Last updated on July 31st, 2016 at 11:16 am

Listview is very common and important in android most app use ListView  to display data in list most common example Contact, Messenger etc. In this post i explain you how to create simple and custom listview in android. This post is focus on beginners and for those who want to learn how to create a simple and custom listview in android.

Simple ListView in Android

This is a simple application in which i use default android layout for ListView. 

 

Creating New Project

1. Create new project in your Eclipse IDE / Android Studio and fill all the details File ⇒ New Project.

2. Open your main layout file inside res ⇒ layout ⇒ activity.xml. Now in this add listview.

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MyActivity">

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/list"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">

        </ListView>

</RelativeLayout>

3. Now open your activity.java file inside src ⇒ com.package.name ⇒ Activity.java and write code to populate listView with data.

package com.customlist;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import java.util.ArrayList;


public class MyActivity extends Activity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_my);

        final ListView lt = (ListView)findViewById(R.id.list);
        String[] val = new String[]{"Android", "PHP", "Webdesign"};
        ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
        for(int i= 0; i < val.length; i++){
                list.add(val[i]);
        }
        ArrayAdapter<String> ad = new ArrayAdapter(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, list);
        lt.setAdapter(ad);
        lt.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int i, long l) {
                final String item = (String) adapterView.getItemAtPosition(i);
                Log.e("Error", "-----------------------------"+item);
                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),"Position "+item, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            }
        });
    }
}

In above code i create simple Array String and add that data to ArrayList after adding data to arraylist i use ArrayAdapter to add data to listview and also call default layout

 ArrayAdapter<String> ad = new ArrayAdapter(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, list);

And after that i set data to Adapter using setAdapter.

Custom ListView in Android

Creating New Project

1. Create new project in your Eclipse IDE / Android Studio and fill all the details File ⇒ New Project.

2. Open your main layout file inside res ⇒ layout ⇒ activity.xml. Now in this add listview.

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MyActivity">

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/list"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">

        </ListView>

</RelativeLayout>

3. Now create new xml layout file inside res ⇒ layout folder

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tx"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</RelativeLayout>

this is the layout we pass in our listview.

4.  Now first create a Custom java class in which we extend ArrayAdapter and pass String  to listview. In this i also use LayoutInflater  to inflate my view in list.

package com.customlist2;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.TextView;

/**
 * Created by aneh on 8/25/2014.
 */
public class Custom extends ArrayAdapter<String> {

    private final String[] text;
    private final Activity context;

    public Custom(Activity context, String[] text) {

        super(context, R.layout.design, text);

        this.text = text;
        this.context = context;
    }

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

        LayoutInflater inflate = context.getLayoutInflater();
        View vie = inflate.inflate(R.layout.design, null, true);

        TextView txt = (TextView) vie.findViewById(R.id.tx);
        txt.setText(text[position]);

        return vie;
    }
}

5. Now open your Mainactivity.java and create a array string, and create object of class pass class object to setAdapter.

package com.customlist2;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.Toast;


public class MyActivity extends Activity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_my);

        final String[] data = {"Aneh", "Test", "Thakur"};

        Custom ct = new Custom(MyActivity.this, data);

        // ListView
        ListView list = (ListView)findViewById(R.id.list);
        list.setAdapter(ct);
        list.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {

            @Override
            public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view,
                                    int position, long id) {
                Toast.makeText(MyActivity.this, "You Clicked at " + data[position], Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            }
        });
    }
}

In above i also use setOnItemClickListener to get click list item and display toast.