Set list view height without TextView with adapter

Question

I have a ListView which is supposed to become a menu with two drawables and two text views per row.

Activity Code:

ArrayList<MenuItem> itemArray = new ArrayList<MenuItem>();
        itemArray.add(new MenuItem("Headertexxt", "subbtexdt"));
        itemArray.add(new MenuItem("asf", "asf"));

        ListView listView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.listViewCM);

        String[] array = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.buttonsCM);
        int[] images =  new int[] { R.drawable.btn_car, R.drawable.btn_star, R.drawable.btn_bag};
        listView.setAdapter(new HomeScreenButtonsAdapterSubtext(this, R.layout.row,
                itemArray, images, R.drawable.list_arrow));

        Utils.setListViewHeightBasedOnChildren(listView);
        listView.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {

            public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
                switch (position) {
                case 0:
                    findViewById(R.id.buttonCreditCompilation).performClick();
                    break;
                case 1:
                    findViewById(R.id.buttonYourCredits).performClick();
                    break;

                }
            }
        });

Adapter code:

public class HomeScreenButtonsAdapterSubtext extends ArrayAdapter<MenuItem> {

        private Drawable[] drawables;

        private Drawable arrowDrawable;
        private ArrayList<MenuItem> items;

        public HomeScreenButtonsAdapterSubtext(Context context, int resourceId,
                ArrayList<MenuItem> items, int[] images, int arrowImage) {
            super(context, resourceId, items);
            this.items = items;

            Resources resources = context.getResources();
            if (images != null) {
                drawables = new Drawable[images.length];
                int i = 0;
                for (int id : images) {
                    Drawable drawable = resources.getDrawable(id);
                    drawable.setBounds(0, 0, drawable.getIntrinsicWidth(),
                            drawable.getIntrinsicHeight());
                    drawables[i++] = drawable;
                }
            }

            arrowDrawable = resources.getDrawable(arrowImage);
            arrowDrawable.setBounds(0, 0, arrowDrawable.getIntrinsicWidth(),
                    arrowDrawable.getIntrinsicHeight());
        }

        @Override
        public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
             View v = super.getView(position, convertView, parent);
             if (v instanceof TextView) {
             Drawable dr = drawables != null ? drawables[position %
             drawables.length] : null;
             ((TextView) v).setCompoundDrawables(dr, null, arrowDrawable, null);
             Utils.setFont((TextView) v);
             }

//          View v = convertView;
            if (v == null) {
                LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
                v = vi.inflate(R.layout.row, null);
            }

            MenuItem station = items.get(position);
            if (station != null) {
                TextView tt = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.headerText);
                TextView bt = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.subText);


                if (tt != null) {
                    tt.setText(station.getHeaderText());
                }
                if (bt != null) {
                    bt.setText(station.getSubText());
                }

            }

            return v;
        }

The problem I have right now is that I can't set the listview height based on the children. I'm trying to do that here: Utils.setListViewHeightBasedOnChildren(listView); but getting the error: arrayadapter requires the resource id to be a textview at this row. Does anyone know a solution for this?

Can I use some other method for setting the ListView height?

Thanks

Answer 1

but getting the error: arrayadapter requires the resource id to be a textview at this row.

R.layout.row is a layout file which it doesn't have just a TextView. If you call the super constructor you have used and you also call the super.getView(in the getView method) method in the adapter, then ArrayAdapter will complain as it expects a single widget in the layout file passed to it(a single TextView).

I don't understand why you have that piece of code in the getView method(with the super call) when you know precisely that the row can't be an instance of Textview .

I'm not sure about setting the height of the ListView either, if you're trying to show all the rows of the ListView, don't do it(as you make the ListView basically useless). If you still want to do this, then it's better to lose the ListView and build the row layouts manually.

Answer 2

In fact it does not really make sense to set the height of ListView depending on its content.

Because the whole point of a ListView is to make its content scrollable (however big it is)...so it is supposed to have a fixed height.