Android: can height of SlidingDrawer be set with wrap_content?

The onMeasure() method of the SlidingDrawer class basically overrides the layout modes to fill_parent, this is why layout_height="wrap_content" is not working.

To get around this, you can extend SlidingDrawer with a re-implemented onMeasure() method that honors the layout_width and layout_height attributes. You can then use this custom class in your XML layout by replacing <SlidingDrawer ...> with <fully.qualified.package.ClassName ...>.

Note that since the drawer will no longer be filling the parent layout, you will have to enclose it in a LinearLayout with the gravity attribute set to the edge where the drawer should be.

Below are a class I have created for this purpose and an example layout.

WrappingSlidingDrawer class :

import android.content.Context;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.SlidingDrawer;


public class WrappingSlidingDrawer extends SlidingDrawer {

    public WrappingSlidingDrawer(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);

        int orientation = attrs.getAttributeIntValue("android", "orientation", ORIENTATION_VERTICAL);
        mTopOffset = attrs.getAttributeIntValue("android", "topOffset", 0);
        mVertical = (orientation == SlidingDrawer.ORIENTATION_VERTICAL);
    }

    public WrappingSlidingDrawer(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);

        int orientation = attrs.getAttributeIntValue("android", "orientation", ORIENTATION_VERTICAL);
        mTopOffset = attrs.getAttributeIntValue("android", "topOffset", 0);
        mVertical = (orientation == SlidingDrawer.ORIENTATION_VERTICAL);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onMeasure(int widthMeasureSpec, int heightMeasureSpec) {

        int widthSpecMode = MeasureSpec.getMode(widthMeasureSpec);
        int widthSpecSize =  MeasureSpec.getSize(widthMeasureSpec);

        int heightSpecMode = MeasureSpec.getMode(heightMeasureSpec);
        int heightSpecSize =  MeasureSpec.getSize(heightMeasureSpec);

        if (widthSpecMode == MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED || heightSpecMode == MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED) {
            throw new RuntimeException("SlidingDrawer cannot have UNSPECIFIED dimensions");
        }

        final View handle = getHandle();
        final View content = getContent();
        measureChild(handle, widthMeasureSpec, heightMeasureSpec);

        if (mVertical) {
            int height = heightSpecSize - handle.getMeasuredHeight() - mTopOffset;
            content.measure(widthMeasureSpec, MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(height, heightSpecMode));
            heightSpecSize = handle.getMeasuredHeight() + mTopOffset + content.getMeasuredHeight();
            widthSpecSize = content.getMeasuredWidth();
            if (handle.getMeasuredWidth() > widthSpecSize) widthSpecSize = handle.getMeasuredWidth();
        }
        else {
            int width = widthSpecSize - handle.getMeasuredWidth() - mTopOffset;
            getContent().measure(MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(width, widthSpecMode), heightMeasureSpec);
            widthSpecSize = handle.getMeasuredWidth() + mTopOffset + content.getMeasuredWidth();
            heightSpecSize = content.getMeasuredHeight();
            if (handle.getMeasuredHeight() > heightSpecSize) heightSpecSize = handle.getMeasuredHeight();
        }

        setMeasuredDimension(widthSpecSize, heightSpecSize);
    }

    private boolean mVertical;
    private int mTopOffset;
}

Example layout (assuming WrappingSlidingDrawer is in package com.package) :

<FrameLayout android:layout_width="fill_parent"
             android:layout_height="fill_parent">
    ... stuff you want to cover at full-size ...
    <LinearLayout android:layout_width="fill_parent"
              android:layout_height="fill_parent"
              android:gravity="bottom"
              android:orientation="vertical">
        <com.package.WrappingSlidingDrawer android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                           android:content="@+id/content"
                           android:handle="@+id/handle">
            ... handle and content views ...
        </com.package.WrappingSlidingDrawer>
    </LinearLayout>
</FrameLayout>