docs/html/tools/data-binding/guide.jd

page.title=Data Binding Guide
page.tags="databinding", "layouts"
@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper">
  <div id="qv">
    <h2>
      In this document:
    </h2>

    <ol>
      <li>
        <a href="#build_environment">Build Environment</a>
      </li>

      <li>
        <a href="#data_binding_layout_files">Data Binding Layout Files</a>
        <ol>
          <li>
            <a href="#writing_expressions">Writing your first data binding
            expressions</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#data_object">Data Object</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#binding_data">Binding Data</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#binding_events">Binding Events</a>
          </li>
        </ol>
      </li>

      <li>
        <a href="#layout_details">Layout Details</a>
        <ol>
          <li>
            <a href="#imports">Imports</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#variables">Variables</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#custom_binding_class_names">Custom Binding Class Names</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#includes">Includes</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#expression_language">Expression Language</a>
          </li>
        </ol>
      </li>

      <li>
        <a href="#data_objects">Data Objects</a>
        <ol>
          <li>
            <a href="#observable_objects">Observable Objects</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#observablefields">ObservableFields</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#observable_collections">Observable Collections</a>
          </li>
        </ol>
      </li>

      <li>
        <a href="#generated_binding">Generated Binding</a>
        <ol>
          <li>
            <a href="#creating">Creating</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#views_with_ids">Views With IDs</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#variables">Variables</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#viewstubs">ViewStubs</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#advanced_binding">Advanced Binding</a>
          </li>
        </ol>
      </li>

      <li>
        <a href="#attribute_setters">Attribute Setters</a>
        <ol>
          <li>
            <a href="#automatic_setters">Automatic Setters</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#renamed_setters">Renamed Setters</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#custom_setters">Custom Setters</a>
          </li>
        </ol>
      </li>

      <li>
        <a href="#converters">Converters</a>
        <ol>
          <li>
            <a href="#object_conversions">Object Conversions</a>
          </li>

          <li>
            <a href="#custom_conversions">Custom Conversions</a>
          </li>
        </ol>
      </li>

      <li>
        <a href="#studio_support">Android Studio Support for Data Binding</a>
      </li>

    </ol>
  </div><!-- qv -->
</div><!-- qv-wrapper -->

<p>
  This document explains how to use the Data Binding Library to write
  declarative layouts and minimize the glue code necessary to bind your
  application logic and layouts.
</p>

<p>The Data Binding Library offers both flexibility and broad compatibility
&mdash; it's a support library, so you can use it with all Android platform
versions back to <strong>Android 2.1</strong> (API level 7+).</p>

<p>To use data binding, Android Plugin for Gradle <strong>1.5.0-alpha1</strong>
or higher is required.</p>

<h2 id="build_environment">
  Build Environment
</h2>

<p>To get started with Data Binding, download the library from the Support
repository in the Android SDK manager. </p>

<p>
To configure your app to use data binding, add the <code>dataBinding</code> element to your
<code>build.gradle</code> file in the app module.
</p>

 <p>Use the following code snippet to configure data binding: </p>

<pre>
android {
    ....
    dataBinding {
        enabled = true
    }
}
</pre>

<p>If you have an app module that depends on a library which uses data binding, your app module
 must configure data binding in its <code>build.gradle</code> file as well.</p>

<p>Also, make sure you are using a compatible version of Android Studio.
<strong>Android Studio 1.3</strong> and later provides support for data binding as described in
<a href="#studio_support">Android Studio Support for Data Binding</a>.
</p>

<h2 id="data_binding_layout_files">
  Data Binding Layout Files
</h2>

<h3 id="writing_expressions">
  Writing your first data binding expressions
</h3>

<p>
  Data-binding layout files are slightly different and start with a root tag of
  <strong>layout</strong> followed by a <strong>data</strong> element and a
  <strong>view</strong> root element. This view element is what your root would
  be in a non-binding layout file. A sample file looks like this:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
&lt;layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"&gt;
   &lt;data&gt;
       &lt;variable name="user" type="com.example.User"/&gt;
   &lt;/data&gt;
   &lt;LinearLayout
       android:orientation="vertical"
       android:layout_width="match_parent"
       android:layout_height="match_parent"&gt;
       &lt;TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
           android:text="&commat;{user.firstName}"/&gt;
       &lt;TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
           android:text="&commat;{user.lastName}"/&gt;
   &lt;/LinearLayout&gt;
&lt;/layout&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  The user <strong>variable</strong> within <strong>data</strong> describes a
  property that may be used within this layout.
</p>

<pre>
&lt;<strong>variable name="user" type="com.example.User"</strong>/&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  Expressions within the layout are written in the attribute properties using
  the “<code>&commat;{}</code>” syntax. Here, the TextView’s text is set to the
  firstName property of user:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="wrap_content"
          android:text="&commat;{user.firstName}"/&gt;
</pre>
<h3 id="data_object">
  Data Object
</h3>

<p>
  Let’s assume for now that you have a plain-old Java object (POJO) for User:
</p>

<pre>
public class User {
   public final String firstName;
   public final String lastName;
   public User(String firstName, String lastName) {
       this.firstName = firstName;
       this.lastName = lastName;
   }
}
</pre>
<p>
  This type of object has data that never changes. It is common in applications
  to have data that is read once and never changes thereafter. It is also
  possible to use a JavaBeans objects:
</p>

