java - Android ListView headers

Question

I have ListView that has some kind of events on it. Events are sorted by day, and I would like to have header with date on it for every day, and then events listen below.

Here is how I populate that list:

ArrayList<TwoText> crs = new ArrayList<TwoText>();

crs.add(new TwoText("This will be header", event.getDate()));

for (Event event : events) {
    crs.add(new TwoText(event.getStartString() + "-" + event.getEndString(), event.getSubject()));
}

arrayAdapter = new TwoTextArrayAdapter(this, R.layout.my_list_item, crs);
lv1.setAdapter(arrayAdapter);

and this is how my class TwoText looks:

public class TwoText {
    public String classID;
    public String state;

    public TwoText(String classID, String state) {
        this.classID = classID;
        this.state = state;
    }
}

and this is how my TwoTextArrayAdapter class looks:

import java.util.ArrayList;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class TwoTextArrayAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<TwoText> {

    private ArrayList<TwoText> classes;
    private Activity con;
    TextView seperator;

    public TwoTextArrayAdapter(Activity context, int textViewResourceId, ArrayList<TwoText> classes) {
        super(context, textViewResourceId, classes);
        this.con = context;
        this.classes = classes;

    }

    @Override

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

        View v = convertView;

        if (v == null) {

            LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) con.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);

            v = vi.inflate(R.layout.my_list_item, null);

        }

        TwoText user = classes.get(position);

        if (user != null) {

            TextView content1 = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.list_content1);

            TextView content2 = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.list_content2);

            if (content1 != null) {

                content1.setText(user.classID);
            }   
            if(content2 != null) {

                content2.setText(user.state);
            }
        }
        return v;
    }
}

and this is my_list_item.xml

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

    <TextView
        style="?android:attr/listSeparatorTextViewStyle"
        android:id="@+id/separator"
        android:text="Header"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#757678"
        android:textColor="#f5c227" />

    <LinearLayout
        xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="horizontal" >

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/list_content1"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_margin="5dip"
            android:clickable="false"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:longClickable="false"
            android:paddingBottom="1dip"
            android:paddingTop="1dip"
            android:text="sample"
            android:textColor="#ff7f1d"
            android:textSize="17dip"
            android:textStyle="bold" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/list_content2"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_margin="5dip"
            android:clickable="false"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:linksClickable="false"
            android:longClickable="false"
            android:paddingBottom="1dip"
            android:paddingTop="1dip"
            android:text="sample"
            android:textColor="#6d6d6d"
            android:textSize="17dip" />
    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

what I do at the moment is that I am adding header just as regular list object, but Id like it to be as header and in my case have a date on it.

I have this code in my xml for header:

<TextView
        style="?android:attr/listSeparatorTextViewStyle"
        android:id="@+id/separator"
        android:text="Header"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#757678"
        android:textColor="#f5c227" />

and I tried hiding it when it is unneccessary and showing it when neccessary but I just messed up rest of my code. I tried few more tutorials but they also had same effect.

Could anyone guide me on how to do that easy way?

Answer 1

Here's how I do it, the keys are getItemViewType and getViewTypeCount in the Adapter class. getViewTypeCount returns how many types of items we have in the list, in this case we have a header item and an event item, so two. getItemViewType should return what type of View we have at the input position.

Android will then take care of passing you the right type of View in convertView automatically.

Here what the result of the code below looks like:

First we have an interface that our two list item types will implement

public interface Item {
    public int getViewType();
    public View getView(LayoutInflater inflater, View convertView);
}

Then we have an adapter that takes a list of Item

public class TwoTextArrayAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<Item> {
    private LayoutInflater mInflater;

    public enum RowType {
        LIST_ITEM, HEADER_ITEM
    }

    public TwoTextArrayAdapter(Context context, List<Item> items) {
        super(context, 0, items);
        mInflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);
    }

    @Override
    public int getViewTypeCount() {
        return RowType.values().length;

    }

    @Override
    public int getItemViewType(int position) {
        return getItem(position).getViewType();
    }

@Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
   return getItem(position).getView(mInflater, convertView);
}

