Align text around ImageSpan center vertical

I have an ImageSpan inside of a piece of text. What I've noticed is that the surrounding text is always drawn at the bottom of the text line -- to be more precise, the size of the text line grows with the image but the baseline of the text does not shift upward. When the image is noticeably larger than the text size, the effect is rather unsightly.

Here is a sample, the outline shows bounds of the TextView:

I am trying to have the surrounding text be centered vertically with respect to the image being displayed. Here is the same sample with blue text showing the desired location:

Here are the constraints that I'm bound by:

• I cannot use compound drawables. The images must be able to be shown between words.
• The text may be multiline depending on the content. I have no control over this.
• My images are larger than the surrounding text and I cannot reduce their size. While the sample image above is larger than the actual images (to demonstrate the current behavior), the actual images are still large enough that this problem is noticeable.

I've tried using the android:gravity="center_vertical" attribute on the TextView, but this does not have any effect. I believe this just vertically centers the text lines, but within the text line the text is still drawn at the bottom.

My current train of thought is to create a custom span that shifts the baseline of the text based on the height of the line and the current text size. This span would encompass the entire text, and I would have to compute the intersection with the ImageSpans so I can avoid shifting the images as well. This sounds rather daunting and I'm hoping someone can suggest another approach.

Any and all help is appreciated!

My answer tweaks the first answer. Actually I have tried both two methods above, and I don't think they are really center vertical. It would make the drawable more center if it's placed in between ascent and descent, rather than top and bottom. So as to the second answer, it aligns the center of the drawable to the baseline of the text, rather than the center of that text. Here's my solution:

public class CenteredImageSpan extends ImageSpan {
  private WeakReference<Drawable> mDrawableRef;

  public CenteredImageSpan(Context context, final int drawableRes) {
    super(context, drawableRes);
  }

  @Override
  public int getSize(Paint paint, CharSequence text,
                     int start, int end,
                     Paint.FontMetricsInt fm) {
    Drawable d = getCachedDrawable();
    Rect rect = d.getBounds();

    if (fm != null) {
      Paint.FontMetricsInt pfm = paint.getFontMetricsInt();
      // keep it the same as paint's fm
      fm.ascent = pfm.ascent;
      fm.descent = pfm.descent;
      fm.top = pfm.top;
      fm.bottom = pfm.bottom;
    }

    return rect.right;
  }

  @Override
  public void draw(@NonNull Canvas canvas, CharSequence text,
                   int start, int end, float x,
                   int top, int y, int bottom, @NonNull Paint paint) {
    Drawable b = getCachedDrawable();
    canvas.save();

    int drawableHeight = b.getIntrinsicHeight();
    int fontAscent = paint.getFontMetricsInt().ascent;
    int fontDescent = paint.getFontMetricsInt().descent;
    int transY = bottom - b.getBounds().bottom +  // align bottom to bottom
        (drawableHeight - fontDescent + fontAscent) / 2;  // align center to center

    canvas.translate(x, transY);
    b.draw(canvas);
    canvas.restore();
  }

  // Redefined locally because it is a private member from DynamicDrawableSpan
  private Drawable getCachedDrawable() {
    WeakReference<Drawable> wr = mDrawableRef;
    Drawable d = null;

    if (wr != null)
      d = wr.get();

    if (d == null) {
      d = getDrawable();
      mDrawableRef = new WeakReference<>(d);
    }

    return d;
  }
}

I also rewrite getSize to keep the FontMetrics of drawable the same as other text, otherwise the parent view won't wrap the content correctly.