<pre>
public class User {
   private final String firstName;
   private final String lastName;
   public User(String firstName, String lastName) {
       this.firstName = firstName;
       this.lastName = lastName;
   }
   public String getFirstName() {
       return this.firstName;
   }
   public String getLastName() {
       return this.lastName;
   }
}
</pre>
<p>
  From the perspective of data binding, these two classes are equivalent. The
  expression <strong><code>&commat;{user.firstName}</code></strong> used for
  the TextView’s <strong><code>android:text</code></strong> attribute will
  access the <strong><code>firstName</code></strong> field in the former class
  and the <code>getFirstName()</code> method in the latter class. Alternatively, it
  will also be resolved to <code>firstName()</code> if that method exists.
</p>

<h3 id="binding_data">
  Binding Data
</h3>

<p>
  By default, a Binding class will be generated based on the name of the layout
  file, converting it to Pascal case and suffixing “Binding” to it. The above
  layout file was <code>main_activity.xml</code> so the generate class was
  <code>MainActivityBinding</code>. This class holds all the bindings from the
  layout properties (e.g. the <code>user</code> variable) to the layout’s Views
  and knows how to assign values for the binding expressions.The easiest means
  for creating the bindings is to do it while inflating:
</p>

<pre>
&commat;Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
   super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
   MainActivityBinding binding = DataBindingUtil.setContentView(this, R.layout.main_activity);
   User user = new User("Test", "User");
   binding.setUser(user);
}
</pre>
<p>
  You’re done! Run the application and you’ll see Test User in the UI.
  Alternatively, you can get the view via:
</p>

<pre>
MainActivityBinding binding = MainActivityBinding.<em>inflate</em>(getLayoutInflater());
</pre>
<p>
  If you are using data binding items inside a ListView or RecyclerView
  adapter, you may prefer to use:
</p>

<pre>
ListItemBinding binding = ListItemBinding.inflate(layoutInflater, viewGroup, false);
//or
ListItemBinding binding = DataBindingUtil.<em>inflate</em>(layoutInflater, R.layout.<em><strong>list_item</strong></em>, viewGroup, <strong>false</strong>);
</pre>

<h3 id="binding_events">
  Binding Events
</h3>
<p>
  Events may be bound to handler methods directly, similar to the way
  <strong><code>android:onClick</code></strong> can be assigned to a method in the Activity.
  Event attribute names are governed by the name of the listener method with a few exceptions.
  For example, {@link android.view.View.OnLongClickListener} has a method {@link android.view.View.OnLongClickListener#onLongClick onLongClick()},
  so the attribute for this event is <code>android:onLongClick</code>.
</p>
<p>
  To assign an event to its handler, use a normal binding expression, with the value
  being the method name to call. For example, if your data object has two methods:
</p>
<pre>public class MyHandlers {
    public void onClickFriend(View view) { ... }
    public void onClickEnemy(View view) { ... }
}
</pre>
<p>
  The binding expression can assign the click listener for a View:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
&lt;layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"&gt;
   &lt;data&gt;
       &lt;variable name="handlers" type="com.example.Handlers"/&gt;
       &lt;variable name="user" type="com.example.User"/&gt;
   &lt;/data&gt;
   &lt;LinearLayout
       android:orientation="vertical"
       android:layout_width="match_parent"
       android:layout_height="match_parent"&gt;
       &lt;TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
           android:text="&commat;{user.firstName}"
           android:onClick="&commat;{user.isFriend ? handlers.onClickFriend : handlers.onClickEnemy}"/&gt;
       &lt;TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
           android:text="&commat;{user.lastName}"
           android:onClick="&commat;{user.isFriend ? handlers.onClickFriend : handlers.onClickEnemy}"/&gt;
   &lt;/LinearLayout&gt;
&lt;/layout&gt;
</pre>

<p>
  Some specialized click event handlers exist and they need an attribute other than
  <code>android:onClick</code> to avoid a conflict. The following attributes have been created
  to avoid such conflicts:
</p>

<table>
  <tr>
    <th>Class</th>
    <th>Listener Setter</th>
    <th>Attribute</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>{@link android.widget.SearchView}</td>
    <td>{@link android.widget.SearchView#setOnSearchClickListener}</td>
    <td><code>android:onSearchClick</code></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>{@link android.widget.ZoomControls}</td>
    <td>{@link android.widget.ZoomControls#setOnZoomInClickListener}</td>
    <td><code>android:onZoomIn</code></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>{@link android.widget.ZoomControls}</td>
    <td>{@link android.widget.ZoomControls#setOnZoomOutClickListener}</td>
    <td><code>android:onZoomOut</code></td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h2 id="layout_details">
  Layout Details
</h2>

<h3 id="imports">
  Imports
</h3>

<p>
  Zero or more <strong><code>import</code></strong> elements may be used inside
  the <strong><code>data</code></strong> element. These allow easy reference to
  classes inside your layout file, just like in Java.
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data&gt;
    &lt;import type="android.view.View"/&gt;
&lt;/data&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  Now, View may be used within your binding expression:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;TextView
   android:text="&commat;{user.lastName}"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:visibility="&commat;{user.isAdult ? View.VISIBLE : View.GONE}"/&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  When there are class name conflicts, one of the classes may be renamed to an
  “alias:”
</p>

