setContentView()与LayoutInflater.inflate()关系

在Activity中调用setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)方法，就会进入AppCompatActivity中的setContentView(@LayoutRes int layoutResID)

public void setContentView(@LayoutRes int layoutResID) {
        this.getDelegate().setContentView(layoutResID);
}

首先分析AppCompatActivity中的this.getDelegate()

@NonNull
    public AppCompatDelegate getDelegate() {
        if (this.mDelegate == null) {
            this.mDelegate = AppCompatDelegate.create(this, this);
        }
        return this.mDelegate;
    }

在getDelegate()方法中通过AppCompatDelegate.create(this, this);创建了AppCompatDelegate 的实例mDelegate，接下来看AppCompatDelegate.create(this, this)

    public static AppCompatDelegate create(Activity activity, 
                                                AppCompatCallback callback) {
        return new AppCompatDelegateImpl(activity, activity.getWindow(), callback);
    }

create方法返回的是AppCompatDelegateImpl对象，那Activity中的setContentView()方法最终会调用AppCompatDelegateImpl类中的setContentView（）方法，如下所示：

    public void setContentView(int resId) {
        this.ensureSubDecor();
        ViewGroup contentParent = (ViewGroup)this.mSubDecor.findViewById(16908290);
        contentParent.removeAllViews();
        LayoutInflater.from(this.mContext).inflate(resId, contentParent);
        this.mOriginalWindowCallback.onContentChanged();
    }

到这里就调用了LayoutInflater.from(this.mContext).inflate(resId, contentParent);
通过inflate方法最终将R.layout.activity_main加入到contentParent上；
inflate(resId, contentParent)方法最终都会调用到 inflate(parser, root, root != null);
接下来看inflate方法：

public View inflate(XmlPullParser parser, @Nullable ViewGroup root, boolean attachToRoot) {
        synchronized (mConstructorArgs) {
            Trace.traceBegin(Trace.TRACE_TAG_VIEW, "inflate");
            ...
            try {
                // Look for the root node.
                int type;
                while ((type = parser.next()) != XmlPullParser.START_TAG &&
                        type != XmlPullParser.END_DOCUMENT) {
                    // Empty
                }
                ...

                if (TAG_MERGE.equals(name)) {
                ...
                } else {
                    // Temp is the root view that was found in the xml
                    final View temp = createViewFromTag(root, name, inflaterContext, attrs);
                    ViewGroup.LayoutParams params = null;

                    if (root != null) {
                        ...
                        // Create layout params that match root, if supplied
                        params = root.generateLayoutParams(attrs);
                        if (!attachToRoot) {
                            // Set the layout params for temp if we are not
                            // attaching. (If we are, we use addView, below)
                            temp.setLayoutParams(params);
                        }
                    }
                    ...

                    // We are supposed to attach all the views we found (int temp)
                    // to root. Do that now.
                    if (root != null && attachToRoot) {
                        root.addView(temp, params);
                    }

                    // Decide whether to return the root that was passed in or the
                    // top view found in xml.
                    if (root == null || !attachToRoot) {
                        result = temp;
                    }
                }
                ...

            return result;
        }

通过对上面代码分析：

1. final View temp = createViewFromTag(root, name, inflaterContext, attrs);
2. 由于root ！= null； 拿到布局参数params = root.generateLayoutParams(attrs);
3. root != null && attachToRoot 为true；执行如下代码，将R.layout.activity_main加入到了DecorView上。

    if (root != null && attachToRoot) {
          root.addView(temp, params);
    }