TextView widget in Android using Java with Examples

Widget refers to the elements of the UI (User Interface) that helps user interacts with the Android App. TextView is one of many such widgets which can be used to improve the UI of the app.

TextView refers to the widget which displays some text on the screen based on the layout, size, colour, etc set for that particular TextView. It optionally allows us to modify or edit itself as well.

Class Syntax:

public class TextView
  extends View 
  implements ViewTreeObserver.OnPreDrawListener

Class Hierarchy:

java.lang.Object
  ↳ android.view.View
     ↳ android.widget.TextView

Syntax:

<SomeLayout>
    .
    .
    <TextView>
        android:SomeAttribute1 = "Value of attribute1"
        android:SomeAttribute2 = "Value of attribute2"
        .
        .
        android:SomeAttributeN = "Value of attributeN"
    </TextView>
    .
    .
</SomeLayout>

Here the layout can be any layout like Relative, Linear, etc (Refer this article to learn more about layouts). And the attributes can be many among the table given below in this article.

Example:

 <LinearLayout
      xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/text_view_id"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:text="GeeksforGeeks" />

 </LinearLayout>

How to include a TextView in an Android App:

1. First of all, create a new Android app, or take an existing app to edit it. In both the case, there must be an XML layout activity file and a Java class file linked to this activity.
2. Open the Activity file and include a TextView in this file. The code for the TextView will be:

3. Now in the Java file, link this layout file with the below code:

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

   where activity_main is the name of the layout file to be attached.

4. In the Java file, we will try to change the Text displayed on the TextView upon touching along with a Toast message.
5. The complete code of the layout file and the Java file is given below.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<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"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity"
    android:gravity="center">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textview"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Welcome To"
        android:textSize="26sp"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:textColor="@color/colorPrimary"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

</RelativeLayout>

MainActivity.java

package com.project.textview;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    // Creating the instance of the TextView created
    private TextView textView;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        // Linking the activity file to this Java file
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        // Get the TextView with the id
        // mentioned in the layout file
        textView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.textview);

        // Try to change the text of the Textview upon touch
        // and also display a Toast message
        textView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

            @Override
            public void onClick(View v)
            {

                // Changing text
                textView.setText("GeeksforGeeks");

                // Displaying Toast message
                Toast
                    .makeText(MainActivity.this,
                              "Welcome to GeeksforGeeks",
                              Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
                    .show();
            }
        });
    }
}

Output:

XML Attributes of TextView in Android

Attributes	Description
android:text	Sets text of the Textview
android:id	Gives a unique ID to the Textview
android:cursorVisible	Use this attribute to make cursor visible or invisible. Default value is visible.
android:drawableBottom	Sets images or other graphic assets to below of the Textview.
android:drawableEnd	Sets images or other graphic assets to end of Textview.
android:drawableLeft	Sets images or other graphic assets to left of Textview.
android:drawablePadding	Sets padding to the drawable(images or other graphic assets) in the Textview.
android:autoLink	This attribute is used to automatically detect url or emails and show it as clickable link.
android:autoText	Automatically correct spelling errors in text of the Textview.
android:capitalize	It automatically capitalize whatever the user types in the Textview.
android:drawableRight	Sets drawables to right of text in the Textview.
android:drawableStart	Sets drawables to start of text in the Textview.
android:drawableTop	Sets drawables to top of text in the Textview.
android:ellipsize	Use this attribute when you want text to be ellipsized if it is longer than the Textview width.
android:ems	Sets width of the Textview in ems.
android:gravity	We can align text of the Textview vertically or horizontally or both.
android:height	Use to set height of the Textview.
android:hint	Use to show hint when there is no text.
android:inputType	Use to set input type of the Textview. It can be Number, Password, Phone etc.
android:lines	Use to set height of the Textview by number of lines.
android:maxHeight	Sets maximum height of the Textview.
android:minHeight	Sets minimum height of the Textview.
android:maxLength	Sets maximum character length of the Textview.
android:maxLines	Sets maximum lines Textview can have.
android:minLines	Sets minimum lines Textview can have.
android:maxWidth	Sets maximum width Textview can have.
android:minWidth	Sets minimum lines Textview can have.
android:textAllCaps	Show all texts of the Textview in capital letters.
android:textColor	Sets color of the text.
android:textSize	Sets font size of the text.
android:textStyle	Sets style of the text. For example, bold, italic, bolditalic.
android:typeface	Sets typeface or font of the text. For example, normal, sans, serif etc
android:width	Sets width of the TextView.