GLSurfaceView

GLSurfaceView is a View subclass provided by the Android framework that allows you to render OpenGL ES graphics. It simplifies the process of integrating OpenGL ES content into an Android application by managing the EGL context, surface, and rendering thread. When you use GLSurfaceView, you typically create a custom Renderer class that implements the GLSurfaceView.Renderer interface. This interface defines three key methods: onSurfaceCreated, onDrawFrame, and onSurfaceChanged.

The onSurfaceCreated method is called when the OpenGL ES surface is created, allowing you to perform one-time initialization of OpenGL ES objects. The onDrawFrame method is called for each frame to be drawn, where you implement your OpenGL ES drawing logic. The onSurfaceChanged method is called when the surface changes size, typically when the device is rotated, and is used to update the OpenGL ES viewport and projection matrices.

GLSurfaceView handles the creation and management of a dedicated rendering thread, which ensures that OpenGL ES operations do not block the main UI thread. This separation is crucial for maintaining a smooth user interface. You can also configure the EGL configuration for GLSurfaceView, specifying attributes like color depth and multisampling. The GLSurfaceView.setRenderMode method allows you to control whether rendering is continuous or occurs only when requested, which can be beneficial for power conservation.