Create swipe views with tabs using ViewPager

Swipe views let you navigate between sibling screens, such as tabs, with a horizontal finger gesture, or swipe. This navigation pattern is also referred to as horizontal paging. This topic teaches you how to create a tab layout with swipe views for switching between tabs, along with how to show a title strip instead of tabs.

Implement swipe views

You can create swipe views using AndroidX's ViewPager widget. To use a ViewPager and tabs, you need to add dependencies for ViewPager and Material Components to your project.

To set up your layout with ViewPager, add the <ViewPager> element to your XML layout. For example, if each page in the swipe view uses the entire layout, then your layout looks like this:

<androidx.viewpager.widget.ViewPager
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/pager"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" />

To insert child views that represent each page, you need to hook this layout to a PagerAdapter. You can choose between two kinds of built-in adapters:

• FragmentPagerAdapter: use this when navigating between a small, fixed number of sibling screens.
• FragmentStatePagerAdapter: use this when paging across an unknown number of pages. FragmentStatePagerAdapter optimizes memory usage by destroying fragments as the user navigates away.

As an example, here is how you might use FragmentStatePagerAdapter to swipe across a collection of Fragment objects:

class CollectionDemoFragment : Fragment() {
    // When requested, this adapter returns a DemoObjectFragment
    // representing an object in the collection.
    private lateinit var demoCollectionPagerAdapter: DemoCollectionPagerAdapter
    private lateinit var viewPager: ViewPager

    override fun onCreateView(inflater: LayoutInflater,
            container: ViewGroup?,
            savedInstanceState: Bundle?): View? {
       return inflater.inflate(R.layout.collection_demo, container, false)
    }

    override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        demoCollectionPagerAdapter = DemoCollectionPagerAdapter(childFragmentManager)
        viewPager = view.findViewById(R.id.pager)
        viewPager.adapter = demoCollectionPagerAdapter
    }
}

// Since this is an object collection, use a FragmentStatePagerAdapter,
// NOT a FragmentPagerAdapter.
class DemoCollectionPagerAdapter(fm: FragmentManager) : FragmentStatePagerAdapter(fm) {

    override fun getCount(): Int  = 100

    override fun getItem(i: Int): Fragment {
        val fragment = DemoObjectFragment()
        fragment.arguments = Bundle().apply {
            // Our object is just an integer :-P
            putInt(ARG_OBJECT, i + 1)
        }
        return fragment
    }

    override fun getPageTitle(position: Int): CharSequence {
        return "OBJECT ${(position + 1)}"
    }
}

private const val ARG_OBJECT = "object"

// Instances of this class are fragments representing a single
// object in the collection.
class DemoObjectFragment : Fragment() {

   override fun onCreateView(inflater: LayoutInflater,
           container: ViewGroup?,
           savedInstanceState: Bundle?): View {
       return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_collection_object, container, false)
   }

    override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        arguments?.takeIf { it.containsKey(ARG_OBJECT) }?.apply {
            val textView: TextView = view.findViewById(android.R.id.text1)
            textView.text = getInt(ARG_OBJECT).toString()
        }
    }
}

public class CollectionDemoFragment extends Fragment {
    // When requested, this adapter returns a DemoObjectFragment
    // representing an object in the collection.
    DemoCollectionPagerAdapter demoCollectionPagerAdapter;
    ViewPager viewPager;

    @Nullable
    @Override
    public View onCreateView(@NonNull LayoutInflater inflater,
            @Nullable ViewGroup container,
            @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        return inflater.inflate(R.layout.collection_demo, container, false);
    }

    @Override
    public void onViewCreated(@NonNull View view, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        demoCollectionPagerAdapter = new DemoCollectionPagerAdapter(getChildFragmentManager());
        viewPager = view.findViewById(R.id.pager);
        viewPager.setAdapter(demoCollectionPagerAdapter);
   }
}

// Since this is an object collection, use a FragmentStatePagerAdapter,
// NOT a FragmentPagerAdapter.
public class DemoCollectionPagerAdapter extends FragmentStatePagerAdapter {
    public DemoCollectionPagerAdapter(FragmentManager fm) {
        super(fm);
    }

    @Override
    public Fragment getItem(int i) {
        Fragment fragment = new DemoObjectFragment();
        Bundle args = new Bundle();
        // Our object is just an integer :-P
        args.putInt(DemoObjectFragment.ARG_OBJECT, i + 1);
        fragment.setArguments(args);
        return fragment;
    }

    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        return 100;
    }

    @Override
    public CharSequence getPageTitle(int position) {
        return "OBJECT " + (position + 1);
    }
}

// Instances of this class are fragments representing a single
// object in the collection.
public class DemoObjectFragment extends Fragment {
    public static final String ARG_OBJECT = "object";

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater,
            ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
       return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_collection_object, container, false);
    }

    @Override
    public void onViewCreated(@NonNull View view, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        Bundle args = getArguments();
        ((TextView) view.findViewById(android.R.id.text1))
                .setText(Integer.toString(args.getInt(ARG_OBJECT)));
    }
}

The following sections show how you can add tabs to help facilitate navigation between pages.

Add tabs using a TabLayout

A TabLayout provides a way to display tabs horizontally. When used together with a ViewPager, a TabLayout provides a familiar interface for navigating between pages in a swipe view.

Figure 1. A TabLayout with four tabs.

To include a TabLayout in a ViewPager, add a <TabLayout> element inside the <ViewPager> element, as shown below:

<androidx.viewpager.widget.ViewPager
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/pager"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <com.google.android.material.tabs.TabLayout
        android:id="@+id/tab_layout"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

</androidx.viewpager.widget.ViewPager>

Next, use setupWithViewPager() to link the TabLayout to the ViewPager. The individual tabs in the TabLayout are automatically populated with the page titles from the PagerAdapter:

class CollectionDemoFragment : Fragment() {
    ...
    override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        val tabLayout = view.findViewById(R.id.tab_layout)
        tabLayout.setupWithViewPager(viewPager)
    }
    ...
}

class DemoCollectionPagerAdapter(fm: FragmentManager) : FragmentStatePagerAdapter(fm) {

    override fun getCount(): Int  = 4

    override fun getPageTitle(position: Int): CharSequence {
        return "OBJECT ${(position + 1)}"
    }
    ...
}

public class CollectionDemoFragment extends Fragment {
    ...
    @Override
    public void onViewCreated(@NonNull View view, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        TabLayout tabLayout = view.findViewById(R.id.tab_layout);
        tabLayout.setupWithViewPager(viewPager);
    }
    ...
}

public class DemoCollectionPagerAdapter extends FragmentStatePagerAdapter {
    ...
    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        return 4;
    }

    @Override
    public CharSequence getPageTitle(int position) {
        return "OBJECT " + (position + 1);
    }

    ...
}

For additional design guidance for tab layouts, see the Material Design documentation for tabs.