<pre>
&lt;import type="android.view.View"/&gt;
&lt;import type="com.example.real.estate.View"
        alias="Vista"/&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  Now, <strong><code>Vista</code></strong> may be used to reference the
  <code>com.example.real.estate.View</code> and
  <strong><code>View</code></strong> may be used to reference
  <code>android.view.View</code> within the layout file. Imported types may be
  used as type references in variables and expressions:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data&gt;
    &lt;import type="com.example.User"/&gt;
    &lt;import type="java.util.List"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="user" type="User"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="userList" type="List&amp;lt;User&gt;"/&gt;
&lt;/data&gt;
</pre>
<p class="caution">
  <strong>Note</strong>: Android Studio does not yet handle imports so the
  autocomplete for imported variables may not work in your IDE. Your
  application will still compile fine and you can work around the IDE issue by
  using fully qualified names in your variable definitions.
</p>

<pre>
&lt;TextView
   android:text="&commat;{((User)(user.connection)).lastName}"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"/&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  Imported types may also be used when referencing static fields and methods in
  expressions:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data&gt;
    &lt;import type="com.example.MyStringUtils"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="user" type="com.example.User"/&gt;
&lt;/data&gt;
…
&lt;TextView
   android:text="&commat;{MyStringUtils.capitalize(user.lastName)}"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"/&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  Just as in Java, <code>java.lang.*</code> is imported automatically.
</p>

<h3 id="variables">
  Variables
</h3>

<p>
  Any number of <strong><code>variable</code></strong> elements may be used
  inside the <strong><code>data</code></strong> element. Each
  <strong><code>variable</code></strong> element describes a property that may
  be set on the layout to be used in binding expressions within the layout
  file.
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data&gt;
    &lt;import type="android.graphics.drawable.Drawable"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="user"  type="com.example.User"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="image" type="Drawable"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="note"  type="String"/&gt;
&lt;/data&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  The variable types are inspected at compile time, so if a variable implements
  {@link android.databinding.Observable} or is an <a href=
  "#observable_collections">observable collection</a>, that should be reflected
  in the type. If the variable is a base class or interface that does not
  implement the Observable* interface, the variables will <strong>not
  be</strong> observed!
</p>

<p>
  When there are different layout files for various configurations (e.g.
  landscape or portrait), the variables will be combined. There must not be
  conflicting variable definitions between these layout files.
</p>

<p>
  The generated binding class will have a setter and getter for each of the
  described variables. The variables will take the default Java values until
  the setter is called &mdash; <code>null</code> for reference types,
  <code>0</code> for <code>int</code>, <code>false</code> for
  <code>boolean</code>, etc.
</p>

<p>
  A special variable named <code>context</code> is generated for use in binding
  expressions as needed. The value for <code>context</code> is the
  <code>Context</code> from the root View's {@link android.view.View#getContext}.
  The <code>context</code> variable will be overridden by an explicit variable
  declaration with that name.
</p>

<h3 id="custom_binding_class_names">
  Custom Binding Class Names
</h3>

<p>
  By default, a Binding class is generated based on the name of the layout
  file, starting it with upper-case, removing underscores ( _ ) and
  capitalizing the following letter and then suffixing “Binding”. This class
  will be placed in a databinding package under the module package. For
  example, the layout file <code>contact_item.xml</code> will generate
  <code>ContactItemBinding</code>. If the module package is
  <code>com.example.my.app</code>, then it will be placed in
  <code>com.example.my.app.databinding</code>.
</p>

<p>
  Binding classes may be renamed or placed in different packages by adjusting
  the <strong><code>class</code></strong> attribute of the
  <strong><code>data</code></strong> element. For example:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data class="ContactItem"&gt;
    ...
&lt;/data&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  This generates the binding class as <code>ContactItem</code> in the
  databinding package in the module package. If the class should be generated
  in a different package within the module package, it may be prefixed with
  “.”:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data class=".ContactItem"&gt;
    ...
&lt;/data&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  In this case, <code>ContactItem</code> is generated in the module package
  directly. Any package may be used if the full package is provided:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data class="com.example.ContactItem"&gt;
    ...
&lt;/data&gt;
</pre>
<h3 id="includes">
  Includes
</h3>

<p>
  Variables may be passed into an included layout&apos;s binding from the
  containing layout by using the application namespace and the variable name in
  an attribute:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
&lt;layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:bind="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"&gt;
   &lt;data&gt;
       &lt;variable name="user" type="com.example.User"/&gt;
   &lt;/data&gt;
   &lt;LinearLayout
       android:orientation="vertical"
       android:layout_width="match_parent"
       android:layout_height="match_parent"&gt;
       &lt;include layout="&commat;layout/name"
           bind:user="&commat;{user}"/&gt;
       &lt;include layout="&commat;layout/contact"
           bind:user="&commat;{user}"/&gt;
   &lt;/LinearLayout&gt;
&lt;/layout&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  Here, there must be a <code>user</code> variable in both the
  <code>name.xml</code> and <code>contact.xml</code> layout files.
</p>
<p>
  Data binding does not support include as a direct child of a merge element. For example,
  <strong>the following layout is not supported:</strong>
</p>
<pre>
&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
&lt;layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:bind="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"&gt;
   &lt;data&gt;
       &lt;variable name="user" type="com.example.User"/&gt;
   &lt;/data&gt;
   &lt;merge&gt;
       &lt;include layout="&commat;layout/name"
           bind:user="&commat;{user}"/&gt;
       &lt;include layout="&commat;layout/contact"
           bind:user="&commat;{user}"/&gt;
   &lt;/merge&gt;
&lt;/layout&gt;
</pre>
<h3 id="expression_language">
  Expression Language
</h3>

