How to add a Hint in spinner in XML

Question

I am trying to add a Hint in the spinner widget as there is no option of Hint as in EditText  I want to show Gender as a Hint and when clicked it must show only Male and Female not the hint    How it can be Done Only Using XML  XML code of spinner      lt Spinner       android layout width  match parent        android layout height  wrap content        android id    id spinner1        android entries   array gender        android layout marginTop  10dp        android layout marginLeft  25dp        android layout marginRight  25dp        android layout gravity  center horizontal    gt    String Array of the spinner   lt string-array name  gender  gt        lt item gt Male lt  item gt        lt item gt Female lt  item gt   lt  string-array gt

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For Kotlin    Custom Array adapter to hide the last item of the spinner  import android content Context  import android widget ArrayAdapter  import android widget Spinner   class HintAdapter lt T gt  context  Context  resource  Int  objects  Array lt T gt         ArrayAdapter lt T gt  context  resource  objects         override fun getCount    Int           val count   super getCount              The last item will be the hint          return if  count  gt  0  count - 1 else count          Spinner Extension function to set hint on spinner fun Spinner addHintWithArray context  Context  stringArrayResId  Int        val hintAdapter           HintAdapter lt String gt               context              android R layout simple spinner dropdown item              context resources getStringArray stringArrayResId                hintAdapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item      adapter   hintAdapter     setSelection hintAdapter count     How to use  add the extension by passing context and array on Spinner spinnerMonth addHintWithArray context  R array months   Note  The hint should be the last item of your string array  lt string-array name  quot months quot  gt       lt item gt Jan lt  item gt       lt item gt Feb lt  item gt       lt item gt Mar lt  item gt       lt item gt Apr lt  item gt       lt item gt May lt  item gt       lt item gt Months lt  item gt   lt  string-array gt

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The trick is this line    TextView  view  setTextColor ContextCompat getColor mContext  R color login input hint color      use  it in the onItemSelected  Here is my code with more context  List lt String gt  list   getLabels       First item will be the placeholder         ArrayAdapter lt String gt  dataAdapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  mContext  android R layout simple spinner item  list           dataAdapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item           spinner setAdapter dataAdapter           spinner setOnItemSelectedListener new AdapterView OnItemSelectedListener                  Override             public void onItemSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parent  View view  int position  long id                       First item will be gray                 if  position    0                          TextView  view  setTextColor ContextCompat getColor mContext  R color login input hint color                      else                         TextView  view  setTextColor ContextCompat getColor mContext  R color primary text                                                  Override             public void onNothingSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parent

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For Kotlin What will you get  Gray color if the hint is selected Drop down list with gray color of the hint Black color if something else than the hint is selected I have added 5  step what changes the color of the text in the spinner depending on the selected item  because I couldn t find it here  In this case it is needed to change the text color to gray when the first item is selected in order to it looks like a hint   Define a spinner in your activity layout xml  lt Spinner     android id  quot   id mySpinner quot      android layout width  quot match parent quot      android layout height  quot wrap content quot    gt    Define the string array in string xml where the first item will be a hint   lt string-array name  quot your string array quot  gt       lt item gt Hint    lt  item gt       lt item gt Item1 lt  item gt       lt item gt Item2 lt  item gt       lt item gt Item3 lt  item gt   lt  string-array gt    Set up the spinner in the onCreate method in your Activity kt Get string array from resources     val items  resources getStringArray R array your string array   Create spinner adapter     val spinnerAdapter  object   ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this android R layout simple spinner item  items         override fun isEnabled position  Int   Boolean              Disable the first item from Spinner            First item will be use for hint         return position    0            override fun getDropDownView          position  Int          convertView  View           parent  ViewGroup        View           val view  TextView   super getDropDownView position  convertView  parent  as TextView           set the color of first item in the drop down list to gray         if position    0                view setTextColor Color GRAY            else                 here is it possible to define color for other items by               view setTextColor Color RED                    return view            Set drop down view resource and attach the adapter to your spinner  spinnerAdapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item       mySpinner adapter   spinnerAdapter   Change the color of the text in the spinner depending on the selected item mySpinner onItemSelectedListener   object  AdapterView OnItemSelectedListener      override fun onNothingSelected parent  AdapterView lt   gt                 override fun onItemSelected          parent  AdapterView lt   gt            view  View           position  Int          id  Long                 val value   parent   getItemAtPosition position  toString           if value    items 0                 view as TextView  setTextColor Color GRAY

User · Answer

It is very simple if position is  0  then call onNothingSelected method in OnItemSelectedListener  It worked fine for me         spinner setOnItemSelectedListener new AdapterView OnItemSelectedListener              Override         public void onItemSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parent  View view  int position  long id                   if  position    0                                onNothingSelected parent                               else                    String mechanicType   mechanicTpes position                   Toast makeText FirstUser this   Mechanic Tpye     mechanicType  Toast LENGTH SHORT  show                                          Override         public void onNothingSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parent                Toast makeText FirstUser this   NOTHING SELECTED IN SPINNER   Toast LENGTH SHORT  show

