Android TextView Example

This example will show you how to create a simple android TextView, set the text to bold, center it, change the font color and attach an OnClickListener event.

Start by adding the main activity logic.

File: MainActivity.java

package com.ahotbrew.textview;

import android.graphics.Color;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }

    public void changeTextColor (View view)
    {
        TextView textView = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.textview_onclick);
        textView.setTextColor(android.graphics.Color.RED);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
        int id = item.getItemId();

        //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
            return true;
        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

 

File: activity_main.xml

<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:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context="com.ahotbrew.textview.MainActivity">

    <TextView
        android:text="@string/textview_simple"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textview_simple"
        android:layout_marginBottom="30dp"
        android:textSize="25dp"/>

    <TextView
        android:text="@string/textview_bold"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textview_bold"
        android:layout_below="@+id/textview_simple"
        android:layout_marginBottom="30dp"
        android:textSize="25dp"
        android:textStyle="bold"/>

    <TextView
        android:text="@string/textview_center"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textview_center"
        android:layout_below="@+id/textview_bold"
        android:layout_marginBottom="30dp"
        android:textSize="25dp"
        android:gravity="center"/>

    <TextView
        android:text="@string/textview_onclick"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textview_onclick"
        android:layout_below="@+id/textview_center"
        android:textSize="25dp"
        android:onClick="changeTextColor"
        android:clickable="true"/>

</RelativeLayout>

 

File: strings.xml

<resources>
    <string name="app_name">TextView</string>
    <string name="title_activity_main">Ahotbrew.com TextView</string>

    <string name="textview_simple">Simple TextView</string>
    <string name="textview_bold">Bold TextView</string>
    <string name="textview_center">Centered TextView</string>
    <string name="textview_onclick">OnClick TextView</string>

    <string name="action_settings">Settings</string>
</resources>

 

Android TextView Color

Here you can see how we change the android TextView color programmatically to “Red”.

    public void changeTextColor (View view)
    {
        TextView textView = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.textview_onclick);
        textView.setTextColor(android.graphics.Color.RED);
    }

 

Simple Android Label

This is a simple textview label.

    <TextView
        android:text="@string/textview_simple"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textview_simple"
        android:layout_marginBottom="30dp"
        android:textSize="25dp"/>

 

Android TextView Bold

You can set the font to be bold with this extra line: android:textStyle=”bold”.

    <TextView
        android:text="@string/textview_bold"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textview_bold"
        android:layout_below="@+id/textview_simple"
        android:layout_marginBottom="30dp"
        android:textSize="25dp"
        android:textStyle="bold"/>

 

Android TextView Center

In order to center the text, set the layout_width to “fill_parent” and the gravity to “center”.

    <TextView
        android:text="@string/textview_center"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textview_center"
        android:layout_below="@+id/textview_bold"
        android:layout_marginBottom="30dp"
        android:textSize="25dp"
        android:gravity="center"/>

 

Android TextView OnClick Listener

Make sure clickable is set to “true” and the OnClick property has a valid method name. You can find the method in the MainActivity file line 20.

    <TextView
        android:text="@string/textview_onclick"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textview_onclick"
        android:layout_below="@+id/textview_center"
        android:textSize="25dp"
        android:onClick="changeTextColor"
        android:clickable="true"/>

Sit back, take a sip from your hot brew and run your project.

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