How is Android Studio Navigation Drawer navigating different Fragments?

Question

I've been trying to figure out how the default Navigation Drawer Activity template came with Android Studio navigates between different fragments. I understand that this menu is an implementation using AndroidX navigation component and navigation graph, but I just cannot understand how each menu item is mapped to its corresponding fragment. I don't see any listener or onNavigationItemSelected() etc. Can someone explain how the mapping between menuItem and corresponding fragment was achieved?

MainActivity.java:

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    private AppBarConfiguration mAppBarConfiguration;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        Toolbar toolbar = findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
        FloatingActionButton fab = findViewById(R.id.fab);

        DrawerLayout drawer = findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
        NavigationView navigationView = findViewById(R.id.nav_view);
        // Passing each menu ID as a set of Ids because each
        // menu should be considered as top level destinations.
        NavController navController = Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.nav_host_fragment);
        mAppBarConfiguration = new AppBarConfiguration.Builder(
                navController.getGraph())
                .setDrawerLayout(drawer)
                .build();

        NavigationUI.setupActionBarWithNavController(this, navController, mAppBarConfiguration);
        NavigationUI.setupWithNavController(navigationView, navController);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onSupportNavigateUp() {
        NavController navController = Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.nav_host_fragment);
        return NavigationUI.navigateUp(navController, mAppBarConfiguration)
                || super.onSupportNavigateUp();
    }
}

menu.xml:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    >

    <group android:checkableBehavior="single">
        <item
            android:id="@+id/nav_home"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_camera"
            android:title="@string/menu_home" />
        <item
            android:id="@+id/nav_gallery"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_gallery"
            android:title="@string/menu_gallery" />
        <item
            android:id="@+id/nav_slideshow"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_slideshow"
            android:title="@string/menu_slideshow" />
    </group>
</menu>

nav_graph.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<navigation xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/mobile_navigation"
    app:startDestination="@+id/nav_home">

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/nav_home"
        android:name="com.buzzz.myapplication.ui.home.HomeFragment"
        android:label="@string/menu_home"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_home">

        <action
            android:id="@+id/action_HomeFragment_to_HomeSecondFragment"
            app:destination="@id/nav_home_second" />
    </fragment>
    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/nav_home_second"
        android:name="com.buzzz.myapplication.ui.home.HomeSecondFragment"
        android:label="@string/home_second"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_home_second">
        <action
            android:id="@+id/action_HomeSecondFragment_to_HomeFragment"
            app:destination="@id/nav_home" />

        <argument
            android:name="myArg"
            app:argType="string" />
    </fragment>

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/nav_gallery"
        android:name="com.buzzz.myapplication.ui.gallery.GalleryFragment"
        android:label="@string/menu_gallery"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_gallery" />

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/nav_slideshow"
        android:name="com.buzzz.myapplication.ui.slideshow.SlideshowFragment"
        android:label="@string/menu_slideshow"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_slideshow" />
</navigation>

Thank you very much.

Answer 1

As per the Update UI components with NavigationUI documentation, the setupWithNavController() methods hook up UI elements (such as your NavigationView) with the NavController.

Looking at the setupWithNavController() Javadoc:

Sets up a NavigationView for use with a NavController. This will call onNavDestinationSelected when a menu item is selected. The selected item in the NavigationView will automatically be updated when the destination changes.

So internally, this is setting up the appropriate listeners - both on the NavigationView to handle menu selections and on the NavController to update the selected item when the current destination changes.

Looking at the onNavDestinationSelected() Javadoc, it becomes clear how the menu items and navigation graph destinations are matched:

Importantly, it assumes the menu item id matches a valid action id or destination id to be navigated to.

So clicking on a menu item with android:id="@+id/nav_home" will navigate to the destination with android:id="@+id/nav_home".