After reading the source code of TextView, I think we can use the baseLine of eache text line which is "y". And it will work even if you set lineSpaceExtra.

public class VerticalImageSpan extends ImageSpan {

    public VerticalImageSpan(Drawable drawable) {
        super(drawable);
    }

    /**
     * update the text line height
     */
    @Override
    public int getSize(Paint paint, CharSequence text, int start, int end,
                       Paint.FontMetricsInt fontMetricsInt) {
        Drawable drawable = getDrawable();
        Rect rect = drawable.getBounds();
        if (fontMetricsInt != null) {
            Paint.FontMetricsInt fmPaint = paint.getFontMetricsInt();
            int fontHeight = fmPaint.descent - fmPaint.ascent;
            int drHeight = rect.bottom - rect.top;
            int centerY = fmPaint.ascent + fontHeight / 2;

            fontMetricsInt.ascent = centerY - drHeight / 2;
            fontMetricsInt.top = fontMetricsInt.ascent;
            fontMetricsInt.bottom = centerY + drHeight / 2;
            fontMetricsInt.descent = fontMetricsInt.bottom;
        }
        return rect.right;
    }

    /**
     * see detail message in android.text.TextLine
     *
     * @param canvas the canvas, can be null if not rendering
     * @param text the text to be draw
     * @param start the text start position
     * @param end the text end position
     * @param x the edge of the replacement closest to the leading margin
     * @param top the top of the line
     * @param y the baseline
     * @param bottom the bottom of the line
     * @param paint the work paint
     */
    @Override
    public void draw(Canvas canvas, CharSequence text, int start, int end,
                     float x, int top, int y, int bottom, Paint paint) {

        Drawable drawable = getDrawable();
        canvas.save();
        Paint.FontMetricsInt fmPaint = paint.getFontMetricsInt();
        int fontHeight = fmPaint.descent - fmPaint.ascent;
        int centerY = y + fmPaint.descent - fontHeight / 2;
        int transY = centerY - (drawable.getBounds().bottom - drawable.getBounds().top) / 2;
        canvas.translate(x, transY);
        drawable.draw(canvas);
        canvas.restore();
    }

}

ImageSpan imageSpan = new ImageSpan(d, ImageSpan.ALIGN_BOTTOM) {
				public void draw(Canvas canvas, CharSequence text, int start,
						int end, float x, int top, int y, int bottom,
						Paint paint) {
					Drawable b = getDrawable();
					canvas.save();

					int transY = bottom - b.getBounds().bottom;
                    // this is the key 
					transY -= paint.getFontMetricsInt().descent / 2;

					canvas.translate(x, transY);
					b.draw(canvas);
					canvas.restore();
				}
			};

It might be a bit late but I've found a way to do it, no matter the image size. You need to create a class extending ImageSpan and override the methods getSize() and getCachedDrawable() (we don't need to change the last one, but this method from DynamicDrawableSpan is private and cannot be accessed in another way from the child class). In getSize(...), you can then redefined the way DynamicDrawableSpan set the ascent/top/descent/bottom of the line and achieve what you want to do.

Here's my class example:

import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.graphics.Paint;
import android.graphics.Rect;
import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable;
import android.text.style.DynamicDrawableSpan;
import android.text.style.ImageSpan;

import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;

public class CenteredImageSpan extends ImageSpan {

    // Extra variables used to redefine the Font Metrics when an ImageSpan is added
    private int initialDescent = 0;
    private int extraSpace = 0;

    public CenteredImageSpan(final Drawable drawable) {
        this(drawable, DynamicDrawableSpan.ALIGN_BOTTOM);
    }

    public CenteredImageSpan(final Drawable drawable, final int verticalAlignment) {
        super(drawable, verticalAlignment);
    }

    @Override
    public void draw(Canvas canvas, CharSequence text,
                     int start, int end, float x,
                     int top, int y, int bottom, Paint paint) {
        getDrawable().draw(canvas);
    }

    // Method used to redefined the Font Metrics when an ImageSpan is added
    @Override
    public int getSize(Paint paint, CharSequence text,
                       int start, int end,
                       Paint.FontMetricsInt fm) {
        Drawable d = getCachedDrawable();
        Rect rect = d.getBounds();

        if (fm != null) {
            // Centers the text with the ImageSpan
            if (rect.bottom - (fm.descent - fm.ascent) >= 0) {
                // Stores the initial descent and computes the margin available
                initialDescent = fm.descent;
                extraSpace = rect.bottom - (fm.descent - fm.ascent);
            }

            fm.descent = extraSpace / 2 + initialDescent;
            fm.bottom = fm.descent;

            fm.ascent = -rect.bottom + fm.descent;
            fm.top = fm.ascent;
        }

        return rect.right;
    }

    // Redefined locally because it is a private member from DynamicDrawableSpan
    private Drawable getCachedDrawable() {
        WeakReference<Drawable> wr = mDrawableRef;
        Drawable d = null;

        if (wr != null)
            d = wr.get();

        if (d == null) {
            d = getDrawable();
            mDrawableRef = new WeakReference<>(d);
        }

        return d;
    }

    private WeakReference<Drawable> mDrawableRef;
}

Let me know if you have any trouble with that class!

I got a working solution by creating a class that inherits from ImageSpan.

Then modified draw implementation from DynamicDrawableSpan. At least this implementation works when my image height is less than font height. Not sure how this works for bigger images like yours.

@Override
public void draw(Canvas canvas, CharSequence text,
    int start, int end, float x,
    int top, int y, int bottom, Paint paint) {
    Drawable b = getCachedDrawable();
    canvas.save();

    int bCenter = b.getIntrinsicHeight() / 2;
    int fontTop = paint.getFontMetricsInt().top;
    int fontBottom = paint.getFontMetricsInt().bottom;
    int transY = (bottom - b.getBounds().bottom) -
        (((fontBottom - fontTop) / 2) - bCenter);
    

    canvas.translate(x, transY);
    b.draw(canvas);
    canvas.restore();
}

Also had to reuse implementation from DynamicDrawableSpan as it was private.

private Drawable getCachedDrawable() {
    WeakReference<Drawable> wr = mDrawableRef;
    Drawable d = null;

    if (wr != null)
        d = wr.get();

    if (d == null) {
        d = getDrawable();
        mDrawableRef = new WeakReference<Drawable>(d);
    }

    return d;
}

private WeakReference<Drawable> mDrawableRef;

And this is how I use it as static method that inserts image in front of the text.

public static CharSequence formatTextWithIcon(Context context, String text,
    int iconResourceId) {
    SpannableStringBuilder sb = new SpannableStringBuilder("X");

    try {
        Drawable d = context.getResources().getDrawable(iconResourceId);
        d.setBounds(0, 0, d.getIntrinsicWidth(), d.getIntrinsicHeight()); 
        CenteredImageSpan span = new CenteredImageSpan(d); 
        sb.setSpan(span, 0, sb.length(), Spanned.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
        sb.append(" " + text); 
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        sb.append(text); 
    }
    
    return sb;

Maybe not a good practice there considering localization, but works for me. To set images in the middle of the text, you'd naturally need to replace tokens in text with spans.

My answer tweaks the misaka-10032 answer. work perfect!

public static class CenteredImageSpan extends ImageSpan { private WeakReference mDrawableRef;

    CenteredImageSpan(Context context, final int drawableRes) {
        super(context, drawableRes);
    }

    public CenteredImageSpan(@NonNull Drawable d) {
        super(d);
    }

    @Override
    public void draw(@NonNull Canvas canvas, CharSequence text,
                     int start, int end, float x,
                     int top, int y, int bottom, @NonNull Paint paint) {
        Drawable b = getCachedDrawable();
        canvas.save();
        int transY = top + (bottom - top - b.getBounds().bottom)/2;
        canvas.translate(x, transY);
        b.draw(canvas);
        canvas.restore();
    }

    // Redefined locally because it is a private member from DynamicDrawableSpan
    private Drawable getCachedDrawable() {
        WeakReference<Drawable> wr = mDrawableRef;
        Drawable d = null;

        if (wr != null)
            d = wr.get();

        if (d == null) {
            d = getDrawable();
            mDrawableRef = new WeakReference<>(d);
        }

        return d;
    }
}

------------update ------------------------------------------------- fix when pic is bigger

public static class CenteredImageSpan extends ImageSpan { private WeakReference mDrawableRef;

    CenteredImageSpan(Context context, final int drawableRes) {
        super(context, drawableRes);
    }

    public CenteredImageSpan(@NonNull Drawable d) {
        super(d);
    }

    @Override
    public int getSize(@NonNull Paint paint, CharSequence text, int start, int end, @Nullable FontMetricsInt fm) {
        Drawable d = getCachedDrawable();
        Rect rect = d.getBounds();

        if (fm != null) {
            int i = rect.height()/3;
            fm.ascent = -i*2;
            fm.descent = i;

            fm.top = fm.ascent;
            fm.bottom = fm.descent;
        }

        return rect.right;

