What is the role of content_main.xml in android studio 1.4?
AndroidAndroid LayoutAndroid StudioAndroid Problem Overview
I updated my android studio to latest version that is android studio1.4.
By default in a new project, there is a file content_main.xml
in layout folder.
What is the use of this file?
Android Solutions
Solution 1 - Android
According to new design pattern in android studio activity_main.xml
will determine how the global UI of the Activity should be. And on the other hand content_main.xml
will determine the contents in the activity_main.xml
.
That is content_main.xml
will contain the textview, edittext, button etc component. And it will be included by the activity_main.xml
.
So we can think of content_main.xml
just like partial in HTML. activity_main.xml
will contain your activity global design, and content_main.xml
will contain the contents.
From view of what they contain:
activity_main
: Co-ordinator layout, ViewPager etc
content_main
: Developer choosen elements. textview, edittext, button etc.
What the android developer website says about them is
> activity_main:
>
> This XML layout file is for the activity you added when you created
> the project with Android Studio. Following the New Project workflow,
> Android Studio presents this file with both a text view and a preview
> of the screen UI. The file contains some default interface elements
> from the material design library, including the app bar and a floating
> action button. It also includes a separate layout file with the main
> content
>
> content_main:
>
> This XML layout file resides in activity_my.xml
(activity_main) ,
> and contains some settings and Textview(other) element.
Solution 2 - Android
The difference between content_main.xml
and activity_main.xml
(for the class MainActivity
) exists since the API 23
. The difference between them is the following:
- The
content_main.xml
is used for displaying the things that the user should see. So it contains the elements which are for the user. As you can see in the name, thecontent_main.xml
determines the contents you can find in your Activity (MainActivity
in this case). You use this xml-file to add new contents (Views
) to yourActivity
. - The
activity_main.xml
has some special tasks. It contains for example:
The floatingActionButton (the small round button you use in gmail for example)
The tabLayout
The coordinatorLayout
So the activity_main.xml determines how theActivity
(MainActivity
in this case) should look. It determines its design.The content_main.xml is a part of the activity_main.xml.