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I have lately noticed that there are AppCompat versions of most View types in Android, for example ListView / ListViewCompat, Button / AppCompatButton etc.

For these more simple Views (not counting for example SwitchCompat), what are the difference between them and the Android Framework version? I have not found any documentation on this matter...

I'm interested in knowing the consequences of choosing either version and if there are any advantages in chosing one over the other.

Specifically:

  • Difference between ListView and ListViewCompat
  • Difference between Button / AppCompatButton
  • Difference between ImageView / AppCompatImageView
  • Difference between EditText / AppCompatEditText
  • Difference between TextView / AppCompatTextView

I changed from normal to AppCompat versions with the expectation that colors would be used from the theme and look the same on Lollipop and pre-lollipop, but it rather had the opposite effect on some views (such as ListView)

Joakim
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2 Answers2

15

AppCompat provides consistent UI support for older versions of APIs back to API v7. from Documentation

The full list of tint aware widgets available in appcompat

AppCompatAutoCompleteTextView
AppCompatButton
AppCompatCheckBox
AppCompatCheckedTextView
AppCompatEditText
AppCompatMultiAutoCompleteTextView
AppCompatRadioButton
AppCompatRatingBar
AppCompatSpinner
AppCompatTextView

ListViewCompat is subclass of ListView same others

edited:

why both class available in framework or How Android Support Library work?

Muhammad Ahmed
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Dhaval Parmar
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  • Well I'm confused about why specific widgets are in this library at all when they are available on the Android Framework as well. I can understand the "tint aware" part... – Joakim Jan 26 '16 at 08:39
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    @Joakim: i have edit answer and you will get answer why that class available in framework from this answer http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11641669/how-android-support-library-work – Dhaval Parmar Jan 26 '16 at 08:49
  • http://android-developers.blogspot.nl/2014/10/appcompat-v21-material-design-for-pre.html – FrankkieNL Jan 26 '16 at 08:58
13

If you use AppCompatActivity, then AppCompatImageView will automatically be used when you use ImageView in your layouts.

From the AppCompatImageView AppCompatEditText AppCompatButton

Button vs AppCompatButton

This will automatically be used when you use Button in your layouts and the top-level activity / dialog is provided by appcompat. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views.

ImageView vs AppCompatImageView

This will automatically be used when you use ImageView in your layouts and the top-level activity / dialog is provided by appcompat. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views.

EditText vs AppCompatEditText

This will automatically be used when you use EditText in your layouts and the top-level activity / dialog is provided by appcompat. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views.

and the same rule is also valid for other appcompat views

oiyio
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