Android ListView with different layouts for each row

Question

I am trying to determine the best way to have a single ListView that contains different layouts for each row. I know how to create a custom row + custom array adapter to sup

Answer 1

Take a look in the code below.

First, we create custom layouts. In this case, four types.

even.xml

odd.xml

white.xml

black.xml

Then, we create the listview item. In our case, with a string and a type.

public class ListViewItem {
        private String text;
        private int type;

        public ListViewItem(String text, int type) {
            this.text = text;
            this.type = type;
        }

        public String getText() {
            return text;
        }

        public void setText(String text) {
            this.text = text;
        }

        public int getType() {
            return type;
        }

        public void setType(int type) {
            this.type = type;
        }

    }

After that, we create a view holder. It's strongly recommended because Android OS keeps the layout reference to reuse your item when it disappears and appears back on the screen. If you don't use this approach, every single time that your item appears on the screen Android OS will create a new one and causing your app to leak memory.

public class ViewHolder {
        TextView text;

        public ViewHolder(TextView text) {
            this.text = text;
        }

        public TextView getText() {
            return text;
        }

        public void setText(TextView text) {
            this.text = text;
        }

    }

Finally, we create our custom adapter overriding getViewTypeCount() and getItemViewType(int position).

public class CustomAdapter extends ArrayAdapter {

        public static final int TYPE_ODD = 0;
        public static final int TYPE_EVEN = 1;
        public static final int TYPE_WHITE = 2;
        public static final int TYPE_BLACK = 3;

        private ListViewItem[] objects;

        @Override
        public int getViewTypeCount() {
            return 4;
        }

        @Override
        public int getItemViewType(int position) {
            return objects[position].getType();
        }

        public CustomAdapter(Context context, int resource, ListViewItem[] objects) {
            super(context, resource, objects);
            this.objects = objects;
        }

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

            ViewHolder viewHolder = null;
            ListViewItem listViewItem = objects[position];
            int listViewItemType = getItemViewType(position);


            if (convertView == null) {

                if (listViewItemType == TYPE_EVEN) {
                    convertView = LayoutInflater.from(getContext()).inflate(R.layout.type_even, null);
                } else if (listViewItemType == TYPE_ODD) {
                    convertView = LayoutInflater.from(getContext()).inflate(R.layout.type_odd, null);
                } else if (listViewItemType == TYPE_WHITE) {
                    convertView = LayoutInflater.from(getContext()).inflate(R.layout.type_white, null);
                } else {
                    convertView = LayoutInflater.from(getContext()).inflate(R.layout.type_black, null);
                }

                TextView textView = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.text);
                viewHolder = new ViewHolder(textView);

                convertView.setTag(viewHolder);

            } else {
                viewHolder = (ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
            }

            viewHolder.getText().setText(listViewItem.getText());

            return convertView;
        }

    }

And our activity is something like this:

private ListView listView;

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

        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); // here, you can create a single layout with a listview

        listView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.listview);

        final ListViewItem[] items = new ListViewItem[40];

        for (int i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
            if (i == 4) {
                items[i] = new ListViewItem("White " + i, CustomAdapter.TYPE_WHITE);
            } else if (i == 9) {
                items[i] = new ListViewItem("Black " + i, CustomAdapter.TYPE_BLACK);
            } else if (i % 2 == 0) {
                items[i] = new ListViewItem("EVEN " + i, CustomAdapter.TYPE_EVEN);
            } else {
                items[i] = new ListViewItem("ODD " + i, CustomAdapter.TYPE_ODD);
            }
        }

        CustomAdapter customAdapter = new CustomAdapter(this, R.id.text, items);
        listView.setAdapter(customAdapter);
        listView.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onItemClick(AdapterView adapterView, View view, int i, long l) {
                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), items[i].getText(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
        });

    }
}

now create a listview inside mainactivity.xml like this