Android Tutorial Supporting multiple screens - tips and best practices

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This is an old tutorial. I recommend to instead watch the visual designer video tutorial: https://www.b4x.com/etp.html

There are several features in B4A that help you target Android phones and tablets with different screen sizes and resolutions. The purpose of this page is to collect tips and best practices that will help you create flexible layouts.

If you are not familiar with the designer script feature then please start with this tutorial: Designer Scripts Tutorial

- 'dip' units
It is very simple. You should always use 'dip' units when specifying the size or position of a view (control). This way the view's physical position and size will be the same on any device.
This is correct for both regular code and designer script.
B4X:
Button1.Width = 100 'WRONG!
Button1.Width = 100dip 'Good job!
Note that text size is measured in physical units. So you should not use 'dip' units with text size values.

- Use few layout variants
It is easy to create many variants. However it is very difficult to maintain a layout made of many variants. You should use the designer script feature and the anchoring feature to adjust your layout instead of creating many variants.

- Understand the meaning of scale (dots per inch)
There are many questions starting with "I have a device with 480x800 screen...". There is no meaning to these dimensions without the scale value.

A scale of 1.0 means that there are 160 dots (pixels) per inch.
The scale values can be one of the following values: 0.75, 1.0, 1.33, 1.5 and 2.
Most phones today have a scale of 1.5 (160 * 1.5 = 240 dots per inch) or 2.0.
Most tablets have a scale of 1.0.

- "Normalized" variants
Normalized variants are variants with a scale of 1.0.
The layout you create with the designer is scaled (not stretched or resized) automatically. This means that the layout will look exactly the same on two phones with the same physical size. The scale doesn't matter.
It is highly recommended to work and design your layout with normalized variants only.
For example a variant of 480x800, scale=1.5 matches the normalized variant: 320x533, scale=1.0 (divide each value by the scale value). Now it is easy to see that this device is slightly longer than the "standard" variant: 320x480, scale=1.0.

- Scaling strategy

Use the anchoring feature to anchor the views to their parents.
See this video example: Designer anchors - Video example
And: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/64112

Decide which views should be anchored and which views should "fill" the available space.

You can also use the designer script to make a view fill the available space:

This is done with SetTopAndBottom and SetLeftAndRight methods.
B4X:
'Make an EditText fill the available height between two buttons:
EditText1.SetTopAndBottom(Button1.Bottom, Button2.Top)

'Make a Button fill the entire PARENT panel:
Button1.SetLeftAndRight(0, Parent1.Width)
Button1.SetTopAndBottom(0, Parent1.Height)

Starting from v3.20 you can set the vertical or horizontal (or both) anchor to BOTH to achieve the same result.

- How to change the views size and text size?
Larger devices offer a lot more available space. The result is that even if the physical size of a view is the same, it just "feel" smaller.
Some developers use %x and %y to specify the views size. However the result is far from being perfect. The layout will just be stretched.
The solution is to combine the "dock and fill" strategy with a smart algorithm that increases the views size and text size based on the running device physical size.

Basic4android v2.20 introduces three new keywords that help with scaling the views size and text size:
AutoScale - Scales the specified view. The scale size, position and text size will be scaled based on the device physical size compared to the chosen variant size.
Example:
B4X:
AutoScale(Button1)
AutoScaleAll - Scales all layout views.
AutoScaleRate - Sets the scale rate. This is a number between 0 to 1. The default value is 0.3.
A value of 0 means no scaling at all.
Value of 1 means that the scale factor is exactly proportional to the device physical size. The result is a "stretched" UI.

The recommended process is to first scale all views and then adjust their positions as required.

If done properly this saves the need to create many variants. Your layout will look good on all devices.

Test your layout

You can test your layout with a real device, an emulator, the abstract designer and the UI Cloud service (Tools - Send to UI Cloud).
 
Last edited:

jamesnz

Active Member
Licensed User
Longtime User
If i need different layout for landscape and portrait and I set variant specific scripts for say ( 480 x 320) will this work on all devices of do i have to set a landscape layout for all sizes ?
 

ArminKH

Well-Known Member
Hi
I have one problem
When i use dip my view's width and height is different in vitrual device with density 1 and blue stack with density 1
I think that's should be same on any density by using dip
Is this wrong?
 

ArminKH

Well-Known Member
Erel my device has 540pixel with 1.5 scale rate in width but the width of vitrual device (320*480)is larger in real
320>360????!!!!
 

ArminKH

Well-Known Member
It depends on how you measure the width and height.

The physical size (which is the important factor) should be more or less the same. The number of pixels will not be the same.
I want dock an item in left top without any change in width or height so i use dip for example i have an item with 35*35 size in 320*480 (density 1) and i use 35dip for this
But the physical size of item is different in some device with different density or in blue stack with density 1
i know for example 30 pixel in density 1.5 should be 45 pixel but i think the physical size should not be different when we use dip
Is this wrong?
 
Last edited:

ArminKH

Well-Known Member
Don't confuse dpi (dots per inch) and dip (density independant pixels).
So, the physical dimension for a given number of dips can be somewhat different.
so how we can prevent from changing the dimension of viewes?
 

