HowItWorks

Overview

AndroidAnnotations works in a very simple way. It automatically adds an extra compilation step that generates source code, using the standard Java Annotation Processing Tool.

What source code ? For each @EActivity annotated activity, a subclass of this activity is generated, with the same name plus an underscore appended at the end.

For instance, the following class:

package com.some.company;
@EActivity
public class MyActivity extends Activity {
[...]

Will generate the following subclass, in the same package but in another source folder:

package com.some.company;
public final class MyActivity_ extends MyActivity {
[...]

This subclass adds behavior to your activity by overriding some methods (for instance onCreate()), yet delegating the calls to super.

That is the reason why you must add _ to your activity names in AndroidManifest.xml:

<activity android:name=".MyListActivity_" />

Starting an annotated activity

In Android, you usually start an activity this way:

startActivity(this, MyListActivity.class);

However, with AndroidAnnotations, the real activity that must be started is MyListActivity_:

startActivity(this, MyListActivity_.class);

Is there any performance impact?

The short answer is no. More on this subject in the FAQ.

Now that you get the basics, see how to bind the layout & views.