android - How to insert drawables in text

Question

I want to insert small pictures, like arrow icons for example, into certain positions of contents of a TextView.

The photo below depicts exactly what I want:

Obviously, the most naive solution is to use multiple TextView on either side of the small ImageView objects. But this approach is not scalable.

I am curious to learn if someone has overcome this problem with some simple yet smart trick. (Maybe with help from HTML or an external library)

Any efficient solution is much appreciated.

Answer 1

You can create SpannableString and add any object to your string

TextView textView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView);

ImageSpan imageSpan = new ImageSpan(this, R.drawable.ic_launcher);
SpannableString spannableString = new SpannableString(textView.getText());

int start = 3;
int end = 4;
int flag = 0;
spannableString.setSpan(imageSpan, start, end, flag);

textView.setText(spannableString);