Android View Resources Inflation

Question

I've gone through some docs and It basically tells that

• Although you see XML when writing your program, the Eclipse plug-in invokes the Android resource compiler, aapt, to preprocess the XML into a compressed binary format.**It is this format, not the original XML text, that is stored on the device
• For performance reasons, view inflation relies heavily on pre-processing of XML files that is done at build time. Therefore, it is not currently possible to use LayoutInflater with an XmlPullParser over a plain XML file at runtime; it only works with an XmlPullParser returned from a compiled resource (R.something file.)

Does the XML Layout goes as an argument to setContentView(R.something.file); in binary format? When does the Inflation takes place?, Who implements XmlPullParser interface and when does it work in setContentView(R.something.file) method?

Answer 1

Does the XML Layout goes as an argument to setContentView(R.something.file); in binary format?

The XML layout file, like all resources written in XML format, is stored in the APK file in a "compressed binary format".

When does the Inflation takes place?

In the case of layout XML resources, inflation takes place when somebody calls inflate() on a LayoutInflater. setContentView() uses a LayoutInflater to inflate() the layout XML resource you supply as a parameter.

Who implements XmlPullParser interface

Whoever wants to.

and when does it work?

Whenever anyone asks an instance of an implementation of the interface to work.