[android] Android: findviewbyid: finding view by id when view is not on the same layout invoked by setContentView

I have an activity MyActivity that extends from MapActivity. In the .xml file containing the layout I can only include the MapView

<com.google.android.maps.MapView
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/trail_map_view"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:clickable="true"
    android:apiKey="key"
/>

However I do need to find another view that is located in another .xml file. Unfortunately, findViewById returns null. How can I get the view I am looking for?

Thanks a lot!

Another way to do this is:

// inflate the layout
View myLayout = LayoutInflater.from(this).inflate(R.layout.MY_LAYOUT,null);

// load the text view
TextView myView = (TextView) myLayout.findViewById(R.id.MY_VIEW);

I have changed in my activity but effected. Here is my code:

View layout = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.list_group,null);
        try {
            LinearLayout linearLayout = (LinearLayout) layout.findViewById(R.id.ldrawernav);
            linearLayout.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#ffffff"));
        }
        catch (Exception e) {

        }

    }

I used

View.inflate(getContext(), R.layout.whatever, null)

The using of View.inflate prevents the warning of using null at getLayoutInflater().inflate().

try:

Activity parentActivity = this.getParent();
if (parentActivity != null)
{
    View landmarkEditNameView = (EditText) parentActivity.findViewById(R.id. landmark_name_dialog_edit);
}

It's impossible. You can only find and access views that are currently running. If you want to check the value of ex. TextView used in previus activity you must save the value is SharedPreferences, database, file or pass by Intent.