Placeholder text (design process only) in Android layout?

Question

Is it possible to create placeholder text that is only visible during the layout design process in Android Studio?

For example, say I have 2 TextViews in a linear layout that are going to be dynamically populated. During the design phase, I use placeholder text to ensure I get padding and such correct. I often forget to remove placeholder text, so during loading of the new data, the old data will appear for a split second... looks tacky.

It would be cool if there was a field similar to android:placeholderText="This is placeholder text" that would only display in the preview. There isn't such a thing that I've happened to have missed is there?

Dan Getz · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-19 12:56:03Z

150

Yes it is (these days), and I believe that this is probably what you're looking for:
https://developer.android.com/studio/write/tool-attributes - specifically: tools:text=""

edited Jan 19, 2019 at 12:56

Dan Getz

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answered Nov 15, 2013 at 17:18

NoGall

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3 Comments

loeschg Over a year ago

Awesome. I knew I had seen that somewhere! For others, remember to include the namespace xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" in your root element.

rymo Over a year ago

this will work for most android: attributes - the 2nd most useful to text might be: tools:visibility="visible" to show normally-hidden elements in design view (or vice-versa)

JHH Over a year ago

I also frequently use tools:src for ImageViews used for displaying user avatars or other dynamic content.

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