Android: Adding static header to the top of a ListActivity

Question

Currently I have a class that is extending the ListActivity class. I need to be able to add a few static buttons above the list that are always visible. I\'ve attempted to

Answer 1

Here is the simpliest sollution:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
 xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:orientation="vertical"
 android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 android:layout_height="fill_parent"
 android:background="@color/background">
 <include layout="@layout/actionbar"/>
   <ListView
    android:id="@+id/tasklist_TaskListView"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="0dip"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    android:textColor="@color/baseFont"/>
   <include layout="@layout/bottombar"/>
</LinearLayout>

or

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
 xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:orientation="vertical"
 android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 android:layout_height="fill_parent"
 android:background="@color/background">
   <Button 
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
   <ListView
    android:id="@+id/tasklist_TaskListView"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="0dip"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    android:textColor="@color/baseFont"/>
   <Button 
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

</LinearLayout>

instead of button you can add another horizontal linear layout

Answer 2

After some research I was able to figure out that mixing TableLayout and LinearLayout within my ListActivity XML document I was able to add a header to the document. Below is my XML document if anyone is interested to see it. While synic's approach is probably the right approach after work with his solution for sometime I was unable to make it function the way I wanted it.

AuditTab.java

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.audittab);
        getListView().setEmptyView(findViewById(R.id.empty));
}

audittab.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TableLayout 
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">
    <TableRow 
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent" 
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal">
        <LinearLayout 
            xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:orientation="horizontal" 
            android:layout_weight="1">
            <Button 
                android:id="@+id/btnFromDate" 
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
                android:text=""
                android:layout_weight="1" />
            <Button 
                android:id="@+id/btnToDate" 
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
                android:text=""
                android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/btnFromDate"
                android:layout_weight="1" />
            <Button 
                android:id="@+id/btnQuery" 
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
                android:text="Query"
                android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/btnToDate"
                android:layout_weight="1" />

        </LinearLayout>
    </TableRow>
    <TableRow 
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent" 
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal">
        <LinearLayout 
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent">
            <ListView 
                android:id="@android:id/list"
                android:layout_width="300dip" 
                android:layout_height="330dip"
                android:scrollbars="none" />
            <TextView 
                android:id="@+id/empty"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:paddingTop="10dip"
                android:text="- Please select a date range and press query." />
        </LinearLayout>
    </TableRow>
</TableLayout>

AuditItem.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout 
        xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
        android:orientation="horizontal" 
        android:padding="10sp">
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionDateLabel" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:text="Date: " />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionDate" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionDateLabel" />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionTypeLabel" 
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionDate" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:text="Type: " />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionType" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dip" 
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionDate"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionTypeLabel" />

    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionAmountLabel" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dip"
        android:text="Amount: " 
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionDate"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionType" />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionAmount" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionDate"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionAmountLabel" />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionCategoryLabel" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:text="Category: " 
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionAmountLabel" />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionCategory" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionAmountLabel" 
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionCategoryLabel"
        />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionToAccountLabel" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:text="To Account: " 
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionCategoryLabel" />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/transactionToAccount"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_below="@+id/transactionCategoryLabel"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionToAccountLabel" />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionFromAccountLabel" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:text="From Account: " 
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionToAccountLabel" />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/transactionFromAccount"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionToAccountLabel"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionFromAccountLabel" />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionNoteLabel" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:text="Note: " 
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionFromAccountLabel" />
    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/transactionNote" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionFromAccountLabel" 
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionNoteLabel" />
    <Button 
        android:id="@+id/editTransactionBtn" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="40sp" 
        android:visibility="gone" 
        android:text="Edit"
        android:layout_below="@id/transactionNoteLabel"/>
    <Button 
        android:id="@+id/deleteTransactionBtn" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="40sp" 
        android:text="Delete" 
        android:layout_below="@+id/transactionNoteLabel" 
        android:visibility="gone" 
        android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/editTransactionBtn" 
        android:ellipsize="end"/>
</RelativeLayout>

Answer 3

The ListView answer above is useful but scrolls with the list and doesn't keep the header graphics at the top. The best solution I've found is to set a custom title to the activity. Here is what my constructor looks like:

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE);
    setContentView(R.layout.your_listview_layout);
    getWindow().setFeatureInt(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE, R.layout.your_header);
    ...

Where your_listview_layout.xml configures a ListView, and your_header.xml contains whatever custom header layout that you like. Just note that the three lines above must be called in exactly that order to not cause run-time problems.

The tutorial that helped me was http://www.londatiga.net/it/how-to-create-custom-window-title-in-android/ and you can find many related pages on Stack Overflow by searching for the term "setFeatureInt"

Answer 4

findViewById() only works to find subviews of the object View. It will not work on a layout id.

You'll have to use layout inflater to convert the xml to it's corresponding View components. Something like this:

ListView lv = getListView();
LayoutInflater inflater = getLayoutInflater();
View header = inflater.inflate(R.layout.header, lv, false);
lv.addHeaderView(header, null, false);

I'm not sure why your code wasn't just throwing an error. findViewById() was probably just returning null, and so no header was added to your list.

Answer 5

Adding a static header is easy, just make a separate relative view that has the alignParentTop (or bottom, right or left) attribute set to true.