Is it possible to place one view over another in android?

Can we place a small view over another large view? For example, I have a VideoView which is playing a file in the background. Over this, somewhere in the middle/corner, I want to place another ImageView.

But in Linear/Relati开发者_JS百科ve Layout, views can be placed only one after another or relative to each other, and AbsoluteLayout is advised against. So what do I do?

The FrameLayout is the simplest ViewGroup and stacks the Views in the order they're defined in layout XML (or added programmatically); the first will be lower, and the last will be on top.

Here is an example where two Views are stacked and offset to better illustrate the point:

Here is the actual layout XML with the two overlapping TextView boxes. The offset of the two boxes is done using android:layout_gravity while android:gravity is used for centering the text itself within each box.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="100dp"
    android:layout_height="100dp">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="60dp"
        android:layout_height="60dp"
        android:layout_gravity="top|left"
        android:background="@android:color/holo_blue_light"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:text="First is below"/>

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="60dp"
        android:layout_height="60dp"
        android:layout_gravity="bottom|right"
        android:background="@android:color/holo_green_light"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:text=" Last is on top"/>

</FrameLayout>

Just in case if you want to place a view on top of a ButtonView then use this; android:elevation="7dp" for the view which needs to be placed on top of the button.

FrameLayouts let you pile each view on top of the one below. This can also be achieved with a RelativeLayout.

You can also do it by using ConstraintLayout a new layout introduced by google.

ConstraintLayout allows you to create large and complex layouts with a flat view hierarchy (no nested view groups).

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
  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:id="@+id/container"
  android:layout_width="match_parent"
  android:layout_height="match_parent"
  android:orientation="vertical"
  android:layout_weight="4"
  tools:context="com.edalat.example.MainActivity">
  <VideoView
    android:id="@+id/videoView"
    android:layout_width="283dp"
    android:layout_height="349dp"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    android:layout_marginBottom="24dp"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    android:layout_marginTop="24dp"
    android:layout_marginRight="24dp"
    app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
    android:layout_marginLeft="24dp"
    app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.509"/>
  <ImageView
     android:id="@+id/imageView"
     android:layout_width="wrap_content"
     android:layout_height="wrap_content"
     app:srcCompat="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
     app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
     android:layout_marginTop="24dp"
     app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
     android:layout_marginBottom="24dp"
     android:layout_marginLeft="24dp"
     app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
     android:layout_marginRight="24dp"
     app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"/>
   </android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:padding="@dimen/dp_20"
    android:background="@color/yellow"
    >
        <VideoView
            android:id="@+id/videoview"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerInParent="true"
            android:layout_height="300dp"
            android:contentDescription="@string/app_name"
             />

        <ImageView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:src="@drawable/camera"
            android:layout_margin="30dp"
            android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:id="@+id/imageView" />

</RelativeLayout>

Create Relative Layout and place views inside it and add

android:elevation="2dp" 

for the view whcich is to be over another one