CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androiduser-interface
Heshan Perera
Heshan Perera

Reputation: 4630

Render Android UI Based on Dynamically Specified XML

Suppose I have an application that receives an Android UI layout XML in the form of a string from a web service. Say for example, I received the following XML string...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal">
    <EditText android:id="@+id/edit_message"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="@string/edit_message" />
    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/button_send" />
</LinearLayout>

Is there anyway, that I could pass this string in as the layout to an activity and have it rendered ?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1022

Answers (2)

Hrafn
Hrafn

Reputation: 2946

As can be seen from the class overview here, layout inflation from a non-precompiled xml is not possible in Android at this time. I quote:

"For performance reasons, view inflation relies heavily on pre-processing of XML files that is done at build time. Therefore, it is not currently possible to use LayoutInflater with an XmlPullParser over a plain XML file at runtime; it only works with an XmlPullParser returned from a compiled resource (R.something file.)"

Upvotes: 0

Robin
Robin

Reputation: 10368

I think you can create a XmlPullParser based on your String content. And then use the method from LayoutInflatoer:

inflate(XmlPullParser parser, ViewGroup root)

Please refer to the link http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/LayoutInflater.html

Something like this:

XmlPullParserFactory factory = XmlPullParserFactory.newInstance();
factory.setNamespaceAware(true);
XmlPullParser xpp = factory.newPullParser();
xpp.setInput( new StringReader ( "YOUR XML CONTENT" ) );
View rootView = inflate(xpp, null));
setContentView(rootView);

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions