How to get the absolute coordinates of a view

Use View.getLocationOnScreen() and/or getLocationInWindow().


The accepted answer didn't actually tell how to get the location, so here is a little more detail. You pass in an int array of length 2 and the values are replaced with the view's (x, y) coordinates (of the top, left corner).

int[] location = new int[2];
myView.getLocationOnScreen(location);
int x = location[0];
int y = location[1];

Notes

  • Replacing getLocationOnScreen with getLocationInWindow should give the same results in most cases (see this answer). However, if you are in a smaller window like a Dialog or custom keyboard, then use you will need to choose which one better suits your needs.
  • You will get (0,0) if you call this method in onCreate because the view has not been laid out yet. You can use a ViewTreeObserver to listen for when the layout is done and you can get the measured coordinates. (See this answer.)