How do I populate an Android spinner using a JSON web service?

Question

How do I parse a JSON file like the one below containing school names and IDs and use the values in the \"Name\" field to populate the spinner lables?

I want the sp

Answer 1

I would do something like this:

public class School {
    private String name;
    private String id;

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }
    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
    public String getId() {
        return id;
    }
    public void setId(String id) {
        this.id = id;
    }
}

On create:

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

    String readFeed = readFeed();

    // you can use this array to find the school ID based on name
    ArrayList<School> schools = new ArrayList<School>();
    // you can use this array to populate your spinner
    ArrayList<String> schoolNames = new ArrayList<String>();

    try {
      JSONObject json = new JSONObject(readFeed);
      JSONArray jsonArray = new JSONArray(json.optString("schools"));
      Log.i(MainActivity.class.getName(),
          "Number of entries " + jsonArray.length());

      for (int i = 0; i < jsonArray.length(); i++) {
        JSONObject jsonObject = jsonArray.getJSONObject(i);

        School school = new School();
        school.setName(jsonObject.optString("Name"));
        school.setId(jsonObject.optString("SchoolID"));
        schools.add(school);
        schoolNames.add(jsonObject.optString("Name"));

      }
    } catch (Exception e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
    Spinner mySpinner = (Spinner)findViewById(R.id.my_spinner);
    mySpinner.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item, schoolNames));
}

In your main_activity.xml you need a Spinner. The code above would work with a Spinner named like below:

<Spinner
    android:id="@+id/my_spinner"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"/>