Last Updated : 12 Jul, 2025
Widget refers to the elements of the UI (User Interface) that help the user interact with the Android App. TextView is one of many such widgets which can be used to improve the UI of the app. TextView refers to the widget which displays some text on the screen based on the layout, size, colour, etc set for that particular TextView. It optionally allows us to modify or edit itself as well.
Class Syntax:
public class TextView
extends View
implements ViewTreeObserver.OnPreDrawListener
Class Hierarchy:
java.lang.Object
↳ android.view.View
↳ android.widget.TextView
Syntax:
<SomeLayout>
.
.
<TextView>
android:SomeAttribute1 = "Value of attribute1"
android:SomeAttribute2 = "Value of attribute2"
.
.
android:SomeAttributeN = "Value of attributeN"
</TextView>
.
.
</SomeLayout>
Here the layout can be any layout like Relative, Linear, etc (Refer this article to learn more about layouts). And the attributes can be many among the table given below in this article.
XML Attributes of TextView in Android Attributes Description android:text Sets text of the Textview android:id Gives a unique ID to the Textview android:cursorVisible Use this attribute to make cursor visible or invisible. Default value is visible. android:drawableBottom Sets images or other graphic assets to below of the Textview. android:drawableEnd Sets images or other graphic assets to end of Textview. android:drawableLeft Sets images or other graphic assets to left of Textview. android:drawablePadding Sets padding to the drawable(images or other graphic assets) in the Textview. android:autoLink This attribute is used to automatically detect url or emails and show it as clickable link. android:autoText Automatically correct spelling errors in text of the Textview. android:capitalize It automatically capitalize whatever the user types in the Textview. android:drawableRight Sets drawables to right of text in the Textview. android:drawableStart Sets drawables to start of text in the Textview. android:drawableTop Sets drawables to top of text in the Textview. android:ellipsize Use this attribute when you want text to be ellipsized if it is longer than the Textview width. android:ems Sets width of the Textview in ems. android:gravity We can align text of the Textview vertically or horizontally or both. android:height Use to set height of the Textview. android:hint Use to show hint when there is no text. android:inputType Use to set input type of the Textview. It can be Number, Password, Phone etc. android:lines Use to set height of the Textview by number of lines. android:maxHeight Sets maximum height of the Textview. android:minHeight Sets minimum height of the Textview. android:maxLength Sets maximum character length of the Textview. android:maxLines Sets maximum lines Textview can have. android:minLines Sets minimum lines Textview can have. android:maxWidth Sets maximum width Textview can have. android:minWidth Sets minimum lines Textview can have. android:textAllCaps Show all texts of the Textview in capital letters. android:textColor Sets color of the text. android:textSize Sets font size of the text. android:textStyle Sets style of the text. For example, bold, italic, bolditalic. android:typeface Sets typeface or font of the text. For example, normal, sans, serif etc android:width Sets width of the TextView. How to Include a TextView in an Android App?Step 1: First of all, create a new Android app, or take an existing app to edit it. In both the case, there must be an XML layout activity file and a Java class file linked to this activity.
Step 2: Open the Activity file and include a TextView in this file. The code for the TextView will be:
<TextView
android:id="@+id/textview"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Welcome To"
android:textSize="26sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:textColor="@color/colorPrimary"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
Step 3: Now in the Java file, link this layout file with the below code:
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
}
where activity_main is the name of the layout file to be attached.
Step 4: In the Java file, we will try to change the Text displayed on the TextView upon touching along with a Toast message.
Step 5: The complete code of the layout file and the Java file is given below.
Below is the implementation of the above approach:
activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
tools:context=".MainActivity"
android:gravity="center">
<TextView
android:id="@+id/textview"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Welcome To"
android:textSize="26sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:textColor="@color/colorPrimary"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
</RelativeLayout>
Layout: Step 6: Working in MainActivity File.
MainActivity is file reponsible to adding functionalities to the layout.
MainActivity File: Java
package com.project.textview;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
// Creating the instance of the TextView created
private TextView textView;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
// Linking the activity file to this Java file
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
// Get the TextView with the id
// mentioned in the layout file
textView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.textview);
// Try to change the text of the Textview upon touch
// and also display a Toast message
textView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View v)
{
// Changing text
textView.setText("GeeksforGeeks");
// Displaying Toast message
Toast
.makeText(MainActivity.this,
"Welcome to GeeksforGeeks",
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
.show();
}
});
}
}
Kotlin
package com.gfg.textview_kotlin
import android.os.Bundle
import android.view.View
import android.widget.TextView
import android.widget.Toast
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
// Creating the instance of the TextView created
private var textView: TextView? = null
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
// Linking the activity file to this Java file
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
// Get the TextView with the id
// mentioned in the layout file
textView = findViewById<View>(R.id.textview) as TextView
// Try to change the text of the Textview upon touch
// and also display a Toast message
textView!!.setOnClickListener { // Changing text
textView!!.text = "GeeksforGeeks"
// Displaying Toast message
Toast
.makeText(
this@MainActivity,
"Welcome to GeeksforGeeks",
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT
)
.show()
}
}
}
Output:
For learning more about the topic refer to these articles:
RetroSearch is an open source project built by @garambo | Open a GitHub Issue
Search and Browse the WWW like it's 1997 | Search results from DuckDuckGo
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