How to use AttributeSet in constructor

[William Brogden]

In the API we see constructors like

TextView view = new TextView( Context c, AttributeSet a );

Which looks like it ought to provide a way to create a TextView with a set of attributes taken from some XML resource.

However, I can't figure out exactly how to do that. The API just seems to lead me in circles and the book I am using is not helping.

Does anybody know of a good tutorial that could help?

Bill

[Monu Tripathi]

When you create a custom View(by extending the View class) or a container(by extending some Layout class), and use your custom class directly in the layout XMLs, your implementation will be required to have that constructor because, by default, MyView( Context c, AttributeSet a ); would be constructor that would be invoked by the system. And any attributes that you set in the XML for your custom View will be passed in the AttributeSet instance.

You can test this by extending a simple View and having your custom widget in the layout XML.

[Monu Tripathi]

I have a bookmark entry which you might find interesting

[William Brogden]

Thanks Monu, I can see that I had the wrong idea about how AttributeSet is used and that article looks helpful.

Bill