Mastering View Binding in Android: A Complete Guide for Clean and Efficient Code

In this story, we’ll take a deep dive into ViewBinding in Android. We’ll go through step-by-step examples, covering ViewBinding usage in Activities, Fragments, AlertDialogs, RecyclerViews, and more.

Want Continue in Hinglish

android {
    namespace = "com.famouscoader.viewmodelexample"
    compileSdk = 35
// Code for viewBinding Enabling ( Start )
    buildFeatures {
        viewBinding = true
    }
//code end of viewBinding
}

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding
    lateinit var userViewModel: UserViewModel
    lateinit var userRecyclerListAdapter: UserRecyclerListAdapter
     var userDataList = ArrayList<UserModel>()

    @SuppressLint("MissingInflatedId", "NotifyDataSetChanged")
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

        binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater) // add this line
        setContentView(binding.root)// add this line

    }
}

Why ViewBinding in Android

• Binding Class Naming: The generated binding class name is the layout file name with Binding appended.
• Null Safety: Ensure proper null safety checks, especially when using the binding object outside the lifecycle scope.
• Lifecycle Awareness: Be mindful of the binding object’s lifecycle. Release it when the view is destroyed to avoid memory leaks.
• Avoid findViewById: View Binding eliminates the need for findViewById, making your code cleaner and more efficient.

In starting we have seen example of ActivityBinding

Fragment Binding

class HomeFragment : Fragment() {
// declaring nullable var because while destroying view we can do it null
    private var _binding: FragmentHomeBinding? = null
    private val binding get() = _binding!! //it will be always non-nullable

    override fun onCreateView(
        inflater: LayoutInflater, container: ViewGroup?,
        savedInstanceState: Bundle?
    ): View {
        _binding = FragmentHomeBinding.inflate(inflater, container, false)
        return binding.root
    }

    override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState)
        binding.fragmentTextView.text = "Hello, Fragment ViewBinding!"

    }
    override fun onDestroyView() {
        super.onDestroyView()
        _binding = null // it is important to set null because of avoiding memory leaks 
    }
    
}

AletDialog Binding

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

        binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
        setContentView(binding.root)

        showCustomDialog() // call when you need
    }

        fun showCustomDialog() {
            val binding = MyCustomeDialogBinding.inflate(LayoutInflater.from(this))
            val dialog = AlertDialog.Builder(this)
                .setView(binding.root)
                .create()

            binding.titleTextView.text = "This is Custom Dialog"
            binding.okAlertDialogButton.setOnClickListener {
                
                dialog.dismiss()
            }

            dialog.show()
        }
   
}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
//file name my_custome_dialog
<LinearLayoutx
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/titleTextView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textColor="@color/black"/>

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/okAlertDialogButton"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Ok"
        android:layout_margin="50dp"/>

</LinearLayout>

RecyclerView Binding

package com.famouscoader.viewmodelexample

import android.annotation.SuppressLint
import android.view.LayoutInflater
import android.view.View
import android.view.ViewGroup
import android.widget.ImageView
import android.widget.TextView
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder
import com.famouscoader.viewmodelexample.databinding.UserItemLayoutBinding

class UserRecyclerListAdapter(val userList: ArrayList<UserModel>? = null) :
    RecyclerView.Adapter<UserRecyclerListAdapter.UserViewHolder>() {

    @SuppressLint("NotifyDataSetChanged")
    fun refreshList(user: List<UserModel>) {
        userList?.clear()
        userList?.addAll(user)
        notifyDataSetChanged()
    }

    override fun onCreateViewHolder(parent: ViewGroup, viewType: Int): UserViewHolder {
//        val view=LayoutInflater.from(context).inflate(R.layout.user_item_layout,parent,false)
        val binding =
            UserItemLayoutBinding.inflate(LayoutInflater.from(parent.context), parent, false)
        return UserViewHolder(binding)
    }

    override fun getItemCount(): Int {
        return if (userList?.size == null) {
            0
        } else {
            userList.size
        }

    }

    override fun onBindViewHolder(holder: UserViewHolder, position: Int) {
        val user = userList?.get(position)


//        before viewBinding
       /* holder.image.setImageResource(R.drawable.ic_launcher_background)
        holder.nameText.text=user?.name
        holder.ageText.text=user?.age.toString()
        holder.addressText.text=user?.address
        */

        /*
          ------ After view Binding --------
         */
        holder.binding.imageView.setImageResource(R.drawable.ic_launcher_background)
        holder.binding.nameText.text = user?.name
        holder.binding.ageText.text = user?.age.toString()
        holder.binding.addressText.text = user?.address
    }
// Before Binding
    /*class UserViewHolder (itemView: View):ViewHolder(itemView){
        val image=itemView.findViewById<ImageView>(R.id.imageView)
        val nameText=itemView.findViewById<TextView>(R.id.nameText)
        val ageText=itemView.findViewById<TextView>(R.id.ageText)
        val addressText=itemView.findViewById<TextView>(R.id.addressText)
    }
     */

    /* ----- After Binding------*/
    class UserViewHolder(val binding: UserItemLayoutBinding) : ViewHolder(binding.root)
}

By following these guidelines, you can effectively use View Binding to streamline your Android app development and improve code quality.

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