[java] Populating a ListView using an ArrayList?

My Android app needs to populate the ListView using the data from an ArrayList.

I have trouble doing this. Can someone please help me with the code?

This question is related to java android listview arraylist

The answer is


You need to do it through an ArrayAdapter which will adapt your ArrayList (or any other collection) to your items in your layout (ListView, Spinner etc.).

This is what the Android developer guide says:

A ListAdapter that manages a ListView backed by an array of arbitrary objects. By default this class expects that the provided resource id references a single TextView. If you want to use a more complex layout, use the constructors that also takes a field id. That field id should reference a TextView in the larger layout resource.

However the TextView is referenced, it will be filled with the toString() of each object in the array. You can add lists or arrays of custom objects. Override the toString() method of your objects to determine what text will be displayed for the item in the list.

To use something other than TextViews for the array display, for instance ImageViews, or to have some of data besides toString() results fill the views, override getView(int, View, ViewGroup) to return the type of view you want.

So your code should look like:

public class YourActivity extends Activity {

    private ListView lv;

    public void onCreate(Bundle saveInstanceState) {
         setContentView(R.layout.your_layout);

         lv = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.your_list_view_id);

         // Instanciating an array list (you don't need to do this, 
         // you already have yours).
         List<String> your_array_list = new ArrayList<String>();
         your_array_list.add("foo");
         your_array_list.add("bar");

         // This is the array adapter, it takes the context of the activity as a 
         // first parameter, the type of list view as a second parameter and your 
         // array as a third parameter.
         ArrayAdapter<String> arrayAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(
                 this, 
                 android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,
                 your_array_list );

         lv.setAdapter(arrayAdapter); 
    }
}

tutorial

Also look up ArrayAdapter interface:

ArrayAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId, List<T> objects)

Try the below answer to populate listview using ArrayList

public class ExampleActivity extends Activity
{
    ArrayList<String> movies;

    public void onCreate(Bundle saveInstanceState)
    {
       super.onCreate(saveInstanceState);
       setContentView(R.layout.list);

       // Get the reference of movies
       ListView moviesList=(ListView)findViewById(R.id.listview);

       movies = new ArrayList<String>();
       getMovies();

       // Create The Adapter with passing ArrayList as 3rd parameter
       ArrayAdapter<String> arrayAdapter =      
                 new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, movies);
       // Set The Adapter
       moviesList.setAdapter(arrayAdapter); 

       // register onClickListener to handle click events on each item
       moviesList.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener()
       {
           // argument position gives the index of item which is clicked
           public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> arg0, View v,int position, long arg3)
           {
               String selectedmovie=movies.get(position);
               Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Movie Selected : "+selectedmovie,   Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
           }
        });
    }

    void getmovies()
    {
        movies.add("X-Men");
        movies.add("IRONMAN");
        movies.add("SPIDY");
        movies.add("NARNIA");
        movies.add("LIONKING");
        movies.add("AVENGERS");   
    }
}

public class Example extends Activity
{
    private ListView lv;
    ArrayList<String> arrlist=new ArrayList<String>();
    //let me assume that you are putting the values in this arraylist
    //Now convert your arraylist to array

    //You will get an exmaple here

    //http://www.java-tips.org/java-se-tips/java.lang/how-to-convert-an-arraylist-into-an-array.html 

    private String arr[]=convert(arrlist);
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle bun)
    {
        super.onCreate(bun);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        lv=(ListView)findViewById(R.id.lv);
        lv.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1 , arr));
        }
    }

Here's an example of how you could implement a list view:

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

    //We have our list view
    final ListView dynamic = findViewById(R.id.dynamic);

    //Create an array of elements
    final ArrayList<String> classes = new ArrayList<>();
    classes.add("Data Structures");
    classes.add("Assembly Language");
    classes.add("Calculus 3");
    classes.add("Switching Systems");
    classes.add("Analysis Tools");

    //Create adapter for ArrayList
    final ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<>(this,android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, classes);

    //Insert Adapter into List
    dynamic.setAdapter(adapter);

