How to display one activity inside another in Android?

Question

I have one activity and want to display another inside it. Here's my layout:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

  <LinearLayout
      android:orientation="horizontal"
      android:layout_width="fill_parent"
      android:layout_height="fill_parent"
      android:layout_weight="1">
  </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

How can I display an Activity in inner LinearLayout on button click?

Answer 1

Use one layout for several activities

Layout instance is inflated for each activity using a setContentView method, usually in onCreate:

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.my_common_layout);
}

So there's no problem to use the same XML layout for different activities.

Display one activity inside another

You can use a Fragment API to complete the task. See full details in developer's guide.

• Declare a layout like that and Android will create fragments for you:

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      android:orientation="vertical"
      android:layout_width="fill_parent"
      android:layout_height="fill_parent">
  
      <fragment android:name="com.example.MyFragment"
              android:id="@+id/my_fragment"
              android:layout_width="fill_parent"
              android:layout_height="fill_parent"
              android:layout_weight="1" />
  
  </LinearLayout>
  

  Then create a MyFragment class and load it when appropriate.

• Create fragments yourself. Do not define the Fragment in XML layout:

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      android:orientation="vertical"
      android:layout_width="fill_parent"
      android:layout_height="fill_parent"
      android:id="@+id/my_parent_layout">
  
  </LinearLayout>
  

  After your parent Activity is created you can add a new Fragment in this way:

  FragmentManager fragmentManager = getFragmentManager()
  FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = fragmentManager.beginTransaction();
  MyFragment fragment = new MyFragment();
  fragmentTransaction.add(R.id.my_parent_layout, fragment);
  fragmentTransaction.commit();
  

  Here MyFragment is defined like this:

  public class MyFragment extends Fragment {
      ...
  }
  

If you're targeting below Android 3.0, consider using support package for that.