How to get RelativeLayout working with merge and include?

Question

I have been trying for a few days now to make my layouts more efficient by converting from using several levels of nested LinearLayouts to one RelativeLay

Answer 1

In my case, the layout which I was trying to include starts with <merge tag. When I changed it to a layout, say <RelativeLayout it worked. Below is the illustration.

WORKING

<RelativeLayout xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    tools:showIn="@layout/activity_home">

NOT WORKING

<merge xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    tools:showIn="@layout/activity_home">

Answer 2

There is an issue with the include tag. Check: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/36908001

To fix it, make sure you overwrite BOTH layout_width and layout_height when including, otherwise everything will be ignored.