How to animate a View with Translate Animation in Android

In order to move a View anywhere on the screen, I would recommend placing it in a full screen layout. By doing so, you won’t have to worry about clippings or relative coordinates.

You can try this sample code:

main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" android:id="@+id/rootLayout">

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btn1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="MOVE" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"/>

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/img1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:src="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10276251/@drawable/ic_launcher" android:layout_marginLeft="10dip"/>
    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/img2"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:src="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10276251/@drawable/ic_launcher" android:layout_centerVertical="true" android:layout_alignParentRight="true"/>
    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/img3"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:src="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10276251/@drawable/ic_launcher" android:layout_marginLeft="60dip" android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" android:layout_marginBottom="100dip"/>

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical" android:clipChildren="false" android:clipToPadding="false">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/img4"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:src="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10276251/@drawable/ic_launcher" android:layout_marginLeft="60dip" android:layout_marginTop="150dip"/>
    </LinearLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

Your activity

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

    ((Button) findViewById( R.id.btn1 )).setOnClickListener( new OnClickListener()
    {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v)
        {
            ImageView img = (ImageView) findViewById( R.id.img1 );              
            moveViewToScreenCenter( img );
            img = (ImageView) findViewById( R.id.img2 );
            moveViewToScreenCenter( img );
            img = (ImageView) findViewById( R.id.img3 );                
            moveViewToScreenCenter( img );
            img = (ImageView) findViewById( R.id.img4 );
            moveViewToScreenCenter( img );
        }
    });
}

private void moveViewToScreenCenter( View view )
{
    RelativeLayout root = (RelativeLayout) findViewById( R.id.rootLayout );
    DisplayMetrics dm = new DisplayMetrics();
    this.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics( dm );
    int statusBarOffset = dm.heightPixels - root.getMeasuredHeight();

    int originalPos[] = new int[2];
    view.getLocationOnScreen( originalPos );

    int xDest = dm.widthPixels/2;
    xDest -= (view.getMeasuredWidth()/2);
    int yDest = dm.heightPixels/2 - (view.getMeasuredHeight()/2) - statusBarOffset;

    TranslateAnimation anim = new TranslateAnimation( 0, xDest - originalPos[0] , 0, yDest - originalPos[1] );
    anim.setDuration(1000);
    anim.setFillAfter( true );
    view.startAnimation(anim);
}

The method moveViewToScreenCenter gets the View’s absolute coordinates and calculates how much distance has to move from its current position to reach the center of the screen. The statusBarOffset variable measures the status bar height.

I hope you can keep going with this example. Remember that after the animation your view’s position is still the initial one. If you tap the MOVE button again and again the same movement will repeat. If you want to change your view’s position do it after the animation is finished.