: Android Layout Engine

Proteus is meant to be a drop-in replacement for Android’s LayoutInflater; but unlike the compiled XML layouts bundled in the APK, Proteus inflates layouts at runtime. With Proteus, you can control your Apps layout from the backend (no WebViews). Forget the boilerplate code to findViewById, cast it to a TextView, and then setText(). Proteus has runtime data bindings and formatters. Plugin in your own custom views and attributes and formatters.

Getting started
How it Works
Resources
Contributing
License
Contributors

Getting Started

gradle

// Add it in your root build.gradle at the end of repositories:
allprojects {
	repositories {
		...
		maven { url "https://jitpack.io" }
	}
}

// Add the dependency
dependencies {
        compile 'com.github.flipkart-incubator:proteus:4.2.0'
}

Include as a module

Clone the proteus in the project folder

git clone https://github.com/flipkart-incubator/proteus.git

Include the a project in you apps build.gradle file

dependencies {
  compile project('proteus:library')
}

How it works

Instead of writing layouts in XML, in proteus layouts are defined in JSON, which can be used to inflate native android UI at runtime. The JSON layouts can be hosted anywhere (on the device, on servers, etc.).

The "Layout" defines the the view heirarchy, just like XML.

The "Data" (optional) defines data bindings.

You give the layout and data to LayoutBuilder, you get back a native view.

Watch this video to see it in action.

Sample layout

{
  "type": "LinearLayout",
  "orientation": "vertical",
  "padding": "16dp",
  "children": [{
    "layout_width": "200dp",
    "gravity": "center",
    "type": "TextView",
    "text": "~{{user.profile.name}} ({{user.profile.experience}}$(number))"
  }, {
    "type": "HorizontalProgressBar",
    "layout_width": "200dp",
    "layout_marginTop": "8dp",
    "max": 6000,
    "progress": "$user.profile.experience"
  }]
}

Sample data

{
  "user": {
    "profile": {
      "name": "John Doe",
      "experience": 4192
    }
  }
}

Sample Java code

ProteusView view = layoutBuilder.build(container, <layout>, <data>, 0, styles);
container.addView((View) view);

Sample screenshot

Setting up the Demo App

The demo app will let you play around with Proteus as well as help you understand the internals better.

Install NodeJS here
open a terminal
cd into the project directory
run npm start
Start an AVD emulator
Install the Demo App

Ready to tinker

Tinker around with the layout and data
Hit the FAB to refresh the app.

Resources

Contributing

Fork the repo
Apply your changes
Submit your pull request

License

Apache v2.0

Contributors

One click XML to JSON conversion plugin

Download this plugin (in beta) for Android Studio. Once enabled, you can select any android XML resource file and go to Tools > Proteus > Convert XML to JSON

dalufine / proteus