Make TextView as wide as possible without crowding out other views

Question

I want the following layout handling in my app:

As you can see, the text is allowed to be as wide as it can be without pushing off the screen the other views that appear to its right, ellipsizing as necessary. There will never be more than 3 color swatches, and no fewer than 1, and all swatches and the x in the circle must always be visible. When the text is short, it should behave as seen in the last 2 rows (the ferns).

I've tried to put the text and images in a LinearLayout, but when the text is too long the images are not visible (or not entirely visible). I assume there's some way to indicate that the images should always take up as much room as they need, with the TextView taking up the rest or as much as it needs, but I can't seem to figure out how. I don't know if a RelativeLayout would work better for this, or maybe a TableLayout/TableRow or GridLayout, though nothing I've read seems to cover this situation.

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

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/plant_name"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:gravity="center_vertical"
    android:maxLines="1"
    android:singleLine="true"
    android:ellipsize="end"
    android:layout_marginRight="3dp"/>

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/color_0"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginLeft="2dp"
    android:layout_marginRight="2dp">

    <ImageView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:src="@drawable/btn_remove_plant"
        android:visibility="invisible"/>
</LinearLayout>

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/color_1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginLeft="2dp"
    android:layout_marginRight="2dp"
    android:visibility="gone">

    <ImageView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:src="@drawable/btn_remove_plant"
        android:visibility="invisible"/>
</LinearLayout>

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/color_2"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginLeft="2dp"
    android:layout_marginRight="2dp"
    android:visibility="gone">

    <ImageView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:src="@drawable/btn_remove_plant"
        android:visibility="invisible"/>
</LinearLayout>

<ImageView
    android:id="@+id/remove_plant"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:src="@drawable/btn_remove_plant"
    android:layout_marginLeft="3dp"/>

</LinearLayout>

Answer 1

Here is a working layout. Two things that are happening. One, the rows are using LinearLayout with layout_width="wrap_content". This keeps the LinearLayout from expanding beyond its content keeping everything left aligned (your bottom two examples). Two, the TextView is using android:layout_weight="1" and android:layout_width="0dp" to tell the LinearLayout that it should expand this TextView to fill the rest of the space of available but to not push out the other views (your top three examples). Note: this is not all layout_weight does, only that this is what it is doing in this context.

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical">

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

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:ellipsize="end"
            android:lines="1"
            android:text="This is a long line of text and is testing something. This is a long line of text and is testing something. This is a long line of text and is testing something." />

        <View
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp"
            android:background="#F00" />

        <View
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp"
            android:background="#0F0" />

        <View
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp"
            android:background="#00F" />

        <Button
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp" />
    </LinearLayout>

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

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:ellipsize="end"
            android:lines="1"
            android:text="This is a long line of text and is testing something. This is a long line of text and is testing something. This is a long line of text and is testing something." />

        <View
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp"
            android:background="#F00" />

        <View
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp"
            android:background="#0F0" />

        <Button
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp" />
    </LinearLayout>


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

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:ellipsize="end"
            android:lines="1"
            android:text="This is some line of text." />

        <View
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp"
            android:background="#F00" />

        <View
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp"
            android:background="#00F" />

        <Button
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp" />
    </LinearLayout>

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

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:ellipsize="end"
            android:lines="1"
            android:text="This is short" />

        <View
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp"
            android:background="#F00" />

        <Button
            android:layout_width="24dp"
            android:layout_height="24dp"
            android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="4dp" />
    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>