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make your hint at final position in your string array like this City is the hint here array city   new String    quot Irbed quot    quot Amman quot    quot City quot     and then in your array adapter ArrayAdapter lt String gt  adapter city   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  getContext    android R layout simple spinner item  array city                 Override             public int getCount                        to show hint  quot Select Gender quot  and don t able to select                 return array city length-1                            so the adapter return just first two item and finally in onCreate    method or what     make Spinner select the hint yourSpinner setSelection array city length - 1

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You can set the spinner prompt   spinner setPrompt  Select gender

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What worked for me is you would set your spinner up with a list of items including the hint at the beginning       final MaterialSpinner spinner    MaterialSpinner  findViewById R id spinner        spinner setItems  Select something in this list   getString R string ABC   getString R string ERD   getString R string KGD   getString R string DFK   getString R string TOE      Now when the user actually selects something in the list  you would use the spinner setItems method to set the list to everything besides your hint          spinner setOnItemSelectedListener new MaterialSpinner OnItemSelectedListener lt String gt                    Override public void onItemSelected MaterialSpinner view  int position  long id  String item                    spinner setItems getString R string ABC   getString R string ERD   getString R string KGD   getString R string DFK   getString R string TOE         The hint will be removed as soon as the user selects something in the list

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I ve managed to add a  hint  that is omitted from the drop down list  If my code looks a bit weird it s because I m using Xamarin Android so it s in C  but for all intents  heh  and purposes the Java equivalent should have the same effect   The gist is that I ve created a custom ArrayAdapter that will detect if it is the  hint in the GetDropDownView method  If so then it will inflate an empty XML to hide the hint from the drop down   My spinnerItem xml is       lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt TextView     xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android      android id    id spinnerText      android layout width  match parent      android layout height  wrap content      android paddingLeft   dimen text left padding      android textAppearance   android attr textAppearanceLarge   gt    My  empty  hintSpinnerDropdownItem xml which will hide the hint    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt LinearLayout     xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android      android layout width  match parent      android layout height  wrap content   gt    I pass in an array of CustomObj without the hint  That s why I have the additional AddPrompt method to insert the hint at the beginning before it s passed to the parent constructor   public class CustomArrayAdapter  ArrayAdapter lt CustomObj gt         private const int HintPosition   0      private const CustomObj HintValue   null      private const string Hint    Hint        public CustomArrayAdapter Context context  int textViewResourceId  CustomObj   customObjs    base context  textViewResourceId  AddPrompt customObjs               private static CustomObj   AddPrompt CustomObj   customObjs                CustomObj   customObjsWithHint   new CustomObj customObjs Length   1           CustomObj   hintPlaceholder     HintValue            Array Copy hintPlaceholder   customObjsWithHint   1           Array Copy customObjs  0  customObjsWithHint   1  customObjs Length           return customObjsWithHint              public override Android Views View GetView int position  Android Views View convertView  ViewGroup parent                CustomObj customObj   GetItem position           bool isHint   customObj    HintValue           if  convertView    null                        convertView   LayoutInflater From base Context  Inflate Resource Layout spinnerItem  parent  false                      TextView textView   convertView FindViewById lt TextView gt  Resource Id spinnerText           textView Text   isHint   Hint   customObj Value          textView SetTextColor isHint   Color Gray   Color Black            return convertView       public override Android Views View GetDropDownView int position  Android Views View convertView  ViewGroup parent                CustomObj customObj   GetItem position            if  position    HintPosition                        convertView   LayoutInflater From base Context  Inflate Resource Layout hintSpinnerDropdownItem  parent  false                     else                       convertView   LayoutInflater From base Context  Inflate Resource Layout spinnerItem  parent  false               TextView textView   convertView FindViewById lt TextView gt  Resource Id spinnerText               textView Text   customObj Value                     return convertView

User · Answer

There are two ways you can use spinner   static way  android spinnerMode  dialog    and then set   android prompt   string hint resource    dynamic way  spinner setPrompt  Gender      Note  It will work like a Hint but not actually it is   May it help

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Step 1   Your array looks like  last item your hint  Ex       private String   yourArray   new String     Staff    Student   Your Hint     Step 2   Create HintAdpater java  Just copy  amp  paste   This class not return last item   So your Hint not displays   HintAdapter java  package ajax com vvcoe utils   import android content Context  import android widget ArrayAdapter   import java util List    public class HintAdapter  extends ArrayAdapter lt String gt      public HintAdapter Context context  int resource        super context  resource      public HintAdapter Context context  int resource  int textViewResourceId        super context  resource  textViewResourceId      public HintAdapter Context context  int resource  String   objects        super context  resource  objects      public HintAdapter Context context  int resource  int textViewResourceId  String   objects        super context  resource  textViewResourceId  objects      public HintAdapter Context context  int resource  List lt String gt  objects        super context  resource  objects      public HintAdapter Context context  int resource  int textViewResourceId  List lt String gt  objects        super context  resource  textViewResourceId  objects       Override public int getCount            don t display last item  It is used as hint      int count   super getCount        return count  gt  0   count - 1   count        Step 3   Set spinner adapter like this      HintAdapter hintAdapter new HintAdapter this android R layout simple list item 1 yourArray       yourSpinner setAdapter hintAdapter          show hint     yourSpinner setSelection hintAdapter getCount       Credit goes to  Yakiv Mospan from this answer - https   stackoverflow com a 22774285 3879847  I modify some changes only

