Is AppCompat possible to ignore on API 23+?

Question

I am developing an Android Project from scratch that has min 23 API level and uses AndroidX. When I complete the XML layouts (for ex. simple activity_layout) there is options to pick like between TextView & androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatTextView.

1. Is TextView targeting AndroidX?
2. If yes, can I ignore using androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatTextView or other AppCompat component if I target min 23 API level?

Answer 1

Is TextView targeting AndroidX?

The question in not clear but the class androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatTextView extends android.widget.TextView.

You can check the official doc.

A TextView which supports compatible features on older versions of the platform.

Also:

This will automatically be used when you use TextView in your layouts and the top-level activity / dialog is provided by appcompat. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views.

Then.

If yes, can I ignore using androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatTextView or other AppCompat component if I target min 23 API level?

You can ignore this view if you are using the androidx.appcompat:appcompat:x.y.z library.

Answer 2

from the standard android documentation for AppCompatTextView:

This will automatically be used when you use TextView in your layouts and the top-level activity / dialog is provided by appcompat. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views.

taken from here : https://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/v7/widget/AppCompatTextView , so yes, you can just use TextView as long as your activity extends AppCompatActivity

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As pointed out by @Gabriele Mariotti (thank you to him) you should check out the documentation here https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/androidx/appcompat/widget/AppCompatTextView for more information regarding androidx AppCompatTextView documentation specifically.

The androidX documentation states the following regarding an AppCompatTextView:

This will automatically be used when you use TextView in your layouts and the top-level activity / dialog is provided by appcompat. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views

an exact duplicate of the standard android documentation.

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My initial answer only made use of this : https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/releases/appcompat to check for any known limitations or history regarding androidx AppCompatTextView

I assumed that:

Like the Support Library, AndroidX ships separately from the Android OS and provides backwards-compatibility across Android releases. AndroidX fully replaces the Support Library by providing feature parity and new libraries.

taken from https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx would be sufficient to make that assumption, +1 to him for the help :)