Android: findviewbyid: finding view by id when view is not on the same layout invoked by setContentView

I have an activity MyActivity that extends from MapActivity. In the .xml file containing the layout I can only include the MapView

<com.google.android.maps.MapView
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/trail_map_view"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:clickable="true"
    android:apiKey="key"
/>

However I do need to find another view that is located in another .xml file. Unfortunately, findViewById returns null. How can I get the view I am looking for?

Thanks a lot!

Solution 1:

Thanks for commenting, I understand what you mean but I didn't want to check old values. I just wanted to get a pointer to that view.

Looking at someone else's code I have just found a workaround, you can access the root of a layout using LayoutInflater.

The code is the following, where this is an Activity:

final LayoutInflater factory = getLayoutInflater();

final View textEntryView = factory.inflate(R.layout.landmark_new_dialog, null);

landmarkEditNameView = (EditText) textEntryView.findViewById(R.id.landmark_name_dialog_edit);

You need to get the inflater for this context, access the root view through the inflate method and finally call findViewById on the root view of the layout.

Hope this is useful for someone! Bye

Solution 2:

I have changed in my activity but effected. Here is my code:

View layout = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.list_group,null);
        try {
            LinearLayout linearLayout = (LinearLayout) layout.findViewById(R.id.ldrawernav);
            linearLayout.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#ffffff"));
        }
        catch (Exception e) {

        }

    }

Solution 3:

try:

Activity parentActivity = this.getParent();
if (parentActivity != null)
{
    View landmarkEditNameView = (EditText) parentActivity.findViewById(R.id. landmark_name_dialog_edit);
}

Solution 4:

Another way to do this is:

// inflate the layout
View myLayout = LayoutInflater.from(this).inflate(R.layout.MY_LAYOUT,null);

// load the text view
TextView myView = (TextView) myLayout.findViewById(R.id.MY_VIEW);