I had to add certain iterations of the same type of data to a certain View. You can do all of the adding in code, but you’re probably better off doing all the layout in a seperate place (XML), and just including multiple instances of that XML.

How to proceed: first, you’ll need an inflator (or is it inflater?) to get your View in code. In this example there is an XML with a LinearLayout as top element, and we want to add some of the TextViews that are present in another XML.

LinearLayout wrapper = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.newCommentWrapper);

This View is present in the current Layout. Lets get our “to include” View:

View inflatedView = View.inflate(this, R.layout.test, null);
wrapper.addView(inflatedView);

This is all good, but keep in mind that if you want to add this multiple times you’ll have to avoid this error:

The specified child already has a parent. You must call removeView() on the child’s parent first.

You CAN just add 2 of the same Views, but you must be careful not to add the same instance twice.

View inflatedView;
inflatedView = View.inflate(this, R.layout.test, null);
wrapper.addView(inflatedView);

inflatedView = View.inflate(this, R.layout.test, null);
wrapper.addView(inflatedView2);

It’s really simple to add a single View, but we do want to change some of the stuff. No fear: you can just point to the id’s in the inflated view with findViewById! As an example: the View in the XML that is going to be “included” has a child called “comment”, that has to get a specific content (text):

inflatedView = (LinearLayout) View.inflate(this, R.layout.comment, null);
((TextView) inflatedView.findViewById(R.id.comment)).setText("you commentString goes here");

You can add the final inflatedView to your current Layout with “addview”.
Wrapping it all up, you’ll have a master layout XML, an XML with your ‘child’ that you want to add and of course some code.

MasterLayout.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ScrollView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" style="@style/yourStyle1">
	<LinearLayout android:orientation="vertical" style="@style/yourStyle1" android:id="@+id/commentWrapper">
	</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>

SingleComment.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" style="@style/yourStyle1" android:id="@+id/comment">
	<TextView android:id="@+id/comment" style="@style/yourStyle1"/>
</LinearLayout>

Java Snippet:

setContentView(R.layout.MasterLayout);
LinearLayout wrapper = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.CommentWrapper);
LinearLayout inflatedView;

int j = nmbrOfCmnts;
for(int i=0;i < j ;i++){
	String content = getYourComment(i);
	inflatedView = (LinearLayout) View.inflate(this, R.layout.SingleComment, null);
	((TextView) inflatedView.findViewById(R.id.comment)).setText(commentUser);
	wrapper.addView(inflatedView);
}

I don’t know if this is the best method, but it let’s me keep the layout of one comment in a nice and seperate XML, while I am still able to programmatically add instances of that View to my current layout.