Question

I have a main.xml file describing the layout of my main activity:

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

    <include layout="@layout/mylayout" />
    <include layout="@layout/mylayout" />
    <include layout="@layout/mylayout" />
    <include layout="@layout/mylayout" />
    <include layout="@layout/mylayout" />
    <include layout="@layout/mylayout" />

</LinearLayout>

and its included layout xml file (mylayout.xml):

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

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="hello world" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

</LinearLayout>

I just want to include “mylayout” in my main layout 5 times, but instead of seeing “hello world” 5 times, I want the TextView to contain custom text.

Is there any way to do this by setting some attribute on the include element to override the child TextView’s text? What would be the best approach to take to accomplish this?

Answer 1

No, there is no way to pass parameters to the included layout other than the layout params using the <include> directive.

You can inflate the layout programatically and add them to your view. Add an id to the container in your main layout:

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

Then in your Activity:

ViewGroup container = (ViewGroup)findViewById(R.id.container);
for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
    View myLayout = getLayoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.mylayout, null);
    TextView tv = myLayout.findViewById(R.id.textView);
    tv.setText("my layout " + i);
    container.addView(myLayout); // you can pass extra layout params here too
}