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In the adapter you can set the first item as disabled   Below is the sample code   Override public boolean isEnabled int position        if  position    0               Disable the first item from Spinner            First item will be use for hint         return false        else           return true            And set the first item to grey color    Override public View getDropDownView int position  View convertView                                      ViewGroup parent        View view   super getDropDownView position  convertView  parent       TextView tv    TextView  view      if  position    0               Set the hint text color gray         tv setTextColor Color GRAY         else           tv setTextColor Color BLACK             return view      And if the user selects the first item then do nothing    Override public void onItemSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parent  View view  int position  long id        String selectedItemText    String  parent getItemAtPosition position          If user change the default selection        First item is disable and it is used for hint     if  position  gt  0               Notify the selected item text         Toast makeText getApplicationContext     Selected       selectedItemText  Toast LENGTH SHORT  show              Refer the below link for detail   How to add a hint to Spinner in Android

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This can be done in a very simple way  Instead of setting the adapter using the built-in values  android R layout simple list item 1   create your own xml layout for both TextView and DropDown  and use them  In the TextView layout  define Hint text and Hint color  Last step  create and empty item as the first item in the item array defined in Strings     lt string-array name  professional qualification array  gt       lt item gt  lt  item gt       lt item gt B Pharm lt  item gt       lt item gt M Pharm lt  item gt       lt item gt PharmD lt  item gt   lt  string-array gt    Create XML layout for Spinner TextView  spnr qualification xml    lt TextView xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android      android id   android id text1      android layout width  match parent      android layout height  wrap content      android textSize  20sp      android hint  Qualification      android textColorHint   color light gray      android textColor   color blue black    gt    Create XML layout for spinner DropDown  drpdn qual xml      lt CheckedTextView xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  android id   android id text1  style   android attr spinnerDropDownItemStyle  android maxLines  1  android layout width  match parent  android layout height   android attr listPreferredItemHeight  android ellipsize  marquee  android textColor   FFFFFF   gt    Define spinner in the main XML layout   lt Spinner android id    id spnQualification  android layout width  match parent  android layout height  40dp  android layout marginTop  10dp  android paddingLeft  10dp  android paddingBottom  5dp  android paddingTop  5dp    gt    And finally in the code  while setting adapter for the spinner  use your custom XML layout   ArrayAdapter lt CharSequence gt  qual adapter   ArrayAdapter createFromResource this  R array professional qualification array R layout spnr qualification    qual adapter setDropDownViewResource R layout drpdn qual    spnQualification setAdapter qual adapter

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The simplest way I found was this  Creates a TextView or LinearLayout and places it along with the Spinner in a RelativeLayout  Initially the textview will have the text as if it were the hint  Select one       after the first click this TextView is invisible  disabled and calls the Spinner that is right behind it   Step 1   In the activity xml that finds the spinner put     lt RelativeLayout     android layout width  wrap content      android layout height  wrap content  gt       lt Spinner         android id    id sp main          android layout width  match parent          android layout height  wrap content          android layout gravity  center          android spinnerMode  dropdown    gt       lt LinearLayout         android id    id ll hint spinner          android layout width  match parent          android layout height  wrap content          android layout centerInParent  true          android gravity  center  gt           lt TextView              android layout width  match parent              android layout height  match parent              android gravity  center              android text  Select      gt        lt  LinearLayout gt   lt  RelativeLayout gt    Step 2   In your Activity java type   public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity        private LinearLayout ll hint spinner      private Spinner sp main       Override     protected void onCreate Bundle savedInstanceState            super onCreate savedInstanceState           setContentView R layout activity main            ll hint spinner   findViewById R id ll hint spinner           sp main   findViewById R id sp main             Action after clicking LinearLayout   Spinner          ll hint spinner setOnClickListener new View OnClickListener                  Override             public void onClick View v                      By clicking  Select      the Spinner is requested                  sp main performClick                      Make LinearLayout invisible                 setLinearVisibility false                     Disable LinearLayout                 ll hint spinner setEnabled false                     After LinearLayout is off  Spinner will function normally                  sp main setOnItemSelectedListener new AdapterView OnItemSelectedListener                          Override                     public void onItemSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parent  View view  int position  long id                            sp main setSelection position                                              Override                     public void onNothingSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parent                            setLinearVisibility true                                                                                   Method to make LinearLayout invisible or visible      public void setLinearVisibility boolean visible            if  visible                ll hint spinner setVisibility View VISIBLE             else               ll hint spinner setVisibility View INVISIBLE                       Example1 SameExample2 SameExample3  The examples of the images I used a custom Spinner  but the result of the last example will be the same   Note  I have the example in github  click here

[android] How to add a Hint in spinner in XML

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