<h4 id="common_features">
  Common Features
</h4>

<p>
  The expression language looks a lot like a Java expression. These are the
  same:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>Mathematical <strong><code>+ - / * %</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>String concatenation <strong><code>+</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>
    Logical <strong><code>&& ||</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>Binary <strong><code>& | ^</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>Unary <strong><code>+ - ! ~</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>Shift <strong><code>&gt;&gt; &gt;&gt;&gt; &lt;&lt;</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>Comparison <strong><code>== &gt; &lt; &gt;= &lt;=</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>
    <strong><code>instanceof</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>Grouping <strong><code>()</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>Literals - character, String, numeric, <strong><code>null</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>Cast
  </li>

  <li>Method calls
  </li>

  <li>Field access
  </li>

  <li>Array access <strong><code>[]</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>Ternary operator <strong><code>?:</code></strong>
  </li>
</ul>

<p>
  Examples:
</p>

<pre>
android:text="&commat;{String.valueOf(index + 1)}"
android:visibility="&commat;{age &amp;lt; 13 ? View.GONE : View.VISIBLE}"
android:transitionName=&apos;&commat;{"image_" + id}&apos;
</pre>
<h4 id="missing_operations">
  Missing Operations
</h4>

<p>
  A few operations are missing from the expression syntax that you can use in
  Java.
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    <strong><code>this</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>
    <strong><code>super</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>
    <strong><code>new</code></strong>
  </li>

  <li>Explicit generic invocation
  </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="null_coalescing_operator">
  Null Coalescing Operator
</h4>

<p>
  The null coalescing operator (<strong><code>??</code></strong>) chooses the
  left operand if it is not null or the right if it is null.
</p>

<pre>
<strong>android:text="&commat;{user.displayName ?? user.lastName}"</strong>
</pre>
<p>
  This is functionally equivalent to:
</p>

<pre>
<strong>android:text="&commat;{user.displayName != null ? user.displayName : user.lastName}"</strong>
</pre>
<h4 id="property_reference">
  Property Reference
</h4>

<p>
  The first was already discussed in the <a href=
  "#writing_your_first_data_binding_expressions">Writing your first data
  binding expressions</a> above: short form JavaBean references. When an
  expression references a property on a class, it uses the same format for
  fields, getters, and ObservableFields.
</p>

<pre>
<strong>android:text="&commat;{user.lastName}"</strong>
</pre>
<h4>
  Avoiding NullPointerException
</h4>

<p>
  Generated data binding code automatically checks for nulls and avoid null
  pointer exceptions. For example, in the expression
  <code>&commat;{user.name}</code>, if <code>user</code> is null,
  <code>user.name</code> will be assigned its default value (null). If you were
  referencing <code>user.age</code>, where age is an <code>int</code>, then it
  would default to 0.
</p>

<h4 id="collections">
  Collections
</h4>

<p>
  Common collections: arrays, lists, sparse lists, and maps, may be accessed
  using the <code>[]</code> operator for convenience.
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data&gt;
    &lt;import type="android.util.SparseArray"/&gt;
    &lt;import type="java.util.Map"/&gt;
    &lt;import type="java.util.List"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="list" type="List&amp;lt;String&gt;"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="sparse" type="SparseArray&amp;lt;String&gt;"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="map" type="Map&amp;lt;String, String&gt;"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="index" type="int"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="key" type="String"/&gt;
&lt;/data&gt;
…
android:text="&commat;{list[index]}"
…
android:text="&commat;{sparse[index]}"
…
android:text="&commat;{map[key]}"

</pre>
<h4 id="string_literals">
  String Literals
</h4>

<p>
  When using single quotes around the attribute value, it is easy to use double
  quotes in the expression:
</p>

<pre>
android:text=&apos;&commat;{map["firstName"]}&apos;
</pre>
<p>
  It is also possible to use double quotes to surround the attribute value.
  When doing so, String literals should either use the &amp;quot; or back quote
  (`).
</p>

<pre>
android:text="&commat;{map[`firstName`}"
android:text="&commat;{map[&amp;quot;firstName&amp;quot;]}"
</pre>
<h4 id="resources">
  Resources
</h4>

<p>
  It is possible to access resources as part of expressions using the normal
  syntax:
</p>

<pre>
android:padding="&commat;{large? &commat;dimen/largePadding : &commat;dimen/smallPadding}"
</pre>
<p>
  Format strings and plurals may be evaluated by providing parameters:
</p>

<pre>
android:text="&commat;{&commat;string/nameFormat(firstName, lastName)}"
android:text="&commat;{&commat;plurals/banana(bananaCount)}"
</pre>
<p>
  When a plural takes multiple parameters, all parameters should be passed:
</p>

<pre>

  Have an orange
  Have %d oranges

android:text="&commat;{&commat;plurals/orange(orangeCount, orangeCount)}"
</pre>
<p>
  Some resources require explicit type evaluation.
</p>

<table>
  <tr>
    <th>
      Type
    </th>
    <th>
      Normal Reference
    </th>
    <th>
      Expression Reference
    </th>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      String[]
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;array
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;stringArray
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      int[]
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;array
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;intArray
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      TypedArray
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;array
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;typedArray
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      Animator
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;animator
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;animator
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      StateListAnimator
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;animator
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;stateListAnimator
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      color <code>int</code>
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;color
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;color
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      ColorStateList
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;color
    </td>
    <td>
      &commat;colorStateList
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h2 id="data_objects">
  Data Objects
</h2>

