Fragments facilitate a more dynamic approach to UI design. By dividing the layout into fragments it becomes possible to alter the UI appearance at runtime, swapping in and out components as required. Here we examine how a fragment may be inserted into an activity layout from within the application code.

An Activity may comprise one or more fragments, each of which represents a portion of a user interface. Multiple fragments can be combined in a single actiity to build a multi-pane screen. In this lab our purpose in introducing fragments is to later facilitate the inclusion of a horizontal swipe feature to the ResidenceActivity class.

In the previous lab we gained experience in using single-pane screens, a pane containing only a single fragment. Here we develop a simple application to demonstate how two fragments may be successively rendered on a single pane in portrait mode. We provide the same feature in landscape mode but additionaly allow the simultaneous rendering of an additional fragment. This is sometimes referred to as the master-detail pattern.