Adding different types of items a list view

Question

Is there a good tutorial or link that shows how to add different items to a listview?
For example, one with two Text lines and a Check box, another that you just press and and something would pop up. All I have now is every list item is the same two line text view and checkbox...
Or, if there is a way to add 1 row at a time with a different layout through R.layout.xxx?

public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    mRoot = inflater.inflate(R.layout.frag_settings, container, false);
    mItems = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.setting_items);
    mItemDescription = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.setting_item_descriptions);

mItemListView = (ListView) mRoot.findViewById(R.id.lvMainListView);

ArrayAdapter<String> lvRowTitle = new ArrayAdapter<String>(getActivity(), 
         R.layout.setting_twolinetext_checkbox, R.id.tvRowTitle,
        mItems);

mItemListView.setAdapter(lvRowTitle);


ArrayAdapter<String> lvRowDesc = new ArrayAdapter<String>(getActivity(), 
        R.layout.setting_twolinetext_checkbox, R.id.tvRowDesc,
        mItemDescription);


   mItemListView.setAdapter(lvRowDesc);


return mRoot;

Answer 1

In addition to @LouMorda answer, I'd use some class, with fields that contains info about item and list item type:

public class Item {
  private int itemViewType;
      private Object tag;
      private String title;

      public Item(int itemViewType){
          this.itemViewType = itemViewType;
      }

      public int getItemViewType() {
          return itemViewType;
      }

      public void setItemViewType(int itemViewType) {
          this.itemViewType = itemViewType;
      }
      ...
 }

So using this object gives more flexibility when adding items to the list in different sequences:

public class OptionsActivity extends ListActivity {

private static final int LIST_ITEM_TYPE_1 = 0;
private static final int LIST_ITEM_TYPE_2 = 1;
private ArrayList<String> mItemsSource = new ArrayList<>();


 ...
    @Override
    public int getItemViewType(int position) {
      return  mItemsSource.get(position).getItemViewType();
    }
    ...
}

Answer 2

In my example, the list activity that will display our custom list view is called OptionsActivity, because in my project this activity is going to display the different options my user can set to control my app. There are two list item types, one list item type just has a TextView and the second list item type just has a Button. You can put any widgets you like inside each list item type, but I kept this example simple.

The getItemView method checks to see which list items should be type 1 or type 2. According to my static ints I defined up top, the first 5 list items will be list item type 1, and the last 5 list items will be list item type 2. So if you compile and run this, you will have a ListView that has five items that just contain a button, and then five items that just contain a TextView.

Below is the activity code, the activity xml file, and an xml file for each list item type.

OptionsActivity.java:

public class OptionsActivity extends ListActivity {

    private static final int LIST_ITEM_TYPE_1 = 0;
    private static final int LIST_ITEM_TYPE_2 = 1;
    private static final int LIST_ITEM_TYPE_COUNT = 2;

    private static final int LIST_ITEM_COUNT = 10;
    // The first five list items will be list item type 1 
    // and the last five will be list item type 2
    private static final int LIST_ITEM_TYPE_1_COUNT = 5;

    private MyCustomAdapter mAdapter;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        mAdapter = new MyCustomAdapter();
        for (int i = 0; i < LIST_ITEM_COUNT; i++) {
          if (i < LIST_ITEM_TYPE_1_COUNT)
            mAdapter.addItem("item type 1");
          else
            mAdapter.addItem("item type 2");
        }
        setListAdapter(mAdapter);
    }

    private class MyCustomAdapter extends BaseAdapter {

        private ArrayList<String> mData = new ArrayList<String>();
        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 getItemViewType(int position) {
          if(position < LIST_ITEM_TYPE_1_COUNT)
              return LIST_ITEM_TYPE_1;
          else
              return LIST_ITEM_TYPE_2;
        }

        @Override
        public int getViewTypeCount() {
            return LIST_ITEM_TYPE_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);
            if (convertView == null) {
                holder = new ViewHolder();
                switch(type) {
                    case LIST_ITEM_TYPE_1:
                        convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.list_item_type1, null);
                        holder.textView = (TextView)convertView.findViewById(R.id.list_item_type1_text_view);
                        break;
                    case LIST_ITEM_TYPE_2:
                        convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.list_item_type2, null);
                        holder.textView = (TextView)convertView.findViewById(R.id.list_item_type2_button);
                        break;
                }
                convertView.setTag(holder);
            } else {
                holder = (ViewHolder)convertView.getTag();
            }
            holder.textView.setText(mData.get(position));
            return convertView;
        }

    }

    public static class ViewHolder {
        public TextView textView;
    }

}

activity_options.xml:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/container"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
     >

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/optionsList"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
    </ListView>

</LinearLayout>

list_item_type_1.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/list_item_type1_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/list_item_type1_text_view"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Text goes here" />

</LinearLayout>

list_item_type2.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/list_item_type2_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/list_item_type2_button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Button text goes here" />

</LinearLayout>

Answer 3

You have two possibilities to do that:

• Create a Type and check for your type and return the view related to this type.
• BaseAdapter has two methods to check different items in it, getItemViewType(int position) and getViewTypeCount(). Do your stuff there.

Check this tutorial:

ListView with multiple rows

Answer 4

You should create your own class extending BaseAdapter. I recommend watching The World of ListView, it will help you understand everything you need to know about working with ListView.