Working with the old code of XML layouts
The best thing about Anko layouts is the flexibility to be able to work with our XML layouts as well. Also, Anko makes things easier by providing us view properties. In this recipe, we will see how to use XML layouts and still be able to improve things using Anko Layouts.
Getting ready
I'll be using Android Studio 3 to write code. You can get started by creating a new project in Kotlin with a blank activity in Android Studio 3+ as we won't be using any code from other recipes. You also need an intermediate understanding of Android development. Ensure that you have added Anko layouts dependencies to your project (follow the recipe Setting up Anko library for Anko layouts in gradle, in this chapter).
How to do it…
In the following steps, we will learn how to work with XML layouts, along with Anko layouts:
- Let's start by first having an old XML file to work on. Add the following code to an XML layout that you will add as the content view of your target activity...