forum

Home / DeveloperSection / Forums / What's “tools:context” in Android layout files?

Ask Question

What's “tools:context” in Android layout files?

Royce Roy 3510 11-Jun-2015
Starting with a recent new version of ADT, I've noticed this new attribute on the layout XML files, for example:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity" />
What is "tools:context" used for?

How does it even know the exact path to the activity that is written there? Does it look at the package of the app, inside the manifest?

Is it limited to classes that extend Context or only activities? Is it usable for ListView items etc.?
android android 
Updated on 11-Jun-2015
Royce Roy

Royce Roy

Follow

Can you answer this question?

Answer

1 Answers

Anonymous User

Anonymous User

11-Jun-2015
This is most probably the activity the tools UI editor uses to render your layout (it will find the right theme based on the activity). This is documented here (around the middle of the article; subscribe to that page to keep up to date).

Liked By