How to get selected item in Spinner

Question

I keep going round in circles with this one. I have managed to set the spinner to show item in the list if it matches a record in the database, but now have an issue with getting the selected item from the spinner when I save the record. I instead get something like 'android.database.sqlite.SQLiteCursor@44fa41b0'.

In my saveInspection() method, I am using inspectedBySpinner.getSelectedItem().toString(); (as detailed in second answer in this post How do you get the selected value of a Spinner?) with no success.. (so close yet no banana!).

I'm sure this is something flippin obvious, but help much appreciated:

public class InspectionEdit extends Activity {

final Context context = this;

private EditText inspectionReferenceEditText;
private EditText inspectionCompanyEditText;
private Button inspectionDateButton;
private Spinner inspectedBySpinner;
private Button saveButton;
private Button cancelButton;
protected boolean changesMade;
private AlertDialog unsavedChangesDialog;
private Button addInspectorButton;

private int mYear;
private int mMonth;
private int mDay;
private StringBuilder mToday;
private RMDbAdapter rmDbHelper;
private long inspectionId;

private String inspectedBySpinnerData;

//private String inspectors;

static final int DATE_DIALOG_ID = 0;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    rmDbHelper = new RMDbAdapter(this);
    rmDbHelper.open();
    Intent i = getIntent();
    inspectionId = i.getLongExtra("Intent_InspectionID", -1);
    setContentView(R.layout.edit_inspection);
    setUpViews();
    populateFields();
    fillSpinner();
    setTextChangedListeners();

}

private void setUpViews() {
    inspectionReferenceEditText =(EditText)findViewById(R.id.inspection_reference);
    inspectionCompanyEditText =(EditText)findViewById(R.id.inspection_company);
    inspectionDateButton =(Button)findViewById(R.id.inspection_date);
    inspectedBySpinner =(Spinner)findViewById(R.id.inspected_by_spinner);

    addInspectorButton = (Button)findViewById(R.id.add_inspector_button);
    saveButton = (Button)findViewById(R.id.inspection_save_button);
    cancelButton = (Button)findViewById(R.id.inspection_cancel_button);
}

 private void populateFields() {
        if (inspectionId > 0) {
            Cursor inspectionCursor = rmDbHelper.fetchInspection(inspectionId);
            startManagingCursor(inspectionCursor);
            inspectionReferenceEditText.setText(inspectionCursor.getString(
                    inspectionCursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(RMDbAdapter.INSPECTION_REF)));
            inspectionCompanyEditText.setText(inspectionCursor.getString(
                    inspectionCursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(RMDbAdapter.INSPECTION_COMPANY)));
            inspectionDateButton.setText(inspectionCursor.getString(
                    inspectionCursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(RMDbAdapter.INSPECTION_DATE)));
            inspectedBySpinnerData = inspectionCursor.getString(
                    inspectionCursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(RMDbAdapter.INSPECTION_BY));

            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), inspectedBySpinnerData, 
                 Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        }
    }

private void fillSpinner() {

    Cursor inspectorCursor = rmDbHelper.fetchAllInspectors();
    startManagingCursor(inspectorCursor);

    // create an array to specify which fields we want to display
    String[] from = new String[]{RMDbAdapter.INSPECTOR_NAME};
    //INSPECTOR_NAME = "inspector_name"
    // create an array of the display item we want to bind our data to
    int[] to = new int[]{android.R.id.text1};
    // create simple cursor adapter
    SimpleCursorAdapter spinnerAdapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(this, android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, inspectorCursor, from, to );
    spinnerAdapter.setDropDownViewResource( android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item );
    // get reference to our spinner
    inspectedBySpinner.setAdapter(spinnerAdapter);
    if (inspectionId > 0) {

        int spinnerPosition = 0; 

        for (int i = 0; i < inspectedBySpinner.getCount(); i++)  
        { 
             Cursor cur = (Cursor)(inspectedBySpinner.getItemAtPosition(i)); 

             //--When your bind you data to the spinner to begin with, whatever columns you 
             //--used you will need to reference it in the cursors getString() method... 

             //--Since "getString()" returns the value of the requested column as a String--  
             //--(In my case) the 4th column of my spinner contained all of my text values  
             //--hence why I set the index of "getString()" method to "getString(3)" 

             String currentSpinnerString = cur.getString(1).toString(); 

             if(currentSpinnerString.equals(inspectedBySpinnerData.toString())) 
             { 
                //--get the spinner position-- 
                spinnerPosition = i; 
                break; 
              } 
         }       
         inspectedBySpinner.setSelection(spinnerPosition); 
    }

}


 private void addInspector() {
    // get prompts.xml view
    LayoutInflater li = LayoutInflater.from(context);
    View promptsView = li.inflate(R.layout.prompt_dialog, null);

    AlertDialog.Builder alertDialogBuilder = new AlertDialog.Builder(
            context);

    // set prompts.xml to alertdialog builder
    alertDialogBuilder.setView(promptsView);

    final EditText userInput = (EditText) promptsView
            .findViewById(R.id.editTextDialogUserInput);

    // set dialog message
    alertDialogBuilder
        .setCancelable(false)
        .setPositiveButton("OK",
          new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,int id) {
            // get user input and set it to result
            // edit text
            String inspector = userInput.getText().toString();
            rmDbHelper.createInspector(inspector);

            }
          })
        .setNegativeButton("Cancel",
          new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,int id) {
            dialog.cancel();
            }
          });

    // create alert dialog
    AlertDialog alertDialog = alertDialogBuilder.create();

    // show it
    alertDialog.show();
 }

private void setTextChangedListeners() {
     changesMade = false;

     inspectionReferenceEditText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher(){
         public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
         }
         public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
         }
         public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
             changesMade = true;
         }  
    });

     inspectionCompanyEditText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher(){
        public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
        }
        public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
        }
        public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
            changesMade = true;
        }   
    }); 

     inspectionDateButton.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher(){
        public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
        }
        public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
        }
        public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
            changesMade = true;
        }   
    });

    inspectionDateButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(View v) {
            showDialog(DATE_DIALOG_ID);
        }
    });

    addInspectorButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {                      
        public void onClick(View v) {
            addInspector();
        }
    });

    saveButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(View v) {
            saveInspection();
            finish();
        }
    });

    cancelButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(View v) {
        cancel();
        }
    });
  }

protected void saveInspection() {
    String reference = inspectionReferenceEditText.getText().toString();
    String companyName = inspectionCompanyEditText.getText().toString();
    String inspectionDate = RMUtilities.compareTwoStringsNullIfSame(inspectionDateButton.getText().toString(), "Click to add");
    String inspectedBy = inspectedBySpinner.getSelectedItem().toString();
    Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), inspectedBy, 
            Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    if (inspectionId > 0) {
        rmDbHelper.updateInspection(inspectionId, reference, companyName, inspectionDate, inspectedBy);
        Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Inspection updated", 
                Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }
    else {
        rmDbHelper.createInspection(reference, companyName, inspectionDate, inspectedBy);
        Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Inspection created", 
                Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }

}

Answer 1

As you use a CursorAdapter and not an Adapter based on a List or Array of String, you'll have to use the Cursor to fetch the value of the selected item. The Spinner's getSelectedItem will call the CursorAdapter's getItem(position) which will return the Cursor object. So instead to using toString(), first cast the returned object to a Cursor and then use Cursor's get... methods to fetch the required data of the selected item.

EDIT

Based on how you fill your spinner you'll probably need this:

String inspectedBy = ((Cursor)inspectedBySpinner.getSelectedItem())
                        .getString(1).toString();