    }

    @Override
    public void draw(@NonNull Canvas canvas, CharSequence text,
                     int start, int end, float x,
                     int top, int y, int bottom, @NonNull Paint paint) {
        Drawable b = getCachedDrawable();
        canvas.save();
        int transY = top + (bottom - top) / 2 - (b.getBounds().height() / 2);
        canvas.translate(x, transY);
        b.draw(canvas);
        canvas.restore();
    }

    // Redefined locally because it is a private member from DynamicDrawableSpan
    private Drawable getCachedDrawable() {
        WeakReference<Drawable> wr = mDrawableRef;
        Drawable d = null;

        if (wr != null)
            d = wr.get();

        if (d == null) {
            d = getDrawable();
            mDrawableRef = new WeakReference<>(d);
        }

        return d;
    }
}

This solution provides a vertical centering based on actual letter size. It supports centering using capital letters and lower-case letters. For example, look at the marker character near a letter: X•. This solution achieves a similar effect.

This is a modified version of @WindRider's answer. Also, it's in Kotlin. And it supports drawable size customization.

The reason why this solution is created is to provide a better visual result. A lot of other solutions use font ascent. But it appears to cause visual problems in some cases. Android's default Roboto font, for example, has ascent higher than a typical capital letter top border. And because of it, some manual adjustments were needed to properly center an image.

class CenteredImageSpan(context: Context,
                        drawableRes: Int,
                        private val centerType: CenterType = CenterType.CAPITAL_LETTER,
                        private val customHeight: Int? = null,
                        private val customWidth: Int? = null) : ImageSpan(context, drawableRes) {

    private var mDrawableRef: WeakReference<Drawable?>? = null

    override fun getSize(paint: Paint, text: CharSequence,
                         start: Int, end: Int,
                         fontMetrics: FontMetricsInt?): Int {

        if (fontMetrics != null) {
            val currentFontMetrics = paint.fontMetricsInt
            // keep it the same as paint's Font Metrics
            fontMetrics.ascent = currentFontMetrics.ascent
            fontMetrics.descent = currentFontMetrics.descent
            fontMetrics.top = currentFontMetrics.top
            fontMetrics.bottom = currentFontMetrics.bottom
        }

        val drawable = getCachedDrawable()
        val rect = drawable.bounds
        return rect.right
    }

    override fun draw(canvas: Canvas,
                      text: CharSequence,
                      start: Int,
                      end: Int,
                      x: Float,
                      lineTop: Int,
                      baselineY: Int,
                      lineBottom: Int,
                      paint: Paint) {
        val cachedDrawable = getCachedDrawable()
        val drawableHeight = cachedDrawable.bounds.height()

        val relativeVerticalCenter = getLetterVerticalCenter(paint)

        val drawableCenter = baselineY + relativeVerticalCenter
        val drawableBottom = drawableCenter - drawableHeight / 2

        canvas.save()
        canvas.translate(x, drawableBottom.toFloat())
        cachedDrawable.draw(canvas)
        canvas.restore()
    }

    private fun getLetterVerticalCenter(paint: Paint): Int =
         when (centerType) {
            CenterType.CAPITAL_LETTER -> getCapitalVerticalCenter(paint)
            CenterType.LOWER_CASE_LETTER -> getLowerCaseVerticalCenter(paint)
        }

    private fun getCapitalVerticalCenter(paint: Paint): Int {
        val bounds = Rect()
        paint.getTextBounds("X", 0, 1, bounds)
        return (bounds.bottom + bounds.top) / 2
    }

    private fun getLowerCaseVerticalCenter(paint: Paint): Int {
        val bounds = Rect()
        paint.getTextBounds("x", 0, 1, bounds)
        return (bounds.bottom + bounds.top) / 2
    }


    // Redefined here because it's private in DynamicDrawableSpan
    private fun getCachedDrawable(): Drawable {

        val drawableWeakReference = mDrawableRef
        var drawable: Drawable? = null
        if (drawableWeakReference != null) drawable = drawableWeakReference.get()
        if (drawable == null) {
            drawable = getDrawable()!!