EDIT Better For Performance.. can be noticed when scrolling

private static final int TYPE_ITEM = 0; 
private static final int TYPE_SEPARATOR = 1; 

public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent)  {
    ViewHolder holder = null;
    int rowType = getItemViewType(position);
    View View;
    if (convertView == null) {
        holder = new ViewHolder();
        switch (rowType) {
            case TYPE_ITEM:
                convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.task_details_row, null);
                holder.View=getItem(position).getView(mInflater, convertView);
                break;
            case TYPE_SEPARATOR:
                convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.task_detail_header, null);
                holder.View=getItem(position).getView(mInflater, convertView);
                break;
        }
        convertView.setTag(holder);
    }
    else
    {
        holder = (ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
    }
    return convertView; 
} 

public static class ViewHolder {
    public  View View; } 
}

Then we have classes the implement Item and inflate the correct layouts. In your case you'll have something like a Header class and a ListItem class.

   public class Header implements Item {
    private final String         name;

    public Header(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    @Override
    public int getViewType() {
        return RowType.HEADER_ITEM.ordinal();
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(LayoutInflater inflater, View convertView) {
        View view;
        if (convertView == null) {
            view = (View) inflater.inflate(R.layout.header, null);
            // Do some initialization
        } else {
            view = convertView;
        }

        TextView text = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.separator);
        text.setText(name);

        return view;
    }

}

And then the ListItem class

    public class ListItem implements Item {
    private final String         str1;
    private final String         str2;

    public ListItem(String text1, String text2) {
        this.str1 = text1;
        this.str2 = text2;
    }

    @Override
    public int getViewType() {
        return RowType.LIST_ITEM.ordinal();
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(LayoutInflater inflater, View convertView) {
        View view;
        if (convertView == null) {
            view = (View) inflater.inflate(R.layout.my_list_item, null);
            // Do some initialization
        } else {
            view = convertView;
        }

        TextView text1 = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.list_content1);
        TextView text2 = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.list_content2);
        text1.setText(str1);
        text2.setText(str2);

        return view;
    }

}

And a simple Activity to display it

public class MainActivity extends ListActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        List<Item> items = new ArrayList<Item>();
        items.add(new Header("Header 1"));
        items.add(new ListItem("Text 1", "Rabble rabble"));
        items.add(new ListItem("Text 2", "Rabble rabble"));
        items.add(new ListItem("Text 3", "Rabble rabble"));
        items.add(new ListItem("Text 4", "Rabble rabble"));
        items.add(new Header("Header 2"));
        items.add(new ListItem("Text 5", "Rabble rabble"));
        items.add(new ListItem("Text 6", "Rabble rabble"));
        items.add(new ListItem("Text 7", "Rabble rabble"));
        items.add(new ListItem("Text 8", "Rabble rabble"));

        TwoTextArrayAdapter adapter = new TwoTextArrayAdapter(this, items);
        setListAdapter(adapter);
    }

}

Layout for R.layout.header

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

    <TextView
        style="?android:attr/listSeparatorTextViewStyle"
        android:id="@+id/separator"
        android:text="Header"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#757678"
        android:textColor="#f5c227" />

</LinearLayout>

Layout for R.layout.my_list_item

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

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/list_content1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_margin="5dip"
        android:clickable="false"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:longClickable="false"
        android:paddingBottom="1dip"
        android:paddingTop="1dip"
        android:text="sample"
        android:textColor="#ff7f1d"
        android:textSize="17dip"
        android:textStyle="bold" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/list_content2"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_margin="5dip"
        android:clickable="false"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:linksClickable="false"
        android:longClickable="false"
        android:paddingBottom="1dip"
        android:paddingTop="1dip"
        android:text="sample"
        android:textColor="#6d6d6d"
        android:textSize="17dip" />

</LinearLayout>

Layout for R.layout.activity_main.xml

<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"
    tools:context=".MainActivity" >

    <ListView
        android:id="@android:id/list"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent" />

</RelativeLayout>

You can also get fancier and use ViewHolders, load stuff asynchronously, or whatever you like.