Pfthb

Consider the snippet:

<TextView
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:text="Hello!"
 android:textDirection="locale"/>

The code results in "!Hello" as displayed output instead of expected "Hello!" when OS language is set to RTL.
This is observed only with textDirection set to "locale", otherwise, the text gets displayed properly.

I need to set TextDirection as locale so that the text is aligned in the textview according to the OS locale.
Is there a way to be able to use textdirection as locale without messing the text rendering or any other simple solution to achieve the same effect.

PS: I wish to apply this at a global level to all textviews and hence can't use textAlignment(as viewStart) as that would mess with the gravity property set on the views. (specifically, Gravity set as center horizontal would be ignored in favor of textalignment = viewStart)

There is nothing special about "locale", same display occurs when you use "rtl" for textDirection of a field which has LTR text ending with !. Or ., or any other punctuation with no strong directionality.

What can be done:

1. 
   

   end these texts with ‎ symbol:

   
   
   

   android:text="Hello!u200e"
   

   
   


2. choose "ltr" textDirection for these fields.


3. at runtime, identify the test fields that start with LTR sequence, or contain only LTR sequence (this logic deoends on your choice), and apply rules 1. or 2. (above) to these fields.


4. 
   

   use android:textAlignment="viewStart" instead:

   
   
   

   <FrameLayout
    android:layoutDirection="rtl" ...>
   
   <TextView
    android:text="Hello!"
    android:textAlignment="viewStart"
    android:layout_width="80dp"
    android:padding="12dp"
    android:background="@android:color/black"
    android:textColor="@android:color/white"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
   />