ArminKH

Well-Known Member
What accuracy do you expect ?
The physical dimensions are almost the same with dips but not exactly.
According to the documentation 48dip is equal to about 9mm.
To get the xdpi and ydpi values look at THIS post.

plz see this screenshot

t.png

this is a button with 100dip*100dip dimensions
but the physical size in vitrual device is too different with blue stack
 

klaus

Expert
Licensed User
Longtime User
As already written, dip values do not garantie exactly the same physical dimensions, that's how Android works.
If you really need 'exact' physical dimensions (the routine is in the second link in my previous post) you should get the exact x and y dpi values and calculate the pixels needed.
Are you sure that the dimensions of the virtual devices are correct ?
Why do you want 'exactly' the same physical dimensions ?
 

ArminKH

Well-Known Member
dimensions on phone<bluestack<vitrual device
yes kluas its correct
i want my top menu be same on every phone similar to viber or other apps
can u attache for me a little example?
 

klaus

Expert
Licensed User
Longtime User
I have never calculated exact physical dimensions because I don't bother if there are small differences.
If you have a device with 3'' screen and another one with a 3.5'' screen both with a density of 1.
The dimensions on the 3.5'' screen will be a bit bigger than on the 3'' screen.
Not sure if the look on both devices with exactly the same physical dimensions will be good.
Having the dimensions more proportional to the screen dimensions will look better.
It's already not that simple to define good looking layouts for different screen sizes without adding a new parameter which, in my opinion, will only complicate the whole stuff.
 

MrKim

Well-Known Member
Licensed User
Longtime User
There are several features in B4A that help you target Android phones and tablets with different screen sizes and resolutions. The purpose of this page is to collect tips and best practices that will help you create flexible layouts.

If you are not familiar with the designer script feature then please start with this tutorial: Designer Scripts Tutorial

- 'dip' units
It is very simple. You should always use 'dip' units when specifying the size or position of a view (control). This way the view's physical position and size will be the same on any device.
This is correct for both regular code and designer script.
B4X:
Button1.Width = 100 'WRONG!
Button1.Width = 100dip 'Good job!
Note that text size is measured in physical units. So you should not use 'dip' units with text size values.

- Use few layout variants
It is easy to create many variants. However it is very difficult to maintain a layout made of many variants. You should use the designer script feature and the anchoring feature to adjust your layout instead of creating many variants.

- Understand the meaning of scale (dots per inch)
There are many questions starting with "I have a device with 480x800 screen...". There is no meaning to these dimensions without the scale value.

A scale of 1.0 means that there are 160 dots (pixels) per inch.
The scale values can be one of the following values: 0.75, 1.0, 1.33, 1.5 and 2.
Most phones today have a scale of 1.5 (160 * 1.5 = 240 dots per inch) or 2.0.
Most tablets have a scale of 1.0.

- "Normalized" variants
Normalized variants are variants with a scale of 1.0.
The layout you create with the designer is scaled (not stretched or resized) automatically. This means that the layout will look exactly the same on two phones with the same physical size. The scale doesn't matter.
It is highly recommended to work and design your layout with normalized variants only.
For example a variant of 480x800, scale=1.5 matches the normalized variant: 320x533, scale=1.0 (divide each value by the scale value). Now it is easy to see that this device is slightly longer than the "standard" variant: 320x480, scale=1.0.

- Scaling strategy

Use the anchoring feature to anchor the views to their parents.
See this video example: Designer anchors - Video example
And: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/64112

Decide which views should be anchored and which views should "fill" the available space.

You can also use the designer script to make a view fill the available space:

This is done with SetTopAndBottom and SetLeftAndRight methods.
B4X:
'Make an EditText fill the available height between two buttons:
EditText1.SetTopAndBottom(Button1.Bottom, Button2.Top)

'Make a Button fill the entire PARENT panel:
Button1.SetLeftAndRight(0, Parent1.Width)
Button1.SetTopAndBottom(0, Parent1.Height)

Starting from v3.20 you can set the vertical or horizontal (or both) anchor to BOTH to achieve the same result.

- How to change the views size and text size?
Larger devices offer a lot more available space. The result is that even if the physical size of a view is the same, it just "feel" smaller.
Some developers use %x and %y to specify the views size. However the result is far from being perfect. The layout will just be stretched.
The solution is to combine the "dock and fill" strategy with a smart algorithm that increases the views size and text size based on the running device physical size.

Basic4android v2.20 introduces three new keywords that help with scaling the views size and text size:
AutoScale - Scales the specified view. The scale size, position and text size will be scaled based on the device physical size compared to the chosen variant size.
Example:
B4X:
AutoScale(Button1)
AutoScaleAll - Scales all layout views.
AutoScaleRate - Sets the scale rate. This is a number between 0 to 1. The default value is 0.3.
A value of 0 means no scaling at all.
Value of 1 means that the scale factor is exactly proportional to the device physical size. The result is a "stretched" UI.

The recommended process is to first scale all views and then adjust their positions as required.

If done properly this saves the need to create many variants. Your layout will look good on all devices.

Test your layout

You can test your layout with a real device, an emulator, the abstract designer and the UI Cloud service (Tools - Send to UI Cloud).


RE: The scale values can be one of the following values: 0.75, 1.0, 1.33, 1.5 and 2.

With Android 7 this is evidently no longer true. My 1280 X 800 Tablet, depending on how the new feature "Display Size" is set, returns a scale of .85, 1(default), 1.125, and 1.25.
 
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