            val width = customWidth ?: drawable.intrinsicWidth
            val height = customHeight ?: drawable.intrinsicHeight

            drawable.setBounds(0, 0,
                               width, height)
            mDrawableRef = WeakReference(drawable)
        }
        return drawable

    }

    enum class CenterType {
        CAPITAL_LETTER, LOWER_CASE_LETTER
    }

}

While creating your Image span you have to add Vertical Alignment Flag DynamicDrawableSpan.ALIGN_CENTER. That should align the image's center to the text.

val mySpannable = SpannableString("    $YourText")
mySpannable.setSpan(ImageSpan(yourDrawable, DynamicDrawableSpan.ALIGN_CENTER), 0, 1, 0)

You can use ImageSpan.ALIGN_CENTER. I tested it on various emulators and it seems to work for APIs < 29. This only works good with wrap_content width though. From my tests assigning a width programmatically or in xml, breaks the line height (?)

My improved version: drawable font metrics zoomed relative to text font metrics. So that line spacing will be calculate correctly.

@Override
public int getSize(Paint paint, CharSequence text,
                   int start, int end,
                   Paint.FontMetricsInt fm) {
	Drawable d = getCachedDrawable();
	Rect rect = d.getBounds();
	float drawableHeight = Float.valueOf(rect.height());


	if (fm != null) {
		Paint.FontMetricsInt pfm = paint.getFontMetricsInt();
		float fontHeight = pfm.descent - pfm.ascent;
		float ratio = drawableHeight / fontHeight;

		fm.ascent = Float.valueOf(pfm.ascent * ratio).intValue();
		fm.descent = Float.valueOf(pfm.descent * ratio).intValue();
		fm.top = fm.ascent;
		fm.bottom = fm.descent;
	}

This solution works. I have tested it and am using it for sometime. It doesn't consider the ascent and decent but it Aligns the drawable in the center.

import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.graphics.Paint;
import android.graphics.Rect;
import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable;
import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
import android.text.style.ImageSpan;

import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;

public class CustomImageSpan extends ImageSpan {

  /**
   * A constant indicating that the center of this span should be aligned
   * with the center of the surrounding text
   */
  public static final int ALIGN_CENTER = -12;
  private WeakReference<Drawable> mDrawable;
  private int mAlignment;

  public CustomImageSpan(Context context, final int drawableRes, int alignment) {
    super(context, drawableRes);
    mAlignment = alignment;
  }

  @Override
  public int getSize(Paint paint, CharSequence text,
                     int start, int end,
                     Paint.FontMetricsInt fm) {
    Drawable d = getCachedDrawable();
    Rect rect = d.getBounds();
    if (fm != null) {
      Paint.FontMetricsInt pfm = paint.getFontMetricsInt();
      fm.ascent = pfm.ascent;
      fm.descent = pfm.descent;
      fm.top = pfm.top;
      fm.bottom = pfm.bottom;
    }
    return rect.right;
  }

  @Override
  public void draw(@NonNull Canvas canvas, CharSequence text,
                   int start, int end, float x,
                   int top, int y, int bottom, @NonNull Paint paint) {
    if (mAlignment == ALIGN_CENTER) {
      Drawable cachedDrawable = getCachedDrawable();
      canvas.save();
      //Get the center point and set the Y coordinate considering the drawable height for aligning the icon vertically
      int transY = ((top + bottom) / 2) - cachedDrawable.getIntrinsicHeight() / 2;
      canvas.translate(x, transY);
      cachedDrawable.draw(canvas);
      canvas.restore();
    } else {
      super.draw(canvas, text, start, end, x, top, y , bottom, paint);
    }
  }

  // Redefined locally because it is a private member from DynamicDrawableSpan
  private Drawable getCachedDrawable() {
    WeakReference<Drawable> wr = mDrawable;
    Drawable d = null;
    if (wr != null) {
      d = wr.get();
    }
    if (d == null) {
      d = getDrawable();
      mDrawable = new WeakReference<>(d);
    }
    return d;
  }
}