layout_width attribute of TableLayout children

Question

While going through the Android developer docs for TableLayout , I saw a line mentioning

The children of a TableLayout cannot specify the layout_width attribute."

But in code if I use the layout_width attribute with TextView, the width gets increased accordingly.

Am I missing something?

<TableLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#000"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:stretchColumns="*"
>

<TableRow android:padding="5dip">

    <TextView
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="20dp"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:text="loginForm"
        android:textColor="#0ff"
        android:textSize="25sp"
        android:textStyle="bold" />
</TableRow>

<TableRow>

    <TextView
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_width="200dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
        android:text="User Name"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textSize="16sp" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/userName"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
        android:background="#fff"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:textColor="#000" />

</TableRow>

<TableRow>

    <TextView
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
        android:text="password"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:textSize="16sp" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/password"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
        android:background="#fff"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:textColor="#000" />

</TableRow>

</TableLayout>

Answer 1

I believe it is talking about the first level child component inside the TableLayout component.

If you add a TextView at the same level as your TableRow, the width will cannot be adjusted.

<TableLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#000"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:stretchColumns="*">

<!--This TextView will fail to adjust its width-->
<TextView
      android:text="123"/>

<TableRow android:padding="5dip">
    <TextView
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginBottom="20dp"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:text="loginForm"
        android:textColor="#0ff"
        android:textSize="25sp"
        android:textStyle="bold" />
</TableRow>

...

</TableLayout>`