Android Word-Wrap EditText text

Question

I have been trying to get my EditText box to word wrap, but can't seem to do it.

I have dealt with much more complicated issues while developing Android applications, and this seems like it should be a straight-forward process.

However, the issue remains, and I have a large text box that is only allowing me to enter text on one line, continuing straight across, scrolling horizontally as I enter text.

Here is the XML code for the EditText object from my layout file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/myWidget48"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    >
 <ScrollView
    android:id="@+id/myScrollView"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    >
    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/widget37"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical"
    >

<EditText
        android:id="@+id/txtNotes"
        android:layout_width="300px"
        android:layout_height="120px"
        android:scrollbars="vertical"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:gravity="left"
        android:layout_marginTop="10dip"
        android:inputType="textCapSentences"
        >
    </EditText>
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>
</LinearLayout>

Answer 1

you must add the following attribute to your edittext.

android:inputType="textMultiLine"

Also if you set the height or set the maxlines of edittext to a specific value, it will scroll when you typed much character.

Answer 2

Ok i figured it out, you must set android:scrollHorizontally="false" for your EditText in your xml. I'm pretty sure this should work.

Answer 3

Note: step 1 - create a custom class for editText wordWrap.

Android hasn't this property. But you can replace all breaking characters with ReplacementTransformationMethod.

public class WordBreakTransformationMethod extends ReplacementTransformationMethod
{
    private static WordBreakTransformationMethod instance;
    private WordBreakTransformationMethod() {}

    public static WordBreakTransformationMethod getInstance()
    {
        if (instance == null)
        {
            instance = new WordBreakTransformationMethod();
        }
        return instance;
    }

    private static char[] dash = new char[] {'-', '\u2011'};
    private static char[] space = new char[] {' ', '\u00A0'};

    private static char[] original = new char[] {dash[0], space[0]};
    private static char[] replacement = new char[] {dash[1], space[1]};

    @Override
    protected char[] getOriginal()
    {
        return original;
    }

    @Override
    protected char[] getReplacement()
    {
        return replacement;
    }
}

step 2 - In Activity , write below code,

In Android :

myEditText.setTransformationMethod(WordBreakTransformationMethod.getInstance());

In Kotlin:

myEditText.setTransformationMethod= WordBreakTransformationMethod.getInstance

In Xml:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal">

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/myEditText"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:inputType="textCapSentences|textMultiLine"
        android:scrollHorizontally="false" />
</LinearLayout>

Answer 4

Besides finding the source of the issue, I found the solution. If android:inputType is used, then textMultiLine must be used to enable multi-line support. Also, using inputType supersedes the code android:singleLine="false". If using inputType, then, to reiterate, textMultiLine must be used or the EditText object will only consist of one line, without word-wrapping.

Edit: Thank you Jacob Malliet for providing further good advice on this. He suggested to set the boolean scrollHorizontally property to false, 'android:scrollHorizontally="false"'.

Example XML code:

<EditText
    android:id ="@+id/edtInput"
    android:layout_width ="0dip" 
    android:layout_height ="wrap_content" 
    android:layout_weight ="1" 
    android:inputType="textCapSentences|textMultiLine"
    android:maxLines ="4" 
    android:maxLength ="2000" 
    android:hint ="@string/compose_hint"
    android:scrollHorizontally="false" />

Answer 5

For those doing it pragmatically, you might want to look at this question Android EditText Multiline does not work as it should to double check you are setting the input type correctly. That was my issue

Answer 6

<TableLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/table"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:stretchColumns="1"
    >  
     <TableRow
        android:id="@+id/newRow">
        <LinearLayout
             android:layout_width="fill_parent"
             android:orientation="vertical"
             android:layout_height="wrap_content"
             android:gravity="left"
             android:paddingBottom="10dip">
            <TextView  
                android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
                android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
                android:text="Some Text"
            />
        </LinearLayout>
        </TableRow>

        <View
        android:layout_height="2dip"
        android:background="#FF909090" />

    <TableRow>
   <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:paddingTop="10dip">

    <TextView  
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"         
        android:text="Some Text"
        android:paddingBottom="5dip"
        />     
    <EditText 
        android:id="@+id/editbox"  
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="150px"
        android:gravity="top"   
        android:inputType="textFilter"
        android:scrollHorizontally="false"      
        />  

</RelativeLayout>
</TableRow>
<TableRow>
<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    >
    <Button 
        android:id="@+id/btnone"  
        android:layout_width="3dip" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="2dip"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:text="Btn"
        />          
    <Button 
        android:id="@+id/btntwo"  
        android:layout_width="3dip" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="2dip"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:text="Btn"
        />    
 </LinearLayout>
 </TableRow>
 </TableLayout>