Android contacts - Retrieved Android contacts, how to put them in a simple ListView?

Question

for part of my application I require a list of all contacts (with phone numbers) to be displayed when the option is selected.

Here is the activity which is called when the button is pressed:

package com.example.prototype01;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.provider.ContactsContract;
import android.util.Log;

public class nominateContactsActivity extends Activity {
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState){
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.nominatecontactslayout);
        Cursor c = getContentResolver().query(ContactsContract.Contacts.CONTENT_URI, null, null, null, null);
        String contactName, contactTelNumber = "";
        String contactID;
        c.moveToFirst();
        for (int i = 0; i < c.getCount(); i++) {
            contactName = c.getString(c.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME));
            contactID = c.getString(c.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts._ID));
            if (Integer.parseInt(c.getString(c.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts.HAS_PHONE_NUMBER))) > 0) {
                Cursor pCur = getContentResolver().query(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTENT_URI, null, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTACT_ID + " = ?", new String[] { contactID },null);
                while (pCur.moveToNext()) {
                    contactTelNumber = pCur.getString(pCur.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.NUMBER));
                } 
            }
            Log.i("name ", contactName + " ");
            Log.i("number ", contactTelNumber + " ");
            c.moveToNext();

        }
    }
    }

As you can see, this code returns the Name and Phone Number of all contacts stored on the handset. Currently, these are simply echoed to logcat. I can't seem to work out how to list these items in a listview instead, with just the name and number displayed. I have followed a couple of tutorials to no avail and so reluctantly i seek your kind assistance. I say reluctantly as I'm sure this question has been answered many times, I just can't seem to apply the solutions to my code!

Thank you in advance!!

Kind Regards, Antwan

Answer 1

Here is what I would do to put contacts in a listView

In your activity:

private ListView mContactsListView;
private ListContactItemAdapter mContactsListAdapter;

this.mContactsListAdapter = new ListContactItemAdapter(this, R.layout.contact_row);

// after doing setContentView, assuming you have defined a listview in your layout file
this.mContactsListView= (ListView) this.findViewById(R.id.contactsListView);
// You may want to create a custom adapter, which I wrote below for showing you example
this.mContactsListView.setAdapter(this.mContactsListAdapter);

for (/* each contact */) {

    Contact contact = new Contact();
    contact.name = contactName;
    contact.number = contactNumber;

    this.mContactsListAdapter.add(contact);
}

// In order to refresh your list and make data appear
this.mContactsListAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();

Of course in my example you need a model object containing contact data:

public class Contact  {

public String name;
public String number;

}

And this could be your custom adapter using the Contact class above:

public class ListContactItemAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<Contact> {

private int mLineLayout;
private LayoutInflater mInflater;

public ListContactItemAdapter(Context pContext, int pLineLayout) {
    super(pContext, pLineLayout);

    this.mLineLayout = pLineLayout;
    this.mInflater = (LayoutInflater) pContext.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
}

static class ViewHolder {

    TextView contactName;
    TextView contactNumber;
}

@Override
public View getView(int pPosition, View pView, ViewGroup pParent) {

    ViewHolder holder;
    if (pView == null) {

        pView = this.mInflater.inflate(this.mLineLayout, null);

        holder = new ViewHolder();
        holder.contactName = (TextView) pView.findViewById(R.id.contactName);
        holder.contactNumber = (TextView) pView.findViewById(R.id.contactNumber);

        pView.setTag(holder);

    } else {
        holder = (ViewHolder) pView.getTag();
    }

    Contact contact = getItem(pPosition);
    if (contact != null) {

        holder.contactName.setText(contact.name);
        holder.contactNumber.setText(contact.number);
    }

    return pView;
}

}

For that example your need a layout to define rows, of your listview. This could be a contact_row.xml example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" >

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/contactName"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:paddingLeft="6dp"
    android:text="Contact name"
    android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/contactNumber"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_below="@+id/contactName"
    android:paddingLeft="6dp"
    android:text="number"
    android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />


</RelativeLayout>

I didn't try but this should work. And anyway, I hope it will make you understand how listviews basically work.

Answer 2

Here is one way to adapt what you already have. I added comments before everything I changed to explain along the way:

public class nominateContactsActivity extends Activity {
    // Add a list to keep all the "name: number" strings
    private List<String> mNameNumber = new ArrayList<String>();

    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState){
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.nominatecontactslayout);
        Cursor c = getContentResolver().query(ContactsContract.Contacts.CONTENT_URI, null, null, null, null);
        String contactName, contactTelNumber = "";
        String contactID;

        // You only need to find these indices once
        int idIndex = c.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts._ID);
        int hasNumberIndex = c.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts.HAS_PHONE_NUMBER);
        int nameIndex = c.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME);


        // This is simpler than calling getCount() every iteration
        while(c.moveToNext()) {
            contactName = c.getString(nameIndex);
            contactID = c.getString(idIndex);

            // If this is an integer ask for an integer
            if (c.getInt(hasNumberIndex)) > 0) {
                Cursor pCur = getContentResolver().query(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTENT_URI, null, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTACT_ID + " = ?", new String[] { contactID },null);
                while (pCur.moveToNext()) {
                    contactTelNumber = pCur.getString(pCur.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.NUMBER));

                    // Store the "name: number" string in our list
                    mNameNumber.add(contactName + ": " + contactTelNumber);
                } 
            }
        }

        // Find the ListView, create the adapter, and bind them
        ListView listView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.listView);
        ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, mNameNumber);
        listView.setAdapter(adapter);
    }
}