Why is only one file getting deleted when I click to delete multiple?

Question

I am trying to make a program where I list the file names in a recyclerview. Using a button inside the row, the application should delete the item via a path which is stored in an array that includes the file path. The application should also display the file path if the card itself is clicked in a toast message.

So far I am able to do this, however I can only delete one file at a time when the application is active. The problem arises when I try to delete multiple files. The items are deleted from the recyclerview and everything looks normal, but if the application is closed then the files that I attempted to delete after the first one show up again, indicating that they were not deleted.

My code:

JAVA CLASSES

FileView.java (this is the main activity)

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.Toast;
import java.io.File;
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class FileView extends AppCompatActivity {

    private RecyclerView fileRecyclerView;
    private RowAdapter fileAdapter;
    private RecyclerView.LayoutManager fileLayoutManager;
    private ArrayList<RowItem> rowItem;
    File[] fileList;
    String filePath = "";
    String fileData = "";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_file_view);
        filePath = "PDF_files";
        File file = new File(getExternalFilesDir(filePath).toString());
        fileList = file.listFiles();
        createRows();
        buildRecyclerView();
    }


    public void createRows(){

        rowItem = new ArrayList<>();
        for (int i = 0; i < fileList.length; i++) {
            rowItem.add(new RowItem(R.drawable.ic_book,(fileList[i].getName().replace("__", " ").replace('_','\n').replace('-','/').replace(".pdf",""))));
        }
    }

    public void removeItem(int position) {
        rowItem.remove(position);
        fileAdapter.notifyItemRemoved(position);
    }

    public void buildRecyclerView() {

        fileRecyclerView = findViewById(R.id.recyclerView);
        fileRecyclerView.setHasFixedSize(true);
        fileLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
        fileAdapter = new RowAdapter(rowItem);
        fileRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(fileLayoutManager);
        fileRecyclerView.setAdapter(fileAdapter);

        fileAdapter.setOnItemClickListener(new RowAdapter.OnItemClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onItemClick(int position) {
                fileData = fileList[position].toString();
                Toast.makeText(FileView.this,"Clicked: " + fileData , Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }

            @Override
            public void onDeleteClick(int position) {
                removeItem(position);

                File deletePath = fileList[position];
                deletePath.delete();

                if(deletePath.exists()){
                    getApplicationContext().deleteFile(deletePath.getName());
                }

            }
        });
    }
}

RowAdapter.java (this is the adapter class)

import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;
import androidx.annotation.NonNull;
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class RowAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RowAdapter.RowViewHolder> {

    private ArrayList<RowItem> mRowList;
    private OnItemClickListener mListener;

    public interface OnItemClickListener{
        void onItemClick(int position);
        void onDeleteClick(int position);
    }

    public void setOnItemClickListener(OnItemClickListener listener){
        mListener = listener;
    }

    public static class RowViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder{
        public ImageView rowImageView;
        public TextView rowTextView;
        public ImageView rowDeleteImage;

        public RowViewHolder(@NonNull View itemView, OnItemClickListener listener) {
            super(itemView);
            rowImageView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.fileImage);
            rowTextView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.fileName);
            rowDeleteImage = itemView.findViewById(R.id.deleteFile);

            itemView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View v) {
                    if(listener != null){
                        int position = getAdapterPosition();
                        if(position != RecyclerView.NO_POSITION){
                            listener.onItemClick(position);
                        }
                    }
                }
            });

            rowDeleteImage.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View v) {
                    if(listener != null){
                        int position = getAdapterPosition();
                        if(position != RecyclerView.NO_POSITION){
                            listener.onDeleteClick(position);
                        }
                    }

                }
            });

        }
    }

    public RowAdapter(ArrayList<RowItem> rowList){
        mRowList = rowList;
    }

    @NonNull
    @Override
    public RowViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(@NonNull ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View v = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.row, parent, false);
        RowViewHolder rvh = new RowViewHolder(v, mListener);
        return rvh;
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(@NonNull RowViewHolder holder, int position) {
        RowItem currentItem = mRowList.get(position);

        holder.rowImageView.setImageResource(currentItem.getImageResource());
        holder.rowTextView.setText(currentItem.getFileName());
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return mRowList.size();
    }
}

