Android vertical line xml

Question

Hello,

I'm trying to figure out how to define a verical line (1px thick) to be used as a drawable.

to make a horizontal one, it's pretty straightforward:

<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="line">
    <stroke android:width="1dp" android:color="#0000FF"/>
    <size android:height="50dp" />     
</shape>

The question is, how to make this line vertical?

Yes, there are workarounds, such as drawing a rectangle shape 1px thick, but that complicates the drawable xml, if it consists of multiple <item> elements.

Anyone had any chance with this?

UPDATE

Case is still unsolved. However, For anyone on a Android documentation crusade - you might find this, Missing Android XML Manual usefull: http://idunnolol.com/android/drawables.html

UPDATE

I found no other way other than the one that I marked as correct. It does the trick though feels a bit "heavy", thus if you happen to know the answer don't forget to share ;)

Answer 1

Instead of a shape, you could try a View:

<View
    android:layout_width="1dip"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:background="#FF0000FF"
/>

I have only used this for horizontal lines, but I would think it would work for vertical lines as well.

Answer 2

You can nest your shape inside a rotate tag.

<rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:fromDegrees="90"
    android:toDegrees="90">
    <shape 
        android:shape="line">
        <stroke
            android:width="1dp"
            android:color="#ff00ff"
            android:dashWidth="1dp"
            android:dashGap="2dp"
            />
    </shape>
</rotate>

However, the only problem is the layout params defined in your layout xml will be the dimensions used to draw the original shape. Meaning if you want your line to be 30dp tall, you need to define a layout_width of 30dp in your layout xml. But the final width will also be 30dp in that case, which is likely undesirable for most situations. This essentially means both width and height have to be the same value, the value of your desired length for the line. I couldn't figure out how to fix this.

This seems to be the "android way" solution, but unless there's some fix or workaround for the dimensions issue I mention then this likely won't work for most people. What we really need is an orientation attribute in <shape/> or <stroke/>.

You can also try referencing another drawable in the rotate tag's attributes, such as:

<rotate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:fromDegrees="90"
    android:toDegrees="90"
    android:drawable="@drawable/horizontal_line"/>

However I haven't tested this and expect it to have the same issues.

-- EDIT --

Oh, I actually figured out a fix. You can use a negative margin in your layout xml to get rid of the undesired extra space. Such as:

<ImageView
    android:layout_width="35dp"
    android:layout_height="35dp"
    android:layout_marginLeft="-15dp"
    android:layout_marginRight="-15dp"
    android:src="@drawable/dashed_vertical_line"
    />