GLSurfaceView is a subclass of SurfaceView for Android. It provides a dedicated surface for displaying OpenGL ES rendering.
GLSurfaceView extends SurfaceView, providing:
- EGL context creation and management.
- Renderer thread management.
The class is just a wrapper around SurfaceView. It's not necessary to use GLSurfaceView to render with OpenGL ES; a plain SurfaceView or TextureView will work. If you want more control over the EGL context lifetime, or better control over when rendering occurs, use one of the other classes.
For a simple example of a game written with GLSurfaceView, see Android Breakout.
Additional details about GLSurfaceView can be found in the graphics architecture document. The appendix on game loops may also be relevant, as games are one of the more common uses for GLSurfaceView. Examples of using GLES with SurfaceView and TextureView can be found in Grafika.
