Using LayoutInflater to add the same view multiple times below each other

Question

i've been working on a simple UI which displays a few photos and some other info! I have a simple layout for displaying each photo in a box and I wanted to add this layout dinamicaly multiple times (the number of photos I have).

This is my info_wrapper.xml file

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/info_wrapper"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:paddingTop="2dp"
    android:paddingBottom="2dp"
    android:paddingLeft="1dp"
    android:paddingRight="1dp"
    >

    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/usernamePosting"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Hello"/>

    <ImageView 
        android:below="@+id/usernamePosting"
        android:id="@+id/photo"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Hello"/>

</RelativeLayout>

And my main_screen.xml file:

    <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >

    <RelativeLayout 
        android:id="@+id/menuBar"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="20dp"
        android:background="@color/green">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/locationIcon"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:src="@drawable/location_place"
            ></ImageView>

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/userLocationTxtView"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerInParent="true"
            android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/locationIcon"
            android:text="@string/app_name"
            android:textColor="@color/white"
            android:textSize="15dp" />

    </RelativeLayout>

    <RelativeLayout 
        android:layout_below="@id/menuBar"
        android:id="@+id/bodyView"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:background="@color/light_gray">


    </RelativeLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

Right now when I try to add multiple times the info_wrapper view - all the view ar on top of each other - but I want to be one below other

Answer 1

Just use a ListView with your own implementation of e.g. BaseAdapter or ArrayAdapter.

Have a look at getItemViewType and getViewTypeCount. If you have two different types of views, have getViewTypeCount return 2 and getItemViewType(position) either 0 or 1 depending on which element is at position.

You could for example have a custom Adapter implementation which inflates/reuses different views for different types of objects:

class ExampleAdapter extends BaseAdapter
{
    [...]
    View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent)
    {
        Object o = getItemFromSomeDataSource(position);
        if(o instanceof Type1)
        {
            if(convertView == null)
            {
                convertView = inflater.inflate(item_layout_1);
                [...]
            }
            else
            {
                [...] // reuse existing View
            }
        }
        else if(o instanceof Type2)
        {
            [...]
        }
            [...]
    }
    int getViewTypeCount(){ return n; } // where n = no. of different types to display
    int getItemViewType (int position){ [...] } // mapping of item-position and item-type 
}