    //set click functionality for each list item
    dynamic.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
            Log.i("User clicked ", classes.get(position));
        }
    });



}

Questions with java tag:

Under what circumstances can I call findViewById with an Options Menu / Action Bar item? How much should a function trust another function How to implement a simple scenario the OO way Two constructors How do I get some variable from another class in Java? this in equals method How to split a string in two and store it in a field How to do perspective fixing? String index out of range: 4 My eclipse won't open, i download the bundle pack it keeps saying error log getting " (1) no such column: _id10 " error Instantiating a generic type When to create variables (memory management) java doesn't run if structure inside of onclick listener String method cannot be found in a main class method Are all Spring Framework Java Configuration injection examples buggy? Calling another method java GUI I need to know how to get my program to output the word i typed in and also the new rearranged word using a 2D array Java and unlimited decimal places? Read input from a JOptionPane.showInputDialog box Cannot retrieve string(s) from preferences (settings) strange error in my Animation Drawable Two Page Login with Spring Security 3.2.x Hadoop MapReduce: Strange Result when Storing Previous Value in Memory in a Reduce Class (Java) Got a NumberFormatException while trying to parse a text file for objects Best way for storing Java application name and version properties Call japplet from jframe FragmentActivity to Fragment Comparing two joda DateTime instances Maven dependencies are failing with a 501 error IntelliJ: Error:java: error: release version 5 not supported Has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version 57.0) Why am I getting Unknown error in line 1 of pom.xml? Gradle: Could not determine java version from '11.0.2' Error: Java: invalid target release: 11 - IntelliJ IDEA Android Gradle 5.0 Update:Cause: org.jetbrains.plugins.gradle.tooling.util Why is 2 * (i * i) faster than 2 * i * i in Java? must declare a named package eclipse because this compilation unit is associated to the named module How do I install Java on Mac OSX allowing version switching? How to install JDK 11 under Ubuntu? Java 11 package javax.xml.bind does not exist IntelliJ can't recognize JavaFX 11 with OpenJDK 11 Difference between OpenJDK and Adoptium/AdoptOpenJDK OpenJDK8 for windows How to allow all Network connection types HTTP and HTTPS in Android (9) Pie? Find the smallest positive integer that does not occur in a given sequence Error: JavaFX runtime components are missing, and are required to run this application with JDK 11 How to uninstall Eclipse? Failed to resolve: com.google.firebase:firebase-core:16.0.1 How to resolve Unable to load authentication plugin 'caching_sha2_password' issue

Questions with android tag:

Under what circumstances can I call findViewById with an Options Menu / Action Bar item? How to implement a simple scenario the OO way My eclipse won't open, i download the bundle pack it keeps saying error log getting " (1) no such column: _id10 " error java doesn't run if structure inside of onclick listener Cannot retrieve string(s) from preferences (settings) strange error in my Animation Drawable how to put image in a bundle and pass it to another activity FragmentActivity to Fragment A failure occurred while executing com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks Why am I seeing net::ERR_CLEARTEXT_NOT_PERMITTED errors after upgrading to Cordova Android 8? "Failed to install the following Android SDK packages as some licences have not been accepted" error Android Gradle 5.0 Update:Cause: org.jetbrains.plugins.gradle.tooling.util No Creators, like default construct, exist): cannot deserialize from Object value (no delegate- or property-based Creator WebView showing ERR_CLEARTEXT_NOT_PERMITTED although site is HTTPS WARNING: API 'variant.getJavaCompile()' is obsolete and has been replaced with 'variant.getJavaCompileProvider()' GoogleMaps API KEY for testing Can I use library that used android support with Androidx projects. How to allow all Network connection types HTTP and HTTPS in Android (9) Pie? Android Material and appcompat Manifest merger failed Deprecated Gradle features were used in this build, making it incompatible with Gradle 5.0 How to format DateTime in Flutter , How to get current time in flutter? How to change package name in flutter? Failed to resolve: com.android.support:appcompat-v7:28.0 What is AndroidX? Unable to resolve dependency for ':app@debug/compileClasspath': Could not resolve FirebaseInstanceIdService is deprecated installation app blocked by play protect Handling back button in Android Navigation Component Android design support library for API 28 (P) not working Failed to resolve: com.google.firebase:firebase-core:16.0.1 com.google.android.gms:play-services-measurement-base is being requested by various other libraries java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:failed resolution of :Lorg/apache/http/ProtocolVersion Install Android App Bundle on device Conflict with dependency 'com.android.support:support-annotations' in project ':app'. Resolved versions for app (26.1.0) and test app (27.1.1) differ. How to develop Android app completely using python? Invoke-customs are only supported starting with android 0 --min-api 26 Flutter.io Android License Status Unknown How to open Android Device Monitor in latest Android Studio 3.1 Default interface methods are only supported starting with Android N How can I change the app display name build with Flutter? Error:(9, 5) error: resource android:attr/dialogCornerRadius not found error: resource android:attr/fontVariationSettings not found Flutter does not find android sdk Error - Android resource linking failed (AAPT2 27.0.3 Daemon #0) Error : Program type already present: android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout$Behavior flutter run: No connected devices Cannot inline bytecode built with JVM target 1.8 into bytecode that is being built with JVM target 1.6 Still getting warning : Configuration 'compile' is obsolete and has been replaced with 'implementation' PANIC: Cannot find AVD system path. Please define ANDROID_SDK_ROOT (in windows 10)

