java - custom listview adapter getView method being called multiple times, and in no coherent order

Question

I have a custom list adapter:

class ResultsListAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<RecordItem> {

in the overridden 'getView' method I do a print to check what position is and whether it is a convertView or not:

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        System.out.println("getView " + position + " " + convertView);

The output of this (when the list is first displayed, no user input as yet)

04-11 16:24:05.860: INFO/System.out(681): getView 0 null  
04-11 16:24:29.020: INFO/System.out(681): getView 1 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43d415d8  
04-11 16:25:48.070: INFO/System.out(681): getView 2 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43d415d8  
04-11 16:25:49.110: INFO/System.out(681): getView 3 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43d415d8  
04-11 16:25:49.710: INFO/System.out(681): getView 0 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43d415d8  
04-11 16:25:50.251: INFO/System.out(681): getView 1 null  
04-11 16:26:01.300: INFO/System.out(681): getView 2 null  
04-11 16:26:02.020: INFO/System.out(681): getView 3 null  
04-11 16:28:28.091: INFO/System.out(681): getView 0 null  
04-11 16:37:46.180: INFO/System.out(681): getView 1 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43cff8f0  
04-11 16:37:47.091: INFO/System.out(681): getView 2 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43cff8f0  
04-11 16:37:47.730: INFO/System.out(681): getView 3 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43cff8f0  

AFAIK, though I couldn't find it stated explicitly, getView() is only called for visible rows. Since my app starts with four visible rows at least the position numbers cycling from 0-3 makes sense. But the rest is a mess:

• Why is getview called for each row three times?
• Where are these convertViews coming from when I haven't scrolled yet?

I did a bit of reseach, and without getting a good answer, I did notice that people were associating this issue with layout issues. So in case, here's the layout that contains the list:

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

    <TextView android:id="@+id/pageDetails"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <ListView android:id="@+id/list"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:drawSelectorOnTop="false" />

</LinearLayout>

and the layout of each individual row:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="108dp"    
android:padding="4dp">

<ImageView
    android:id="@+id/thumb"        
    android:layout_width="120dp"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"        
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
    android:layout_marginRight="8dp"        
    android:src="@drawable/loading" />

<TextView  
    android:id="@+id/price"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="18dp"         
    android:layout_toRightOf="@id/thumb"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"       
    android:singleLine="true" />

<TextView  
    android:id="@+id/date"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="18dp"         
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true" 
    android:paddingRight="4dp"       
    android:singleLine="true" />

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/title"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:textSize="17dp" 
    android:layout_toRightOf="@id/thumb"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:paddingRight="4dp"   
    android:layout_alignWithParentIfMissing="true"
    android:gravity="center" />

</RelativeLayout>

Thank you for your time

Answer 1

This is not an issue, there is absolutely no guarantee on the order in which getView() will be called nor how many times. In your particular case you are doing the worst thing possible with a ListView by giving it a height=wrap_content. This forces ListView to measure a few children out of the adapter at layout time, to know how big it should be. This is what provides ListView with the convertViews you see passed to getView() even before you scroll.