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What is Context in Android?

Samuel Fernandes 2076 20-May-2015

In Android programming, what exactly is a Context class and what is it used for? I read about it on the developer site, but I am unable to understand it clearly.

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Updated on 20-May-2015

Samuel Fernandes

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Anonymous User

20-May-2015

Concept:

It's like access of android-activity to app's resource
It's similar to a when you visit a hotel, you want breakfast, lunch & dinner in suitable timings right?
There are many other things you like during the time of stay. How you get these things?
You ask the room-service person to bring the things for you
Here room-service person is the context considering you are the single activity and the hotel to be your app, finally the breakfast, lunch & dinner to be the resources

As the name suggests, its the context of current state of the application/object. It lets newly created objects understand what has been going on. Typically you call it to get information regarding another part of your program (activity, package/application)

You can get the context by invoking getApplicationContext(), getContext(), getBaseContext() or this (when in the activity class).

Typical uses of context:

Creating New objects: Creating new views, adapters, listeners:

TextView tv = new TextView(getContext());
ListAdapter adapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(getApplicationContext(), ...);

Accessing Standard Common Resources: Services like LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE, SharedPreferences:

context.getSystemService(LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE)   
getApplicationContext().getSharedPreferences(*name*, *mode*);

Accessing Components Implicitly: Regarding content providers, broadcasts, intent

getApplicationContext().getContentResolver().query(uri, ...);

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What is Context in Android?

Samuel Fernandes

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