How to set a Fragment tag by code?

I haven't found something like setTag(String tagName) method in the Fragment class. The only way to set a Fragment tag that I have found is by doing a FragmentTransaction and passing a tag name as parameter.

Is this the only way to explicitly set a Fragment tag by code?

Yes. So the only way is at transaction time, e.g. using add, replace, or as part of the layout.

I determined this through an examination of the compatibility sources as I briefly looked for similar at some point in the past.

You can set tag to fragment in this way:

Fragment fragmentA = new FragmentA();
getFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
    .replace(R.id.MainFrameLayout,fragmentA,"YOUR_TARGET_FRAGMENT_TAG")
    .addToBackStack("YOUR_SOURCE_FRAGMENT_TAG").commit(); 

You can provide a tag inside your activity layout xml file.

Supply the android:tag attribute with a unique string.

Just as you would assign an id in a layout xml.

    android:tag="unique_tag"

link to developer guide