<p>
  Any plain old Java object (POJO) may be used for data binding, but modifying
  a POJO will not cause the UI to update. The real power of data binding can be
  used by giving your data objects the ability to notify when data changes.
  There are three different data change notification mechanisms,
  <a href="#observable_objects">Observable objects</a>,
  <a href="#observablefields">observable fields</a>, and
  <a href="#observable_collections">observable collection</a>s.
</p>

<p>
  When one of these observable data object is bound to the UI and a property of
  the data object changes, the UI will be updated automatically.
</p>

<h3 id="observable_objects">
  Observable Objects
</h3>

<p>
  A class implementing the {@link android.databinding.Observable} interface
  will allow the binding to attach a single listener to a bound object to
  listen for changes of all properties on that object.
</p>

<p>
  The {@link android.databinding.Observable} interface has a mechanism to add and remove
  listeners, but notifying is up to the developer. To make development easier,
  a base class, {@link android.databinding.BaseObservable}, was created to implement the
  listener registration mechanism. The data class implementer is still
  responsible for notifying when the properties change. This is done by
  assigning a {@link android.databinding.Bindable} annotation to the getter and notifying in
  the setter.
</p>

<pre>
private static class User extends BaseObservable {
   private String firstName;
   private String lastName;
   &commat;Bindable
   public String getFirstName() {
       return this.firstName;
   }
   &commat;Bindable
   public String getLastName() {
       return this.lastName;
   }
   public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
       this.firstName = firstName;
       notifyPropertyChanged(BR.firstName);
   }
   public void setLastName(String lastName) {
       this.lastName = lastName;
       notifyPropertyChanged(BR.lastName);
   }
}
</pre>
<p>
  The {@link android.databinding.Bindable} annotation generates an entry in the BR class file
  during compilation. The BR class file will be generated in the module
  package. If the base class for data classes cannot be changed, the
  {@link android.databinding.Observable} interface may be implemented using the convenient
  {@link android.databinding.PropertyChangeRegistry} to store and notify listeners
  efficiently.
</p>

<h3 id="observablefields">
  ObservableFields
</h3>

<p>
  A little work is involved in creating {@link android.databinding.Observable} classes, so
  developers who want to save time or have few properties may use
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableField} and its siblings
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableBoolean},
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableByte},
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableChar},
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableShort},
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableInt},
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableLong},
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableFloat},
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableDouble}, and
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableParcelable}.
  <code>ObservableFields</code> are self-contained observable objects that have a single
  field. The primitive versions avoid boxing and unboxing during access operations.
  To use, create a public final field in the data class:
</p>

<pre>
private static class User {
   public final ObservableField&lt;String&gt; firstName =
       new ObservableField&lt;&gt;();
   public final ObservableField&lt;String&gt; lastName =
       new ObservableField&lt;&gt;();
   public final ObservableInt age = new ObservableInt();
}
</pre>
<p>
  That&apos;s it! To access the value, use the set and get accessor methods:
</p>

<pre>
user.firstName.set("Google");
int age = user.age.get();
</pre>
<h3 id="observable_collections">
  Observable Collections
</h3>

<p>
  Some applications use more dynamic structures to hold data. Observable
  collections allow keyed access to these data objects.
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableArrayMap} is
  useful when the key is a reference type, such as String.
</p>

<pre>
ObservableArrayMap&lt;String, Object&gt; user = new ObservableArrayMap&lt;&gt;();
user.put("firstName", "Google");
user.put("lastName", "Inc.");
user.put("age", 17);
</pre>
<p>
  In the layout, the map may be accessed through the String keys:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data&gt;
    &lt;import type="android.databinding.ObservableMap"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="user" type="ObservableMap&amp;lt;String, Object&gt;"/&gt;
&lt;/data&gt;
…
&lt;TextView
   android:text=&apos;&commat;{user["lastName"]}&apos;
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"/&gt;
&lt;TextView
   android:text=&apos;&commat;{String.valueOf(1 + (Integer)user["age"])}&apos;
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"/&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  {@link android.databinding.ObservableArrayList} is useful when the key is an integer:
</p>

<pre>
ObservableArrayList&lt;Object&gt; user = new ObservableArrayList&lt;&gt;();
user.add("Google");
user.add("Inc.");
user.add(17);
</pre>
<p>
  In the layout, the list may be accessed through the indices:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data&gt;
    &lt;import type="android.databinding.ObservableList"/&gt;
    &lt;import type="com.example.my.app.Fields"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="user" type="ObservableList&amp;lt;Object&gt;"/&gt;
&lt;/data&gt;
…
&lt;TextView
   android:text=&apos;&commat;{user[Fields.LAST_NAME]}&apos;
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"/&gt;
&lt;TextView
   android:text=&apos;&commat;{String.valueOf(1 + (Integer)user[Fields.AGE])}&apos;
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"/&gt;
</pre>
<h2 id="generated_binding">
  Generated Binding
</h2>

<p>
  The generated binding class links the layout variables with the Views within
  the layout. As discussed earlier, the name and package of the Binding may be
  <a href="#custom_binding_class_names">customized</a>. The Generated binding
  classes all extend {@link android.databinding.ViewDataBinding}.
</p>

<h3 id="creating">
  Creating
</h3>

<p>
  The binding should be created soon after inflation to ensure that the View
  hierarchy is not disturbed prior to binding to the Views with expressions
  within the layout. There are a few ways to bind to a layout. The most common
  is to use the static methods on the Binding class.The inflate method inflates
  the View hierarchy and binds to it all it one step. There is a simpler
  version that only takes a {@link android.view.LayoutInflater} and one that takes a
  {@link android.view.ViewGroup} as well:
</p>

