I’m creating an

horizontalChain

in a

constraintLayout

for the first time using the dsl, and it’s not easy nor easy to read

I agree. I think it's still better than doing it by hand (unless you are in xml using the design view of the layout editor). If you have any thoughts on it, feel free to tell them, I definitely want to improve it and your feedback can steer my imagination in a better/easier path.

I think it’s too complex for a single extension that does it all. I was thinking about a simple

horizontalChain

extension on

ConstraintLayout

with a parameter like

SomeCustomType.() -> Unit

, and then some extensions on

SomeCustomType

like

add(View, optional lParams)

,

var commonLParams

,

var chainStyle

, etc

I'm not targetting ConstraintLayout experts. I want to KISS for everyone, newbie or expert. Regarding what you wanted to do, maybe you could try to see if it works in xml (you can embed it in code with the

inflate

extension function provided in the Views DSL split itself)

Nah XML is not an option. What I wanted was actually a LinearLayout inside my ConstraintLayout, not just a chain. I needed more grouping. In this case I have 2 groups of 2 views, all in a line, and each of these groups can disappear. If both disappear, the whole line should disappear. It’s easier to achieve with a LinearLayout wrapper around them, at least for me.

Ah, yes, LinearLayout is easier for that. I recently experienced the same when trying to do clever constraints that ended up with an ugly result and had a hard time managing the visibility of the whole column vs the visibility of a specific view without having those clash.

XML was not meant to be written by humans, and for me it’s in the same spot than PHP and raw JS: don’t use it

Of course, but the layout editor is meant to write it for you. I agree with you nevertheless, and that's why I made and maintain Splitties Views DSL

The last time I used it, the layout editor was very bad in IDEA, but it was a long time ago.