How to put a border around textview in android

Using a shape drawable

Save the following as an xml file in your drawable folder. (For example, my_border.xml)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="rectangle" >

    <!-- view background color -->
    <solid
        android:color="@color/background_color" >
    </solid>

    <!-- view border color and width -->
    <stroke
        android:width="1dp"
        android:color="@color/border_color" >
    </stroke>

    <!-- The radius makes the corners rounded -->
    <corners
        android:radius="2dp"   >
    </corners>

</shape>

Then just set it as the background to your TextView:

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/textview1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@drawable/my_border" />

More help:

Using a 9-patch

A 9-patch is a stretchable background image. If you make an image with a border then it will give your TextView a border. All you need to do is make the image and then set it to the background in your TextView.

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/textview1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@drawable/my_ninepatch_image" />

Here are some links that will show how to make a 9-patch image:

What if I just want the top border?

Using a layer-list

You can use a layer list to stack two rectangles on top of each other. By making the second rectangle just a little smaller than the first rectangle, you can make a border effect. The first (lower) rectangle is the border color and the second rectangle is the background color.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <!-- lower rectangle (border color) -->
    <item>
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <solid android:color="@color/border_color" />
        </shape>
    </item>

    <!-- upper rectangle (background color) -->
    <item android:top="2dp"> 
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <solid android:color="@color/background_color" />
        </shape>
    </item>
</layer-list>

Setting android:top="2dp" offsets the top (makes it smaller) by 2dp. This allows the first (lower) rectangle to show through, giving a border effect. You can apply this to the TextView background the same way that the shape drawable was done above.

Here are some more links about layer lists:

Using a 9-patch

You can just make a 9-patch image with a single border. Everything else is the same as discussed above.

Using a View

This is kind of a trick but it works well if you need to add a seperator between two views or a border to a single TextView.

<LinearLayout 
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textview1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <!-- this adds a border between the TextViews -->
    <View
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="2dp"
        android:background="@android:color/black" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textview2"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

</LinearLayout>

Here are some more links:

Developer Help

How to put a border around textview in android