RowItem.java (getters for image and filename)

public class RowItem {
    private int imageResource;
    private String fileName;

    public RowItem(int img, String stringInput) {
        this.imageResource = img;
        this.fileName = stringInput;
    }

    public int getImageResource() {
        return imageResource;
    }

    public String getFileName() {
        return fileName;
    }
}

XML FILES

activity_file_view.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context="com.loopbreakr.firstpdf.FileView">

    <androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView
        android:id="@+id/recyclerView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:padding="4dp"
        android:scrollbars="vertical"
        android:background="@color/cardview_shadow_start_color"
        />
</RelativeLayout>

row.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.cardview.widget.CardView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_marginBottom="4dp"
    app:cardCornerRadius="4dp">

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_margin="4dp">
        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/fileImage"
            android:layout_width="50dp"
            android:layout_height="50dp"
            android:padding="2dp"/>

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/fileName"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
            android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
            android:layout_marginStart="55dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="5dp"
            android:text="File Name"
            android:textColor="@color/black"
            android:textSize="20sp" />

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/deleteFile"
            android:layout_width="50dp"
            android:layout_height="50dp"
            android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
            android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
            android:layout_margin="5dp"
            android:padding="2dp"
            android:src="@drawable/ic_delete" />
    </RelativeLayout>
</androidx.cardview.widget.CardView>

EDIT I tried to change the array to an arraylist as suggested, however I think I must have done so incorrectly as this results in a crash.

FileView.java

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.Toast;
import java.io.File;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class FileView extends AppCompatActivity {

    private RecyclerView fileRecyclerView;
    private RowAdapter fileAdapter;
    private RecyclerView.LayoutManager fileLayoutManager;
    private ArrayList<RowItem> rowItem;
    List<File> fileList;
    String filePath = "";
    String fileData = "";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_file_view);
        filePath = "PDF_files";
        File file = new File(getExternalFilesDir(filePath).toString());
        fileList = Arrays.asList(file.listFiles());
        createRows();
        buildRecyclerView();
    }


    public void createRows(){

        rowItem = new ArrayList<>();
        for (int i = 0; i < fileList.size(); i++) {
            rowItem.add(new RowItem(R.drawable.ic_book,(fileList.get(i).getName().replace("__", " ").replace('_','\n').replace('-','/').replace(".pdf",""))));
        }
    }

    public void removeItem(int position) {
        rowItem.remove(position);
        fileAdapter.notifyItemRemoved(position);
    }

    @Override
    public void recreate() {
        super.recreate();
    }

    public void buildRecyclerView() {

        fileRecyclerView = findViewById(R.id.recyclerView);
        fileRecyclerView.setHasFixedSize(true);
        fileLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
        fileAdapter = new RowAdapter(rowItem);
        fileRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(fileLayoutManager);
        fileRecyclerView.setAdapter(fileAdapter);

        fileAdapter.setOnItemClickListener(new RowAdapter.OnItemClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onItemClick(int position) {
                fileData = fileList.get(position).toString();
                Toast.makeText(FileView.this,"Clicked: " + fileData , Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }

            @Override
            public void onDeleteClick(int position) {
                removeItem(position);

                File deletePath = fileList.get(position);
                deletePath.delete();
                if(deletePath.exists()){
                    getApplicationContext().deleteFile(deletePath.getName());
                }

                fileList.remove(position);
            }
        });
    }
}

Answer 1

You make it yourself difficult as you keep two lists.

rowItems and fileList. 

In RowItems you have only a String variable fileName.

Add a variable String filePath and use it instead of the file list array.

Answer 2

When you delete a record, the table widget (the stuff you see on your device) is updated and the row is removed. However, your fileList array is not updated; it still has the Path representing that deleted file (you deleted the file, sure, but any objects that capture the notion of the path of that file are still around, of course).

When you delete a file, you need to also fix the fileList array. Given that arrays cannot grow or shrink, this is probably a lot simpler if you use a List<File> instead of a File[].