Defining and inflating a layout

When using the Android Studio wizard to create a new project, it automatically creates the res/layout/activity_main.xml file (as shown in the following screenshot). It then inflates the XML file in the onCreate() callback with setContentView(R.layout.activity_main):

For this recipe, we will create two slightly different layouts and switch between them with a button.

Getting ready

Create a new project in Android Studio and call it InflateLayout. Once the project is created, expand the res/layout folder so we can edit the activity_main.xml file. Use the default Phone & Tablet settings on the Target Android devices and select Empty Activity on the Add...