As the name suggests, the drag-and-drop framework in Android provides the functionality to move data from one view to another view. The drag-and-drop process consists of four steps as described below:
- Started: The drag-and-drop process starts when a user drags an item in a layout. The application calls the startDrag() method which tells the system to start a drag. First, the system responds by calling the application to get a drag shadow.
- Continuing: In this process, the user continues to drag where the system sends the ACTION_DRAG_ENTERED action which is followed by another action ACTION_DRAG_LOCATION. This way the action is sent to the registered drag event listener.
- Dropped: This process consists of realising the dragged item within the specified area of the View.
- Ended: This is the last process that is performed just after the drop event is finished. This way the action type ACTION_DROP sends a drag event with another action type ACTION_DRAG_ENDED that shows that the operation is completed.