Android Fragments Vs. Activities | Differences & Similarities
Android provides many options for designing user interface components. The two key components are activities and fragments. These two components have different purposes and properties. And may need to be used depending on the design and requirements of the application.
In this article, we will examine the differences and similarities between fragments and activities in Android.
Activities
Activities are top-level components that represent a screen in an Android app’s UI. It can be used as the starting point of the application or used to perform different functions. Each activity has its lifecycle and can occur in several different states, such as user interactions, system events, and interactions with other applications.
Activities can be designed to cover an entire application or used for multiple screens created by combining multiple activities. For example, in an e-commerce application, the home screen activity may display a list of products, while the cart page may be a different activity.
You can learn more about the activities here:
Fragments
Fragments are modular components used as part of activities. Multiple fragments can be used in an activity and each has its own lifecycle. Fragments are ideal for designing a reusable UI and can be used to use the same elements and layout across multiple activities.
For example, in the e-commerce application in the example above, the product list and cart page can be designed as fragments. In this way, we can avoid duplication of code by reusing the same components in different activities.
You can learn more about the fragments here:
Differences
● Activities are the highest-level components of an Android application and represent a screen while fragments are modular components used as part of activities.
● Activities can be used to perform an entire application or a function. Fragments, on the other hand, are ideal for designing reusable UI components.
● An activity’s lifecycle may differ in a several cases, such as user interactions and system events, but each fragment has its lifecycle.
● Because an activity can be used as a stand-alone screen, it has a structure that should contain all interface elements, while fragments can have a more specific design because they can be reused in multiple activities.
Similarities
● Both Activities and Fragments are used to create the user interface and allow to interact with the user.
● Both Activities and Fragments have their own lifecycle and can switch between different states.
●Both can communicate and exchange data with each other.
●Both Activities and Fragments can use data transport mechanisms such as Intents and Bundles.
As a result, Activities usually represent a screen, while Fragments represent parts of a screen, increasing reusability. While Activities can work alone, Fragments allow more complex user interfaces to be created by using them within an Activity. Both play an important role in Android applications and when used together they help develop powerful and flexible user interfaces.
Thanks for reading, I hope it was helpful.☺
