How to Add Horizontal ScrollView in Android App

In Android Apps(Learn Android App development) we have seen the Scrolling content which scrolls horizontal or vertical, to add such feature in our Android app we are provided with the HorizontalScrollView. A HorizontalScrollView is an Android view group that is used to make horizontal scrollable views in our android app. A HorizontalScrollView only contains a direct single child. So in order to place multiple views inside the HorizontalScrollView, we simply create a view group(like Android LinearLayout) as a direct child of the HorizontalScrollView, and inside that view group, we define all other views.

The main disadvantage of HorizontalScrollView is that it only supports horizontal scroll, but to add vertical scroll we have many other options such as ScrollView.

So before implementing the HorizontalScrollView in our android app we have some basic properties of the HorizontalScrollView, which we will discuss below to better understand the features and limitations of the HorizontalScrollView and use it in our app when needed.

So let's implement a simple HorizontalScrollView in our android app.The HorizontalScrollView also contains all the basic attributes of the view such as:

Step 1: Create a new Project

1. Open Your Android Studio Click on "Start a new Android Studio project"(Learn how to set up Android Studio and create your first Android project)

2. Choose "Empty Activity" from the project template window and click Next

3. Enter the App Name, Package name, save location, language(Java/Kotlin, we use Java for this tutorial ), and minimum SDK(we are using API 19: Android 4.4 which is KitKat)

4. Next click on the Finish button after filling in the above details.

5. Now, wait for the project to finish the building.

Step 2: Modify activity_main.xml

Add the HorizontalScrollView inside RelativeLayout and inside the HorizontalScrollView, we add a LinearLayout with orientation horizontal.

android:orientation="horizontal"

And inside the LinearLayout container, we add multiple views which we want to scroll. The complete code of activity_main.xml is shown below:

<?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">

    <!-- Horizontal Scroll View Group -->
    <HorizontalScrollView
      android:layout_width= "match_parent"
      android:layout_height= "match_parent">

      <!-- Linear Layout as the direct child of horizontal scroll view  to contain other views and view groups -->
      <LinearLayout
          android:orientation= "horizontal"
          android:layout_width= "match_parent"
          android:layout_height= "match_parent">

          <!-- Button as the child of LinearLayout inside  HorizontalScrollView  -->
          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color1"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 1"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color2"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 2"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color3"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 3"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color4"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 4"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color5"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 5"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color6"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 6"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color7"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 7"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color8"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 8"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color9"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 9"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <Button
              android:textAllCaps= "true"
              android:fontFamily= "sans-serif-black"
              android:textStyle= "bold"
              android:textAlignment= "center"
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color10"
              android:textSize= "40dp"
              android:text= "Button 10"
              android:layout_width= "240dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>


          <!-- ImageView as the child of LinearLayout inside  HorizontalScrollView  -->

          <ImageView
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:background= "@color/color1"
              android:layout_width= "320dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>

          <!-- TextView as the child of LinearLayout inside  HorizontalScrollView  -->

          <TextView
              android:layout_margin= "16dp"
              android:textColor= "#ffffff"
              android:background= "@color/color2"
              android:layout_gravity= "center"
              android:gravity= "center"
              android:text= "The quick, brown fox jumps over a lazy dog. DJs flock by when MTV ax quiz prog. Junk MTV quiz graced by fox whelps. Bawds jog, flick quartz, vex nymphs. Waltz, bad nymph, for quick jigs vex! Fox nymphs grab quick-jived waltz. Brick quiz whangs jumpy veldt fox. Bright vixens jump; dozy fowl quack. Quick wafting zephyrs vex bold Jim. Quick zephyrs blow, vexing daft Jim. Sex-charged fop blew my junk TV quiz. How quickly daft jumping zebras vex. Two driven jocks help fax my big quiz. Quick, Baz, get my woven flax jodhpurs! Now fax quiz Jack! my brave ghost pled. Five quacking zephyrs jolt my wax bed. Flummoxed by job, kvetching W. zaps Iraq. Cozy sphinx waves quart jug of bad milk. A very bad quack might jinx zippy fowls. Few quips galvanized the mock jury box. Quick brown dogs jump over the lazy fox. The jay, pig, fox, zebra, and my wolves quack! Blowzy red vixens fight for a quick jump. Joaquin Phoenix was gazed by MTV for luck. A wizard’s job is to vex chumps quickly in fog. Watch Jeopardy!, Alex Trebek's fun TV quiz game. Woven silk pyjamas exchanged for blue quartz. Brawny gods "
              android:layout_width= "320dp"
              android:layout_height= "match_parent"/>
      </LinearLayout>

  </HorizontalScrollView>

</RelativeLayout>

Step 3: MainActivity.java file

There is nothing to do with the MainActivity.java file for this project, so keep it as it is.

//MainActivity.java file
package com.studytonight.project;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }
}

Output:

In the below snapshots, you can see how the HorizontalScrollView will look in the android application.

scrolling right...

and you will see the content too.

Conclusion:

This is a basic example of creating a HorizontalScrollView. You can try different layouts using this in your Android application. If you face any issue while doing this, please share it in the comment section below and we will be happy to help.