Android EditText text and hint layout

Question

I have a question about EditText in Android. How can I set the hint align center but text align left? Thanks a lot.

I just want to make the cursor locate at left and hint center in EditText

Answer 1

You can do it programmatically, in Java code. For example:

final EditText editTxt = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.my_edit_text);

editTxt.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL);

editTxt.setOnKeyListener(new OnKeyListener() {

    @Override
    public boolean onKey(View v, int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {

        if (event.getAction() != KeyEvent.ACTION_UP) return false;

        if (editTxt.getText().length() > 1) return false;

        if (editTxt.getText().length() == 1) {
            editTxt.setGravity(Gravity.LEFT);
        }
        else {
            editTxt.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL);
        }

        return false;
    }
});

Don't miss a word 'final'. It makes your textView visible in the listener code.

Instead of 'final' keyword you can cast `View v` into the `TextView` in the 'onKey' method.

Updated 9 March 2012:

In such a case, you can remove `onKeyListener` and write `onFocusChangeListener`

Here is some code:

editTxt.setOnFocusChangeListener(new OnFocusChangeListener() {

    @Override
    public void onFocusChange(View v, boolean hasFocus) {

        if (hasFocus) {
            editTxt.setGravity(Gravity.LEFT);
        }
        else {
            if (editTxt.getText().length() == 0) {
                editTxt.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL);
            }
        }               
    }
});