<pre>
MyLayoutBinding binding = MyLayoutBinding.inflate(layoutInflater);
MyLayoutBinding binding = MyLayoutBinding.inflate(layoutInflater, viewGroup, false);
</pre>
<p>
  If the layout was inflated using a different mechanism, it may be bound
  separately:
</p>

<pre>
MyLayoutBinding binding = MyLayoutBinding.bind(viewRoot);
</pre>
<p>
  Sometimes the binding cannot be known in advance. In such cases, the binding
  can be created using the {@link android.databinding.DataBindingUtil} class:
</p>

<pre>
ViewDataBinding binding = DataBindingUtil.inflate(LayoutInflater, layoutId,
    parent, attachToParent);
ViewDataBinding binding = DataBindingUtil.bindTo(viewRoot, layoutId);
</pre>
<h3 id="views_with_ids">
  Views With IDs
</h3>

<p>
  A public final field will be generated for each View with an ID in the
  layout. The binding does a single pass on the View hierarchy, extracting the
  Views with IDs. This mechanism can be faster than calling findViewById for
  several Views. For example:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"&gt;
   &lt;data&gt;
       &lt;variable name="user" type="com.example.User"/&gt;
   &lt;/data&gt;
   &lt;LinearLayout
       android:orientation="vertical"
       android:layout_width="match_parent"
       android:layout_height="match_parent"&gt;
       &lt;TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
           android:text="&commat;{user.firstName}"
   android:id="&commat;+id/firstName"/&gt;
       &lt;TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
           android:text="&commat;{user.lastName}"
  android:id="&commat;+id/lastName"/&gt;
   &lt;/LinearLayout&gt;
&lt;/layout&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  Will generate a binding class with:
</p>

<pre>
public final TextView firstName;
public final TextView lastName;
</pre>
<p>
  IDs are not nearly as necessary as without data binding, but there are still
  some instances where access to Views are still necessary from code.
</p>

<h3 id="variables2">
  Variables
</h3>

<p>
  Each variable will be given accessor methods.
</p>

<pre>
&lt;data&gt;
    &lt;import type="android.graphics.drawable.Drawable"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="user"  type="com.example.User"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="image" type="Drawable"/&gt;
    &lt;variable name="note"  type="String"/&gt;
&lt;/data&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  will generate setters and getters in the binding:
</p>

<pre>
public abstract com.example.User getUser();
public abstract void setUser(com.example.User user);
public abstract Drawable getImage();
public abstract void setImage(Drawable image);
public abstract String getNote();
public abstract void setNote(String note);
</pre>
<h3 id="viewstubs">
  ViewStubs
</h3>

<p>
  {@link android.view.ViewStub}s are a little different from normal Views. They start off invisible
  and when they either are made visible or are explicitly told to inflate, they
  replace themselves in the layout by inflating another layout.
</p>

<p>
  Because the <code>ViewStub</code> essentially disappears from the View hierarchy, the View
  in the binding object must also disappear to allow collection. Because the
  Views are final, a {@link android.databinding.ViewStubProxy} object takes the place of the
  <code>ViewStub</code>, giving the developer access to the ViewStub when it exists and also
  access to the inflated View hierarchy when the <code>ViewStub</code> has been inflated.
</p>

<p>
  When inflating another layout, a binding must be established for the new
  layout. Therefore, the <code>ViewStubProxy</code> must listen to the <code>ViewStub</code>&apos;s
  {@link android.view.ViewStub.OnInflateListener} and establish the binding at that time. Since
  only one can exist, the <code>ViewStubProxy</code> allows the developer to set an
  <code>OnInflateListener</code> on it that it will call after establishing the binding.
</p>

<h3 id="advanced_binding">
  Advanced Binding
</h3>

<h4 id="dynamic_variables">
  Dynamic Variables
</h4>

<p>
  At times, the specific binding class won&apos;t be known. For example, a
  {@link android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter} operating against arbitrary layouts
  won&apos;t know the specific binding class. It still must assign the binding value during the
  {@link android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter#onBindViewHolder}.
</p>

<p>
  In this example, all layouts that the RecyclerView binds to have an "item"
  variable. The <code>BindingHolder</code> has a <code>getBinding</code> method returning the
  {@link android.databinding.ViewDataBinding} base.
</p>

<pre>
public void onBindViewHolder(BindingHolder holder, int position) {
   final T item = mItems.get(position);
   holder.getBinding().setVariable(BR.item, item);
   holder.getBinding().executePendingBindings();
}
</pre>
<h4 id="immediate_binding">
  Immediate Binding
</h4>

<p>
  When a variable or observable changes, the binding will be scheduled to
  change before the next frame. There are times, however, when binding must be
  executed immediately. To force execution, use the
  {@link android.databinding.ViewDataBinding#executePendingBindings()} method.
</p>

<h4>
  Background Thread
</h4>

<p>
  You can change your data model in a background thread as long as it is not a
  collection. Data binding will localize each variable / field while evaluating
  to avoid any concurrency issues.
</p>

<h2 id="attribute_setters">
  Attribute Setters
</h2>

<p>
  Whenever a bound value changes, the generated binding class must call a
  setter method on the View with the binding expression. The data binding
  framework has ways to customize which method to call to set the value.
</p>

