Question

In my application I call setContentView( layout1.xml );, I want to access an element within a DIFFERENT layout file, lets call it layout2.xml.

I have tried

view1 = (View) findViewById( R.layout.layout2 ); 

and also added an id to the layout and tried

view1 = (View) findViewById( r.id.layout2 ); 

Neither of these work. They compile just fine but when I run it, as soon as i try to call something like

button1 = view1.findViewById( R.id.button1 );

I get a null pointer exception.

Answer 1

You need to use a layout inflater to get your second layout like so:

 View view = LayoutInflater.from(getBaseContext()).inflate(R.layout.layout2, null);

And then reference your button from that layout:

Button button1 = view.findViewById( R.id.button1 );