1：LayoutInflater类说明
类声明：
public abstract class LayoutInflater；
类注释：
/**
* Instantiates a layout XML file into its corresponding {@link android.view.View}
* objects. It is never used directly. Instead, use
* {@link android.app.Activity#getLayoutInflater()} or
* {@link Context#getSystemService} to retrieve a standard LayoutInflater instance
* that is already hooked up to the current context and correctly configured
* for the device you are running on. For example:
*
* <pre>LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater)context.getSystemService
* (Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);</pre>
类用法：
LayoutInflater实质就是layout xml文件的加载器，就是将layout的xml布局文件解析为View类对象。
与findViewById（）有点类似，不过，findviewbyid是用获取xml layout文件里具体的widget。而
layoutinflater是用来layout布局文件并且实例化。
2：获取LayoutInflater类实例
layoutinflater类里的两个构造方法是protected修饰，但提供了如下方法获取实例。
/**
* Obtains the LayoutInflater from the given context.
*/
public static LayoutInflater from(Context context) {
LayoutInflater LayoutInflater =
(LayoutInflater) context.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
if (LayoutInflater == null) {
throw new AssertionError("LayoutInflater not found.");
}
return LayoutInflater;
}获取LayoutInflater的方法有如下三种:
LayoutInflater inflater=(LayoutInflater)context.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);View layout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.main, null); LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context); (该方法实质就是第一种方法的进一步封装，可参考源代码)View layout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.main, null); LayoutInflater inflater = getLayoutInflater();（在Activity中使用，实际上是View子类下window的一个函数）View layout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.main, null);
从源码可知，这三种方法本质是一样的：
LayoutInflater inflater = getLayoutInflater（）； Activity的getLayoutInflater（）方法是调用phoneWindow的getLayoutInflater（）方法。
public PhoneWindow(Context context){ super(context); mLayoutInflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);}
可以看出它其实是调用 LayoutInflater.from(context)。LayoutInflater.from(context)：public static LayoutInflater from(Context context){ LayoutInflater LayoutInflater = (LayoutInflater) context.getSystemService (Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE); if (LayoutInflater == null) { throw new AssertionError("LayoutInflater not found."); } return LayoutInflater;}可以看出它其实调用 context.getSystemService()。所以，归根结底都是在调用context。getSystemService（）；
3：inflate（）方法
多个重载的inflate（）方法都是调用其中能通过pull方式解析xml文件的方法；实质就是通过pull方式解析传入的xml
文件，并返回view对象。
/**
* Inflate a new view hierarchy from the specified xml resource. Throws
* {@link InflateException} if there is an error.
*
* @param resource ID for an XML layout resource to load (e.g.,
* <code>R.layout.main_page</code>)
* @param root Optional view to be the parent of the generated hierarchy.
* @return The root View of the inflated hierarchy. If root was supplied,
* this is the root View; otherwise it is the root of the inflated
* XML file.
*/
public View inflate(int resource, ViewGroup root) {
return inflate(resource, root, root != null);
}
/**
* Inflate a new view hierarchy from the specified xml node. Throws
* {@link InflateException} if there is an error. *
* <p>
* <em><strong>Important</strong></em> For performance
* reasons, view inflation relies heavily on pre-processing of XML files
* that is done at build time. Therefore, it is not currently possible to
* use LayoutInflater with an XmlPullParser over a plain XML file at runtime.
*
* @param parser XML dom node containing the description of the view
* hierarchy.
* @param root Optional view to be the parent of the generated hierarchy.
* @return The root View of the inflated hierarchy. If root was supplied,
* this is the root View; otherwise it is the root of the inflated
* XML file.
*/
public View inflate(XmlPullParser parser, ViewGroup root) {
return inflate(parser, root, root != null);
}
/**
* Inflate a new view hierarchy from the specified xml resource. Throws
* {@link InflateException} if there is an error.
*
* @param resource ID for an XML layout resource to load (e.g.,
* <code>R.layout.main_page</code>)
* @param root Optional view to be the parent of the generated hierarchy (if
* <em>attachToRoot</em> is true), or else simply an object that
* provides a set of LayoutParams values for root of the returned
* hierarchy (if <em>attachToRoot</em> is false.)
* @param attachToRoot Whether the inflated hierarchy should be attached to
* the root parameter? If false, root is only used to create the
* correct subclass of LayoutParams for the root view in the XML.
* @return The root View of the inflated hierarchy. If root was supplied and
* attachToRoot is true, this is root; otherwise it is the root of
* the inflated XML file.
