Creating a ListView with custom list items programmatically in Android - no xml list item layout

Question

As I have seen on previously asked questions, inside the custom adapter class (say, MyAdapter extends ArrayAdapter) they always use an inflated xml list-item layout. What I am hoping to do is create everything entirely using Java and no XML...

// for example
String[] wordlist = new String[] {a, b, c};

LinearLayout list_item_layout = new LinearLayout(this);
list_item_layout.setId(5000);

TextView listText = new TextView(this);
listText.setId(5001);

listLayout.addView(listText);

ListView list = new ListView(this);

// ** QUESTION ** do I declare a programmatic .setAdapter() like this?
// ** TAKE NOTE ** I passed 'wordlist' here..
list.setAdapter(new MyAdapter(this, list_item_layout.getId(), listText.getId(), wordlist));

and then for MyAdapter...

private class MyAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<String> {

    public MyAdapter(Context context, int resource, int textViewResourceId, String[] strings) {
        super(context, resource, textViewResourceId, strings);
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {

        View v = convertView; //is this the list_item_layout that I passed??
        TextView tv = (TextView) v.findViewById(5001);

        // ** QUESTION ** do I pass 'wordlist' again here?
        tv.setText( wordlist[position] );

        return v;
    }
}

What happens when I run this on my device is I get the following errors...

    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276): android.content.res.Resources$NotFoundException: String resource ID #0x0
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at android.content.res.Resources.getText(Resources.java:222)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at android.widget.TextView.setText(TextView.java:3011)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at com.turista.client.TuristaClientMain.onClick(TuristaClientMain.java:113)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:2538)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:9152)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:587)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3691)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:847)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:605)
    10-08 23:11:19.775: E/AndroidRuntime(18276):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Can anyone explain how to do this programmatically?

* EDITED * October 9, 2012

Ok, as I am still stuck in this issue I think I've made some improvements but still get error messages. The improved code is as follows..

//wordlist is a global variable
String[] wordlist = new String[] {a, b, c};

// ..
// .. inside onCreate...

ListView list = new ListView(this);
        list.setAdapter(new MyAdapter(this, R.layout.listitem, R.id.mLargeTextView, wordlist));
// since the ArrayAdapter class needs XML parameters to inflate, I created a dummy layout

now inside MyAdapter class..

private class MyAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<String> {

    public MyAdapter(Context context, int resource, int textViewResourceId, String[] strings) {
        super(context, resource, textViewResourceId, strings);
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {


        LinearLayout listLayout = new LinearLayout(Main.this);
        listLayout.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(wrapContent, wrapContent));
        listLayout.setId(5000);

        TextView listText = new TextView(Main.this);
        listText.setId(5001);

        listLayout.addView(listText);

        listText.setText(wordlist[position]);

        return listLayout; 
    }
}

As you can see, I think I have to override getView in order to display my custom view so this is what I did. Unfortunately I think I misunderstood it. Here are the errors..

    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517): java.lang.ClassCastException: android.view.ViewGroup$LayoutParams
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.ListView.measureScrapChild(ListView.java:1183)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.ListView.measureHeightOfChildren(ListView.java:1266)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.ListView.onMeasure(ListView.java:1175)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8366)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3138)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8366)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3138)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8366)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3138)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureChildBeforeLayout(LinearLayout.java:1017)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:386)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:309)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at com.android.internal.widget.WeightedLinearLayout.onMeasure(WeightedLinearLayout.java:60)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8366)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3138)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8366)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3138)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8366)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:847)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1868)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3691)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:847)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:605)
    10-09 09:24:10.095: E/AndroidRuntime(2517):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Can I ask why you would like to do this programmatic style instead of using XML? — Zerkz, Oct 08 '12 at 15:40
you already setted id why you are finding new TextView with that id? use tv.getID(). — Padma Kumar, Oct 08 '12 at 15:48
try removing this line listLayout.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(wrapContent, wrapContent)); — Praful Bhatnagar, Oct 09 '12 at 07:58

Praful Bhatnagar · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-09T09:21:59.977

ListView extends AbsListView which in turn extends AdapterView which extends view group. So all the child of ListView would be added to ViewGroup. So to set the layout param, you can use ViewGroup.LayoutParam while setting layout param for listLayout.

Or try AbsListView.LayoutParams for setting layout param for listLayout

Please try it and let me know if it worked.

Following code is working fine..

public class MainActivity1 extends Activity {

    String[] wordlist = new String[] { "a", "b", "c" };

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        ListView list = new ListView(this);
        list.setAdapter(new MyAdapter(this, wordlist));

        setContentView(list);
    }

    private class MyAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<String> {

        public MyAdapter(Context context, String[] strings) {
            super(context, -1, -1, strings);
        }

        @Override
        public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {

            LinearLayout listLayout = new LinearLayout(MainActivity1.this);
            listLayout.setLayoutParams(new AbsListView.LayoutParams(
                    AbsListView.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
                    AbsListView.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
            listLayout.setId(5000);

            TextView listText = new TextView(MainActivity1.this);
            listText.setId(5001);

            listLayout.addView(listText);

        listText.setText(super.getItem(position));

            return listLayout;
        }
    }
}

The problem was that by default Eclipse imports ViewGroup.LayoutParams which are incompatible with the AbsListView.LayoutParams which need to be used for setting layout param for view returned from the getView() method.

Please check and let me know how it went..

Just tested it with AbsListView.LayoutParams and it is working fine. Updated my answer accordingly.. — Praful Bhatnagar, Oct 09 '12 at 08:35
Wow it works. I didn't know that within this getView() method LayoutParams is handled differently, and relying heavily on auto-import made by Eclipse isn't a good thing. — daryl, Oct 09 '12 at 09:11
Thanks. I was almost giving up on this idea to do everything programmatically. One last question, I can see you passed the array 'wordlist' within setAdapter(new MyAdapter()) inside onCreate. Then that means it is must be already inside MyAdapter somewhere... If 'wordlist' isn't declared globally, how do you call it? Again thank you Praful. You totally nailed it. — daryl, Oct 09 '12 at 09:17
That just to check the error. Since we are sub-classing the 'ArrayAdaptor' we can use 'super.getItem(position)' to get the string value at that position. I have updated the answer to use this. — Praful Bhatnagar, Oct 09 '12 at 09:23
@PrafulBhatnagar can you please take a look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/28040288/dynamically-add-rows-with-dynamic-content-to-listview-without-xml-inflation — kittu88, Jan 20 '15 at 10:49

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

2

To add to the above answer, setting id with a constant number is not a good idea.

Replace, listLayout.setId(5000); with,listLayout.setId(View.generateViewId());

In case you are targeting API 16 and below, refer this.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

Community

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answered Mar 23 '15 at 19:35

Tony

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Creating a ListView with custom list items programmatically in Android - no xml list item layout

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