Set list view height without TextView with adapter

Question

I have a ListView which is supposed to become a menu with two drawables and two text views per row.

Activity Code:

ArrayList<MenuItem> itemArray = new ArrayList<MenuItem>();
        itemArray.add(new MenuItem("Headertexxt", "subbtexdt"));
        itemArray.add(new MenuItem("asf", "asf"));

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

        String[] array = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.buttonsCM);
        int[] images =  new int[] { R.drawable.btn_car, R.drawable.btn_star, R.drawable.btn_bag};
        listView.setAdapter(new HomeScreenButtonsAdapterSubtext(this, R.layout.row,
                itemArray, images, R.drawable.list_arrow));

        Utils.setListViewHeightBasedOnChildren(listView);
        listView.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {

            public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
                switch (position) {
                case 0:
                    findViewById(R.id.buttonCreditCompilation).performClick();
                    break;
                case 1:
                    findViewById(R.id.buttonYourCredits).performClick();
                    break;

                }
            }
        });

Adapter code:

public class HomeScreenButtonsAdapterSubtext extends ArrayAdapter<MenuItem> {

        private Drawable[] drawables;

        private Drawable arrowDrawable;
        private ArrayList<MenuItem> items;

        public HomeScreenButtonsAdapterSubtext(Context context, int resourceId,
                ArrayList<MenuItem> items, int[] images, int arrowImage) {
            super(context, resourceId, items);
            this.items = items;

            Resources resources = context.getResources();
            if (images != null) {
                drawables = new Drawable[images.length];
                int i = 0;
                for (int id : images) {
                    Drawable drawable = resources.getDrawable(id);
                    drawable.setBounds(0, 0, drawable.getIntrinsicWidth(),
                            drawable.getIntrinsicHeight());
                    drawables[i++] = drawable;
                }
            }

            arrowDrawable = resources.getDrawable(arrowImage);
            arrowDrawable.setBounds(0, 0, arrowDrawable.getIntrinsicWidth(),
                    arrowDrawable.getIntrinsicHeight());
        }

        @Override
        public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
             View v = super.getView(position, convertView, parent);
             if (v instanceof TextView) {
             Drawable dr = drawables != null ? drawables[position %
             drawables.length] : null;
             ((TextView) v).setCompoundDrawables(dr, null, arrowDrawable, null);
             Utils.setFont((TextView) v);
             }

//          View v = convertView;
            if (v == null) {
                LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
                v = vi.inflate(R.layout.row, null);
            }

            MenuItem station = items.get(position);
            if (station != null) {
                TextView tt = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.headerText);
                TextView bt = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.subText);


                if (tt != null) {
                    tt.setText(station.getHeaderText());
                }
                if (bt != null) {
                    bt.setText(station.getSubText());
                }

            }

            return v;
        }

The problem I have right now is that I can't set the listview height based on the children. I'm trying to do that here: Utils.setListViewHeightBasedOnChildren(listView); but getting the error: arrayadapter requires the resource id to be a textview at this row. Does anyone know a solution for this?

Can I use some other method for setting the ListView height?

Thanks

Answer 1

In fact it does not really make sense to set the height of ListView depending on its content.

Because the whole point of a ListView is to make its content scrollable (however big it is)...so it is supposed to have a fixed height.

Answer 2

but getting the error: arrayadapter requires the resource id to be a textview at this row.

R.layout.row is a layout file which it doesn't have just a TextView . If you call the super constructor you have used and you also call the super.getView (in the getView method) method in the adapter, then ArrayAdapter will complain as it expects a single widget in the layout file passed to it(a single TextView ).

I don't understand why you have that piece of code in the getView method(with the super call) when you know precisely that the row can't be an instance of Textview .

I'm not sure about setting the height of the ListView either, if you're trying to show all the rows of the ListView , don't do it(as you make the ListView basically useless). If you still want to do this, then it's better to lose the ListView and build the row layouts manually.