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View

A view is a graphical element of your app. It can be a button, text, image etc. Views construct the user interface of an Android app. Before you start programming your app, you must design it.

Understanding views​

Views

On the left side of the screen, we have all the available views. Including Layouts, Widgets, etc.

Building a basic app​

Linear (V)​

It is a good idea to always add a Linear (V) inside your app first. Try to drag and drop it inside of the editor. It should automatically stick to the left side of the screen, and a few options should've appeared at the bottom of the screen.

options

Choose the width option. Set it to match_parent. Now it should be filling the entire screen. It is a good idea to add it before anything else so you can position the elements better and change the background. Now, click on See All>gravity and check center_vertical & center_horizontal. Press the back button to return to the main View editor.

Button​

Now from the left, under Widgets, there should be a Widget called "Button". Drag and drop it into the editor. It should automatically be placed in the very bottom of the screen since we set the gravity of linear1 to center horizontally and vertically. Click See All on the bottom of the screen again and scroll down till you see a option called text. Set the text to anything. I'll set it to 'Hello World'

Text

Click Save.

Now, we've created the button. But it doesn't do anything, right? It just barely sits there alone without any use. Let's make it do something.