*/
public View inflate(int resource, ViewGroup root, boolean attachToRoot) {
if (DEBUG) System.out.println("INFLATING from resource: " + resource);
XmlResourceParser parser = getContext().getResources().getLayout(resource);
try {
return inflate(parser, root, attachToRoot);
} finally {
parser.close();
}
}
/**
* Inflate a new view hierarchy from the specified XML node. Throws
* {@link InflateException} if there is an error.
* <p>
* <em><strong>Important</strong></em> For performance
* reasons, view inflation relies heavily on pre-processing of XML files
* that is done at build time. Therefore, it is not currently possible to
* use LayoutInflater with an XmlPullParser over a plain XML file at runtime.
*
* @param parser XML dom node containing the description of the view
* hierarchy.
* @param root Optional view to be the parent of the generated hierarchy (if
* <em>attachToRoot</em> is true), or else simply an object that
* provides a set of LayoutParams values for root of the returned
* hierarchy (if <em>attachToRoot</em> is false.)
* @param attachToRoot Whether the inflated hierarchy should be attached to
* the root parameter? If false, root is only used to create the
* correct subclass of LayoutParams for the root view in the XML.
* @return The root View of the inflated hierarchy. If root was supplied and
* attachToRoot is true, this is root; otherwise it is the root of
* the inflated XML file.
*/
public View inflate(XmlPullParser parser, ViewGroup root, boolean attachToRoot) {
synchronized (mConstructorArgs) {
final AttributeSet attrs = Xml.asAttributeSet(parser);
Context lastContext = (Context)mConstructorArgs[0];
mConstructorArgs[0] = mContext;
View result = root;
try {
// Look for the root node.
int type;
while ((type = parser.next()) != XmlPullParser.START_TAG &&
type != XmlPullParser.END_DOCUMENT) {
// Empty
}
if (type != XmlPullParser.START_TAG) {
throw new InflateException(parser.getPositionDescription()
+ ": No start tag found!");
}
final String name = parser.getName();
if (DEBUG) {
System.out.println("**************************");
System.out.println("Creating root view: "
+ name);
System.out.println("**************************");
}
if (TAG_MERGE.equals(name)) {
if (root == null || !attachToRoot) {
throw new InflateException("<merge /> can be used only with a valid "
+ "ViewGroup root and attachToRoot=true");
}
rInflate(parser, root, attrs, false);
} else {
// Temp is the root view that was found in the xml
View temp;
if (TAG_1995.equals(name)) {
temp = new BlinkLayout(mContext, attrs);
} else {
temp = createViewFromTag(root, name, attrs);
}
ViewGroup.LayoutParams params = null;
if (root != null) {
if (DEBUG) {
System.out.println("Creating params from root: " +
root);
}
// Create layout params that match root, if supplied
params = root.generateLayoutParams(attrs);
if (!attachToRoot) {
// Set the layout params for temp if we are not
// attaching. (If we are, we use addView, below)
temp.setLayoutParams(params);
}
}
if (DEBUG) {
System.out.println("-----> start inflating children");
}
// Inflate all children under temp
rInflate(parser, temp, attrs, true);
if (DEBUG) {
System.out.println("-----> done inflating children");
}
// We are supposed to attach all the views we found (int temp)
// to root. Do that now.
if (root != null && attachToRoot) {
root.addView(temp, params);
}
// Decide whether to return the root that was passed in or the
// top view found in xml.
if (root == null || !attachToRoot) {
result = temp;
}
}
} catch (XmlPullParserException e) {
InflateException ex = new InflateException(e.getMessage());
ex.initCause(e);
throw ex;
} catch (IOException e) {
InflateException ex = new InflateException(
parser.getPositionDescription()
+ ": " + e.getMessage());
ex.initCause(e);
throw ex;
} finally {
// Don't retain static reference on context.
mConstructorArgs[0] = lastContext;
mConstructorArgs[1] = null;
}
return result;
}
}
3：
setContentView（）包括了解析xml文件和显示视图两个过程。
setContentView()一旦调用, layout就会立刻显示UI；
而inflate只会把Layout形成一个以view类实现成的对象，有需要时再用setContentView(view)显示出来。
一般在activity中通过setContentView()将界面显示出来，但是如果在非activity中如何对控件布局设置操作了，这就需要LayoutInflater动态加载。
4：与findViewById（）的区别
LayoutInflater ：解析xml并返回view实例；
findViewById（）：从xml文件中获取具体widget实例；