<h3 id="automatic_setters">
  Automatic Setters
</h3>
For an attribute, data binding tries to find the method setAttribute. The
namespace for the attribute does not matter, only the attribute name itself.
<p>
  For example, an expression associated with TextView&apos;s attribute
  <strong><code>android:text</code></strong> will look for a setText(String).
  If the expression returns an int, data binding will search for a setText(int)
  method. Be careful to have the expression return the correct type, casting if
  necessary. Note that data binding will work even if no attribute exists with
  the given name. You can then easily "create" attributes for any setter by
  using data binding. For example, support DrawerLayout doesn&apos;t have any
  attributes, but plenty of setters. You can use the automatic setters to use
  one of these.
</p>

<pre>
&lt;android.support.v4.widget.<strong>DrawerLayout
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    app:scrimColor="&commat;{&commat;color/scrim}"
    app:drawerListener="&commat;{fragment.drawerListener}"/&gt;</strong>
</pre>
<h3 id="renamed_setters">
  Renamed Setters
</h3>

<p>
  Some attributes have setters that don&apos;t match by name. For these
  methods, an attribute may be associated with the setter through
  {@link android.databinding.BindingMethods} annotation. This must be associated with
  a class and contains {@link android.databinding.BindingMethod} annotations, one for
  each renamed method. For example, the <strong><code>android:tint</code></strong> attribute
  is really associated with {@link android.widget.ImageView#setImageTintList}, not
  <code>setTint</code>.
</p>

<pre>
&commat;BindingMethods({
       &commat;BindingMethod(type = "android.widget.ImageView",
                      attribute = "android:tint",
                      method = "setImageTintList"),
})
</pre>
<p>
  It is unlikely that developers will need to rename setters; the android
  framework attributes have already been implemented.
</p>

<h3 id="custom_setters">
  Custom Setters
</h3>

<p>
  Some attributes need custom binding logic. For example, there is no
  associated setter for the <strong><code>android:paddingLeft</code></strong>
  attribute. Instead, <code>setPadding(left, top, right, bottom)</code> exists.
  A static binding adapter method with the {@link android.databinding.BindingAdapter}
  annotation allows the developer to customize how a setter for an attribute is
  called.
</p>

<p>
  The android attributes have already had <code>BindingAdapter</code>s created.
  For example, here is the one for <code>paddingLeft</code>:
</p>

<pre>
&commat;BindingAdapter("android:paddingLeft")
public static void setPaddingLeft(View view, int padding) {
   view.setPadding(padding,
                   view.getPaddingTop(),
                   view.getPaddingRight(),
                   view.getPaddingBottom());
}
</pre>
<p>
  Binding adapters are useful for other types of customization. For example, a
  custom loader can be called off-thread to load an image.
</p>

<p>
  Developer-created binding adapters will override the data binding default
  adapters when there is a conflict.
</p>

<p>
  You can also have adapters that receive multiple parameters.
</p>

<pre>
&commat;BindingAdapter({"bind:imageUrl", "bind:error"})
public static void loadImage(ImageView view, String url, Drawable error) {
   Picasso.with(view.getContext()).load(url).error(error).into(view);
}
</pre>
<pre>
&lt;ImageView app:imageUrl=“&commat;{venue.imageUrl}”
app:error=“&commat;{&commat;drawable/venueError}”/&gt;
</pre>

<p>
  This adapter will be called if both <strong>imageUrl</strong> and
  <strong>error</strong> are used for an ImageView and <em>imageUrl</em> is a
  string and <em>error</em> is a drawable.
</p>

<ul>
  <li>Custom namespaces are ignored during matching.
  </li>

  <li>You can also write adapters for android namespace.
  </li>
</ul>

<p>
  Binding adapter methods may optionally take the old values in their handlers. A method
  taking old and new values should have all old values for the attributes come first, followed
  by the new values:
</p>
<pre>
&commat;BindingAdapter("android:paddingLeft")
public static void setPaddingLeft(View view, int oldPadding, int newPadding) {
   if (oldPadding != newPadding) {
       view.setPadding(newPadding,
                       view.getPaddingTop(),
                       view.getPaddingRight(),
                       view.getPaddingBottom());
   }
}
</pre>
<p>
  Event handlers may only be used with interfaces or abstract classes with one abstract method.
  For example:
</p>
<pre>
&commat;BindingAdapter("android:onLayoutChange")
public static void setOnLayoutChangeListener(View view, View.OnLayoutChangeListener oldValue,
       View.OnLayoutChangeListener newValue) {
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
        if (oldValue != null) {
            view.removeOnLayoutChangeListener(oldValue);
        }
        if (newValue != null) {
            view.addOnLayoutChangeListener(newValue);
        }
    }
}
</pre>
<p>
  When a listener has multiple methods, it must be split into multiple listeners. For example,
  {@link android.view.View.OnAttachStateChangeListener} has two methods:
  {@link android.view.View.OnAttachStateChangeListener#onViewAttachedToWindow onViewAttachedToWindow()} and
  {@link android.view.View.OnAttachStateChangeListener#onViewDetachedFromWindow onViewDetachedFromWindow()}.
  We must then create two interfaces to differentiate the attributes and handlers for them.
</p>

<pre>
&commat;TargetApi(VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB_MR1)
public interface OnViewDetachedFromWindow {
    void onViewDetachedFromWindow(View v);
}

