: Align textview and spinner on same row

This: How can one align spinners right to left?

And this: How to move spinner in LinearLayout to right?

The main issue is that if i set android:orientation="horizontal" all my layout gets distorted and buggy.

Of course setting android:weightSum="1" on both items I want to align, is not working....

Here is my activity_main.xml layout code:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:background="#191414"
tools:context=".MainActivity">

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/aboutLinearLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal">


    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/imageView1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="200dp"
        android:scaleType="fitXY"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:contentDescription="Header picture"
        android:importantForAccessibility="no"
        android:src="@drawable/spoty"
        android:layout_marginBottom="15dp"/>

    <Switch
        android:id="@+id/Switchs"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:text="Smart" />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/switch_text"
        android:text="@string/delete_cache"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="start"
        android:gravity="start"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:layout_marginEnd="45dp"
        android:layout_marginBottom="10dp"/>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/main_text"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="start"
        android:gravity="start"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:layout_marginBottom="10dp"/>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/days_text"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/soemstring"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:textStyle="bold" />

    <Spinner
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:id="@+id/spinner1"
        android:entries="@array/days">
    </Spinner>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/size_text"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="start"
        android:text="@string/someotherstring"
        android:gravity="start"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:layout_marginBottom="5dp"/>
    <Spinner
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/spinner2"
        android:gravity="start"
        android:entries="@array/sizes"
        android:layout_marginBottom="5dp">
    </Spinner>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/notes"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="start"
        android:text="@string/notes"
        android:gravity="start"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:layout_marginEnd="15dp"
        android:layout_marginBottom="25dp"/>

    <Button
        android:layout_width="200dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/sometext"
        android:id="@+id/button1"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        android:background="@drawable/btn_round"
        android:layout_marginBottom="5dp"/>
    </LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

What can to to fix all of this? Any suggestion is highly appreciated!

Answer 1

If I got the idea behind your sample, you will end up using nested LinearLayout's - upper one with vertical orientation and nested one with horizontal implementation - which is wrong btw, because you should be using ConstraintLayout. Anyways, I believe in your case it'll go like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/aboutLinearLayout"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:gravity="center_vertical"
            android:orientation="horizontal">

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/days_text"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="something"
                android:textStyle="bold" />

            <Spinner
                android:id="@+id/spinner1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:entries="@array/days" />
        </LinearLayout>
    </LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

If you are using horizontal orientation and your items layout_width are wrap_content, they will simply go one by one. If you put weights on them, don't forget to set their layout_width to 0dp however I suspect you only need former one as top level LinearLayout will put your pair of views in the center of the screen, like this: