android:gravity not changing the position of the text in a TextView

Question

I am writing code for an activity that has a table that initially contains 2 rows(see screenshot). I would like the text in those 2 rows to be in the center(not the TextView).

However, setting android:gravity = "center" or android:gravity = "center_horizontal" does not affect the text at all.
What am I missing?

Screenshot

activity_game.xml:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="@android:color/white"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="16dp"
tools:context=".MainActivity">

<TableLayout
    android:id="@+id/tl1"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_weight="1">

    <TableRow
        android:id="@+id/tr_header_p1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/player1_name"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Player 1"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="24sp" />
    </TableRow>

    <TableRow
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Guess"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Bulls"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Cows"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />
    </TableRow>
</TableLayout>

<TableLayout
    android:id="@+id/tl2"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_weight="1">

    <TableRow
        android:id="@+id/tr_header"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/player2_name"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Player 2"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="24sp" />
    </TableRow>

    <TableRow
        android:id="@+id/tr_header2"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Guess"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Bulls"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Cows"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="16sp" />
    </TableRow>

</TableLayout>

Answer 1

Try this should work,

add android:gravity="center" to your @+id/tr_header_p1 and @+id/tr_header like,

<TableRow
    android:id="@+id/tr_header_p1"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:padding="5dp">

and

<TableRow
    android:id="@+id/tr_header"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:padding="5dp">

this might helps you

EDIT 1

or you need to mention the android:layout_weight="1" to your TextView. like

 <TextView
        android:id="@+id/player2_name"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:text="Player 2"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:textSize="24sp" />

Answer 2

try for the TableRow parent of TextView

android:gravity="CENTER_HORIZONTAL"

the default layout of a table it's applied to children nodes, as described in documentation here

Answer 3

Try this:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@android:color/white"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:padding="16dp"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <TableLayout
        android:id="@+id/tl1"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1">

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tr_header_p1"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
            android:padding="5dp">

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/player1_name"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:gravity="center"

                android:text="Player 1"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="24sp" />
        </TableRow>

        <TableRow
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
            android:padding="5dp">

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Guess"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Bulls"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Cows"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />
        </TableRow>
    </TableLayout>

    <TableLayout
        android:id="@+id/tl2"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1">

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tr_header"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
            android:padding="5dp">

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/player2_name"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Player 2"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="24sp" />
        </TableRow>

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tr_header2"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
            android:padding="5dp">

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Guess"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:background="@drawable/table_cell_bg"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Bulls"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:text="Cows"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="16sp" />
        </TableRow>

    </TableLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Answer 4

You can try setting layout_width to wrap_content and then set layout_gravity to center .

That align the entire TextView and not the text inside it

Answer 5

What if you used android:layout_gravity from your TextView which is gonna affect the position of the element according its parent? There's a thread explaining the difference between both below

Gravity and layout_gravity on Android

Answer 6

<TableRow
        android:id="@+id/tr_header"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/table_row_bg"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/player2_name"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="Player 2"
            android:textColor="#000000"
            android:textSize="24sp" />
    </TableRow>

This is working for me