&commat;TargetApi(VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB_MR1)
public interface OnViewAttachedToWindow {
    void onViewAttachedToWindow(View v);
}
</pre>
<p>
  Because changing one listener will also affect the other, we must have three different
  binding adapters, one for each attribute and one for both, should they both be set.
</p>
<pre>
&commat;BindingAdapter("android:onViewAttachedToWindow")
public static void setListener(View view, OnViewAttachedToWindow attached) {
    setListener(view, null, attached);
}

&commat;BindingAdapter("android:onViewDetachedFromWindow")
public static void setListener(View view, OnViewDetachedFromWindow detached) {
    setListener(view, detached, null);
}

&commat;BindingAdapter({"android:onViewDetachedFromWindow", "android:onViewAttachedToWindow"})
public static void setListener(View view, final OnViewDetachedFromWindow detach,
        final OnViewAttachedToWindow attach) {
    if (VERSION.SDK_INT >= VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB_MR1) {
        final OnAttachStateChangeListener newListener;
        if (detach == null && attach == null) {
            newListener = null;
        } else {
            newListener = new OnAttachStateChangeListener() {
                &commat;Override
                public void onViewAttachedToWindow(View v) {
                    if (attach != null) {
                        attach.onViewAttachedToWindow(v);
                    }
                }

                &commat;Override
                public void onViewDetachedFromWindow(View v) {
                    if (detach != null) {
                        detach.onViewDetachedFromWindow(v);
                    }
                }
            };
        }
        final OnAttachStateChangeListener oldListener = ListenerUtil.trackListener(view,
                newListener, R.id.onAttachStateChangeListener);
        if (oldListener != null) {
            view.removeOnAttachStateChangeListener(oldListener);
        }
        if (newListener != null) {
            view.addOnAttachStateChangeListener(newListener);
        }
    }
}
</pre>
<p>
  The above example is slightly more complicated than normal because View uses add and remove
  for the listener instead of a set method for {@link android.view.View.OnAttachStateChangeListener}.
  The <code>android.databinding.adapters.ListenerUtil</code> class helps keep track of the previous
  listeners so that they may be removed in the Binding Adaper.
</p>
<p>
  By annotating the interfaces <code>OnViewDetachedFromWindow</code> and
  <code>OnViewAttachedToWindow</code> with
  <code>&commat;TargetApi(VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB_MR1)</code>, the data binding code
  generator knows that the listener should only be generated when running on Honeycomb MR1
  and new devices, the same version supported by
  {@link android.view.View#addOnAttachStateChangeListener}.
</p>
<h2 id="converters">
  Converters
</h2>

<h3 id="object_conversions">
  Object Conversions
</h3>

<p>
  When an Object is returned from a binding expression, a setter will be chosen
  from the automatic, renamed, and custom setters. The Object will be cast to a
  parameter type of the chosen setter.
</p>

<p>
  This is a convenience for those using ObservableMaps to hold data. for
  example:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;TextView
   android:text=&apos;&commat;{userMap["lastName"]}&apos;
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"/&gt;
</pre>

<p>
The <code>userMap</code> returns an Object and that Object will be automatically cast to
  parameter type found in the setter <code>setText(CharSequence)</code>. When there
  may be confusion about the parameter type, the developer will need
  to cast in the expression.
</p>

<h3 id="custom_conversions">Custom Conversions</h3>

<p>
  Sometimes conversions should be automatic between specific types. For
  example, when setting the background:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;View
   android:background="&commat;{isError ? &commat;color/red : &commat;color/white}"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"/&gt;
</pre>
<p>
  Here, the background takes a <code>Drawable</code>, but the color is an
  integer. Whenever a <code>Drawable</code> is expected and an integer is
  returned, the <code>int</code> should be converted to a
  <code>ColorDrawable</code>. This conversion is done using a static method
  with a BindingConversion annotation:
</p>

<pre>
&commat;BindingConversion
public static ColorDrawable convertColorToDrawable(int color) {
   return new ColorDrawable(color);
}
</pre>
<p>
  Note that conversions only happen at the setter level, so it is <strong>not
  allowed</strong> to mix types like this:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;View
   android:background="&commat;{isError ? &commat;drawable/error : &commat;color/white}"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"/&gt;
</pre>

<h3 id="studio_support">Android Studio Support for Data Binding</h3>

<p>
Android Studio supports many of the code editing features for data binding code.
For example, it supports the following features for data binding expressions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Syntax highlighting</li>
<li>Flagging of expression language syntax errors</li>
<li>XML code completion</li>
<li>References, including <a class="external-link"
href="https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/2016.1/navigation-in-source-code.html?origin=old_help">
navigation</a> (such as navigate to a declaration) and
<a class="external-link"
href="https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/2016.1/viewing-inline-documentation.html?origin=old_help">
quick documentation</a></li>
</ul>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> Arrays and a
<a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/generics/types.html"
class="external-link">generic type</a>, such as the {@link
android.databinding.Observable} class, might display
errors when there are no errors.</p>

<p>
The Preview pane displays default values for data binding expressions if
provided. In the following
example excerpt of an element from a layout XML file, the Preview pane displays
the {@code PLACEHOLDER} default text value in the <code>TextView</code>.
</p>

<pre>
&lt;TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:text="&commat;{user.firstName, default=PLACEHOLDER}"/&gt;
</pre>

<p>
If you need to display a default value during the design phase of your project,
you can also use tools attributes instead of default expression values, as
described in
<a class="external-link"
href="http://tools.android.com/tips/layout-designtime-attributes">
Designtime Layout Attributes</a>.
</p>