Develop Reference

Android - merge and include

I want to use switch button in my app. As its API is 11 and switch needs API higher than 14, I decided to use merge and include method but I get this error in values-v14/compound_switch.xml file : Element merge must be declerd. here are my files, what is the problem?
Main layout:
<include layout="#layout/compound_switch" />
layout/compound_switch.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<merge xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<CheckBox
android:id="#+id/night_switch"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/textView20"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/textView20"
android:layout_toStartOf="#+id/textView20"
android:layout_marginRight="5dp"
android:checked="false" />
</merge>
values-v14/compound_switch.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<merge xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<Switch
android:id="#+id/night_switch"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignTop="#+id/textView20"
android:layout_toLeftOf="#+id/textView20"
android:layout_toStartOf="#+id/textView20"
android:layout_marginRight="5dp" />
</merge>

Move your layout that has the switch from the folder values-v14 to a folder called layout-v14. Layouts should be in the layout folder. The values folder is for colors, dimensions, attributes, etc.

Android : put listfragment inside xml layout

ListFragment by defaults shows a progressbar while the data get loaded. I plan on putting the listfragment in xml file and have it show progressbar till I get the data from the server.
The reason I m trying to put listfragment inside xml is because in my layout I have a linearlayout above the place where I plan to put listfragment.
Here is my xml file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
>
<LinearLayout
android:id="#+id/filterHolder"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:background="#color/white"
>
<ToggleButton
android:id="#+id/filterToggleButton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#color/white"
android:textColor="#color/black"
android:textOff="#string/filterToggleButtonText"
android:textOn="#string/filterToggleButtonText"
android:drawableLeft="#drawable/filter_small"
/>
</LinearLayout>
<fragment
andorid:name="in.coupondunia.androidapp.testListFragment"
android:id="#+id/couponsByCategoryFragment"
android:layout_below="#id/filterHolder"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

Have you tried using http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/ListFragment.html#setListShown(boolean) with parameter true? From the docs it might work.

Android pass image to another xml file

I have an image in my main.xml as follows
<ListView
android:id="#android:id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_width="70dp"
android:layout_height="70dp"
android:contentDescription="#string/hello"
android:maxHeight="70dp"
android:maxWidth="70dp" />
but I need to pass it to another xml file. Is this possible?

In your case you are having data reference.

Yes, its possible. Exists a tag called in android that you can "include" another android xml layout in other android xml file. I put a example using your main.xml
In layout2.xml ....
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<include layout="#layout/main"/>
</LinearLayout>
More information about this tag, please check it out in the link below.
http://developer.android.com/training/improving-layouts/reusing-layouts.html

Custom elements and package name

When creating a custom element with attributes in Android I need to put the namespace of the application in the layout.
For example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:whatever="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/org.example.mypackage"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<org.example.mypackage.MyCustomView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
whatever:my_custom_attribute="Hello, world!" />
</LinearLayout>
Does this also requires that the structure of my project in Eclipse be the same as the name of the Android package as definied in the Manifest - as per the example?
Would this work too:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:whatever="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/org.mycompany.myproduct"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<org.example.mypackage.MyCustomView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
whatever:my_custom_attribute="Hello, world!" />
</LinearLayout>

Its the package name of your application that should be reflected. So its correct to use it as you are doing.
For example:
In xmlns:whatever="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/org.mycompany.myproduct the last part org.mycompany.myproduct should be the same as your package name. And you may change xmlns:whatever to anything like xmlns:theblitz but then make sure you do use theblitz as a prefix for your attributes in the xml.
For more info, read this

Android: How to dynamically include a XML Layout?

I want to decompose my UI into several XML Layouts. The first one would be the main layout, and the other ones would be the content layouts.
I would like to be able to set which content_layout should be included dynamically at run-time, so I don't want to set a "layout="#+layout/content_layout" in my XML file.
Here are my layouts:
main_layout.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="600dp"
android:layout_height="800dp" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/title"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true" />
<include /> <!-- I WANT TO INCLUDE MY CONTENT HERE -->
<Button
android:id="#+id/cancelButton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text="Cancel" />
</RelativeLayout>
content_layout.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ListView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/whatever"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="fill_parent" />
content_layout2.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ListView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/whatever2"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="fill_parent" />
How can I do that?
Thanks!

<RelativeLayout android:id="#+id/rl" ...
In your code:
// get your outer relative layout
RelativeLayout rl = (RelativeLayout) findById(R.id.rl);
// inflate content layout and add it to the relative layout as second child
// add as second child, therefore pass index 1 (0,1,...)
LayoutInflater layoutInflater = (LayoutInflater)
this.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
rl.addView(1, layoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.content_layout, this, false) );

You could try using a ViewStub and just change which layout it is going to inflate programatically.
This answer discusses using one ViewStub.