Android Dashboard Pattern

Question

In Tim Bray's latest Android blog post he mentions the "dashboard" ui pattern (what is used for the Twitter app, Facebook app, etc. Is this layout as simple as a GridView with Buttons or is it something else?

Answer 1

It could be implemented with a TableLayout containing Image- and TextViews.

Answer 2

I was able to achieve a similar dashboard using a relative layout. Its still a work in progress, so your mileage may vary.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/lay_wrapper"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
    <LinearLayout android:id="@+id/lay_action"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#000000" >
        <TextView android:id="@+id/label_header"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="50px"

            android:text="@string/app_title"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="25sp"
            android:paddingLeft="10px"
            android:gravity="center_vertical"
            android:layout_gravity="center_vertical" 
            />
    </LinearLayout>
    <RelativeLayout android:id="@+id/lay_main"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_below="@id/lay_action"
        android:paddingTop="25px"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true">

        <Button android:id="@+id/button1"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/button1"
            android:padding="25dip"
            android:drawableTop="@drawable/button1" />

        <Button android:id="@+id/button2"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_toRightOf="@id/button1"
            android:text="@string/button2"
            android:padding="25dip"
            android:drawableTop="@drawable/button2" />

        <Button android:id="@+id/button3"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@id/button1"
            android:text="@string/button3"
            android:padding="25dip"
            android:drawableTop="@drawable/button3" />

        <Button android:id="@+id/button4"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_toRightOf="@id/button3"
            android:layout_below="@id/button2"
            android:text="@string/button4"
            android:padding="25dip"
            android:drawableTop="@drawable/button4" />
    </RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

Answer 3

The best example you can use is from the Google I/O 2010 Android App. They implement all those design patterns in their app. You can find the code at the following link:

http://code.google.com/p/iosched/source/browse/trunk/res/layout/activity_home.xml