HowTo: ListView, Adapter

I was surprised that getViewTypeCount() is so rarely overrided. If you are an expert in this – this post is not for you)

ListView and Adapter Basics

How it works:

1、ListView asks adapter “give me a view” (getView) for each item of the list
2、A new View is returned and displayed
Next question – what if we have one billion items? Create new view for each item? The answer is NO,Android caches views for you.

There’s a component in Android called “Recycler”.

1、If you have 1 billion items – there are only visible items in the memory + view in recycler.
2、ListView asks for a view type1 first time (getView) x visible items. convertView is null in getView – you create new view of type1 and return it.
3、ListView asks for a view type1 when one item1 is outside of the window and new item the same type is comming from the bottom. convertView is not null = item1. You should just set new data and return convertView back. No need to create view again.
Let’s write a simple code and put System.out to the getView:

public class MultipleItemsList extends ListActivity {
 
    private MyCustomAdapter mAdapter;
 
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        mAdapter = new MyCustomAdapter();
        for (int i = 0; i < 50; i++) {
            mAdapter.addItem("item " + i);
        }
        setListAdapter(mAdapter);
    }
 
    private class MyCustomAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
 
        private ArrayList mData = new ArrayList();
        private LayoutInflater mInflater;
 
        public MyCustomAdapter() {
            mInflater = (LayoutInflater)getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
        }
 
        public void addItem(final String item) {
            mData.add(item);
            notifyDataSetChanged();
        }
 
        @Override
        public int getCount() {
            return mData.size();
        }
 
        @Override
        public String getItem(int position) {
            return mData.get(position);
        }
 
        @Override
        public long getItemId(int position) {
            return position;
        }
 
        @Override
        public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
            System.out.println("getView " + position + " " + convertView);
            ViewHolder holder = null;
            if (convertView == null) {
                convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.item1, null);
                holder = new ViewHolder();
                holder.textView = (TextView)convertView.findViewById(R.id.text);
                convertView.setTag(holder);
            } else {
                holder = (ViewHolder)convertView.getTag();
            }
            holder.textView.setText(mData.get(position));
            return convertView;
        }
 
    }
 
    public static class ViewHolder {
        public TextView textView;
    }
}

Different list items' layouts

Let’s move to the “more complicated” example. How about to add separator somewhere to the list.

You should do the following:

1、Override getViewTypeCount() – return how many different view layouts you have
2、Override getItemViewType(int) – return correct view type id by position
3、Create correct convertView (depending on view item type) in getView
Simple, isn’t it? Code snippet:

public class MultipleItemsList extends ListActivity {
 
    private MyCustomAdapter mAdapter;
 
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        mAdapter = new MyCustomAdapter();
        for (int i = 1; i < 50; i++) {
            mAdapter.addItem("item " + i);
            if (i % 4 == 0) {
                mAdapter.addSeparatorItem("separator " + i);
            }
        }
        setListAdapter(mAdapter);
    }
 
    private class MyCustomAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
 
        private static final int TYPE_ITEM = 0;
        private static final int TYPE_SEPARATOR = 1;
        private static final int TYPE_MAX_COUNT = TYPE_SEPARATOR + 1;
 
        private ArrayList mData = new ArrayList();
        private LayoutInflater mInflater;
 
        private TreeSet mSeparatorsSet = new TreeSet();
 
        public MyCustomAdapter() {
            mInflater = (LayoutInflater)getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
        }
 
        public void addItem(final String item) {
            mData.add(item);
            notifyDataSetChanged();
        }
 
        public void addSeparatorItem(final String item) {
            mData.add(item);
            // save separator position
            mSeparatorsSet.add(mData.size() - 1);
            notifyDataSetChanged();
        }
 
        @Override
        public int getItemViewType(int position) {
            return mSeparatorsSet.contains(position) ? TYPE_SEPARATOR : TYPE_ITEM;
        }
 
        @Override
        public int getViewTypeCount() {
            return TYPE_MAX_COUNT;
        }
 
        @Override
        public int getCount() {
            return mData.size();
        }
 
        @Override
        public String getItem(int position) {
            return mData.get(position);
        }
 
        @Override
        public long getItemId(int position) {
            return position;
        }
 
        @Override
        public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
            ViewHolder holder = null;
            int type = getItemViewType(position);
            System.out.println("getView " + position + " " + convertView + " type = " + type);
            if (convertView == null) {
                holder = new ViewHolder();
                switch (type) {
                    case TYPE_ITEM:
                        convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.item1, null);
                        holder.textView = (TextView)convertView.findViewById(R.id.text);
                        break;
                    case TYPE_SEPARATOR:
                        convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.item2, null);
                        holder.textView = (TextView)convertView.findViewById(R.id.textSeparator);
                        break;
                }
                convertView.setTag(holder);
            } else {
                holder = (ViewHolder)convertView.getTag();
            }
            holder.textView.setText(mData.get(position));
            return convertView;
        }
 
    }
 
    public static class ViewHolder {
        public TextView textView;
    }
}