Android ListView – Different Layout Inflation for Each Row

androidandroid-listviewuser-interface

I'm fairly new to designing UIs in Android (And fairly new to Android development as well). I'm currently developing an Android application that looks a lot like Google+'s "All Circles" page, and Facebook's user home, where you get to see contents shared by your friends.

To make things clearer, please take a look at the following screenshot that's taken from Google+'s Android application:

enter image description here

As you can see, Paul Harper's post is in a little Frame, and "Android and me"'s post is in another. And the more you scroll downwards, the more shared stuff you'll see, each in its own "Frame".

I'm really not sure how to achieve this result(I'm sure that it involves a ListView component), so could anyone please tell me about the UI components that I should be using to do it?

Thanks a ton.

Best Answer

You should have a look at the video in the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDBM6wVEO70

private static final int TYPE_ITEM1 = 0;
private static final int TYPE_ITEM2 = 1;
private static final int TYPE_ITEM3 = 2;

int type;

@Override
public int getItemViewType(int position) {

    if (position== 0){
        type = TYPE_ITEM1;
    } else if  (position == 1){
        type = TYPE_ITEM2;
    }
    return type;
}


@Override  
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
View row = convertView;
LayoutInflater inflater = null;
int type = getItemViewType(position);
   if (row  == null) {
    if (type == TYPE_ITEM1) {
                 //infalte layout of type1
      }
    if (type == TYPE_ITEM2) {
                 //infalte layout of type2
    }  else {
                 //infalte layout of normaltype
 }
}

Related Solutions

Android – ListView with Different Layouts for Each Row

Since you know how many types of layout you would have - it's possible to use those methods.

getViewTypeCount() - this methods returns information how many types of rows do you have in your list

getItemViewType(int position) - returns information which layout type you should use based on position

Then you inflate layout only if it's null and determine type using getItemViewType.

Look at this tutorial for further information.

To achieve some optimizations in structure that you've described in comment I would suggest:

Storing views in object called ViewHolder. It would increase speed because you won't have to call findViewById() every time in getView method. See List14 in API demos.
Create one generic layout that will conform all combinations of properties and hide some elements if current position doesn't have it.

I hope that will help you. If you could provide some XML stub with your data structure and information how exactly you want to map it into row, I would be able to give you more precise advise. By pixel.

Android ListView Layouts – Different Row Layouts in Android ListView

Implement the getItemViewType() and getViewTypeCount() for your adapter:

@Override
public int getViewTypeCount() {
   return 2; //return 2, you have two types that the getView() method will return, normal(0) and for the last row(1)
}

and:

@Override
public int getItemViewType(int position) {
    return (position == this.getCount() - 1) ? 1 : 0; //if we are at the last position then return 1, for any other position return 0
}

Then in the getView() method find out what type of view to inflate:

public View getView(final int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        View view = convertView;
        int theType = getItemViewType(position); 
        if (view == null) {
          ViewHolder holder = new ViewHolder();
          LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
          if (theType == 0) {
              // inflate the ordinary row
              view = vi.inflate(R.layout.list_item_bn, null);
              holder.textView = (TextView)view.findViewById(R.id.tv_name);      
          } else if (theType == 1){
             // inflate the row for the last position
              view = vi.inflate(R.layout.list_item_record, null);
              holder.textView = (TextView)view.findViewById(R.id.record_view);
          } 
          view.setTag(holder);
         }
 //other stuff here, keep in mind that you have a different layout for your last position so double check what are trying to initialize
}

The example from the comments: http://pastebin.com/gn65240B (or https://gist.github.com/2641914 )

Best Answer

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Android – ListView with Different Layouts for Each Row

Android ListView Layouts – Different Row Layouts in Android ListView

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