Android layout - How to implement a fixed/freezed header and column

Question

I would like to create a table-like view that contains a large number of columns (7-10) while the headers row is always visible (even when scrolling down) and the first colu

Answer 1

I would go with TableLayout populated by TableRow's.

The following code demonstrates how to achieve that.

package com.test;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Gravity;
import android.widget.TableLayout;
import android.widget.TableRow;
import android.widget.TableRow.LayoutParams;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class TableLayoutTest extends Activity {

    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.table_layout);

        TableRow.LayoutParams wrapWrapTableRowParams = new TableRow.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
        int[] fixedColumnWidths = new int[]{20, 20, 20, 20, 20};
        int[] scrollableColumnWidths = new int[]{20, 20, 20, 30, 30};
        int fixedRowHeight = 50;
        int fixedHeaderHeight = 60;

        TableRow row = new TableRow(this);
        //header (fixed vertically)
        TableLayout header = (TableLayout) findViewById(R.id.table_header);
        row.setLayoutParams(wrapWrapTableRowParams);
        row.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);
        row.setBackgroundColor(Color.YELLOW);
        row.addView(makeTableRowWithText("col 1", fixedColumnWidths[0], fixedHeaderHeight));
        row.addView(makeTableRowWithText("col 2", fixedColumnWidths[1], fixedHeaderHeight));
        row.addView(makeTableRowWithText("col 3", fixedColumnWidths[2], fixedHeaderHeight));
        row.addView(makeTableRowWithText("col 4", fixedColumnWidths[3], fixedHeaderHeight));
        row.addView(makeTableRowWithText("col 5", fixedColumnWidths[4], fixedHeaderHeight));
        header.addView(row);
        //header (fixed horizontally)
        TableLayout fixedColumn = (TableLayout) findViewById(R.id.fixed_column);
        //rest of the table (within a scroll view)
        TableLayout scrollablePart = (TableLayout) findViewById(R.id.scrollable_part);
        for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
            TextView fixedView = makeTableRowWithText("row number " + i, scrollableColumnWidths[0], fixedRowHeight);
            fixedView.setBackgroundColor(Color.BLUE);
            fixedColumn.addView(fixedView);
            row = new TableRow(this);
            row.setLayoutParams(wrapWrapTableRowParams);
            row.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);
            row.setBackgroundColor(Color.WHITE);
            row.addView(makeTableRowWithText("value 2", scrollableColumnWidths[1], fixedRowHeight));
            row.addView(makeTableRowWithText("value 3", scrollableColumnWidths[2], fixedRowHeight));
            row.addView(makeTableRowWithText("value 4", scrollableColumnWidths[3], fixedRowHeight));
            row.addView(makeTableRowWithText("value 5", scrollableColumnWidths[4], fixedRowHeight));
            scrollablePart.addView(row);
        }

    }


    //util method
    private TextView recyclableTextView;

    public TextView makeTableRowWithText(String text, int widthInPercentOfScreenWidth, int fixedHeightInPixels) {
        int screenWidth = getResources().getDisplayMetrics().widthPixels;
        recyclableTextView = new TextView(this);
        recyclableTextView.setText(text);
        recyclableTextView.setTextColor(Color.BLACK);
        recyclableTextView.setTextSize(20);
        recyclableTextView.setWidth(widthInPercentOfScreenWidth * screenWidth / 100);
        recyclableTextView.setHeight(fixedHeightInPixels);
        return recyclableTextView;
    }

}

Header is the part that doesn't scroll vertically; that's the reason you need to set fixed width on columns. As of the first column that you don't want to scroll, you'll have to set a fixed height on rows for that purpose.

Here's the layout XML

And the output looks like this when just loaded

and like this when scrolled to the right and to the bottom