Questions with listview tag:

How to add a ListView to a Column in Flutter? Warning: Each child in an array or iterator should have a unique "key" prop. Check the render method of `ListView` Best way to update data with a RecyclerView adapter Android Recyclerview vs ListView with Viewholder Get clicked item and its position in RecyclerView How to show an empty view with a RecyclerView? NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'int java.util.ArrayList.size()' on a null object reference RecyclerView vs. ListView How to implement endless list with RecyclerView? Recyclerview and handling different type of row inflation Xamarin.Forms ListView: Set the highlight color of a tapped item Create listview in fragment android Android ListView with onClick items android.content.res.Resources$NotFoundException: String resource ID #0x0 Add Items to ListView - Android Android draw a Horizontal line between views ArrayAdapter in android to create simple listview OnItemClickListener using ArrayAdapter for ListView Get Selected Item Using Checkbox in Listview How to handle the click event in Listview in android? How to customize listview using baseadapter Output Django queryset as JSON Add Items to Columns in a WPF ListView notifyDataSetChange not working from custom adapter List View Filter Android Android ListView headers Android : How to set onClick event for Button in List item of ListView How to display list items as columns? Android ListView in fragment example Creating columns in listView and add items How to get the bluetooth devices as a list? WPF ListView - detect when selected item is clicked Add item to Listview control Adding an onclicklistener to listview (android) How do I get the SelectedItem or SelectedIndex of ListView in vb.net? Custom Adapter for List View ListView with OnItemClickListener How to remove listview all items How to change color and font on ListView ListView inside ScrollView is not scrolling on Android How to select an item in a ListView programmatically? How to change text color of simple list item OnItemCLickListener not working in listview How to dynamically remove items from ListView on a button click? How can I get Android Wifi Scan Results into a list? Android ListView with Checkbox and all clickable update listview dynamically with adapter Populating a ListView using an ArrayList? Android: how to refresh ListView contents? How to get the selected item from ListView?

Questions with arraylist tag:

Adding null values to arraylist How to iterate through an ArrayList of Objects of ArrayList of Objects? Dynamically adding elements to ArrayList in Groovy How to replace existing value of ArrayList element in Java How to remove the last element added into the List? How to append elements at the end of ArrayList in Java? Removing Duplicate Values from ArrayList How to declare an ArrayList with values? In Java, can you modify a List while iterating through it? Load arrayList data into JTable How to quickly and conveniently create a one element arraylist Difference between size and length methods? Creating multiple objects with different names in a loop to store in an array list Passing ArrayList from servlet to JSP How to add an object to an ArrayList in Java Create an ArrayList with multiple object types? Storing and Retrieving ArrayList values from hashmap Array vs ArrayList in performance Simple way to compare 2 ArrayLists how to fix java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException Get specific objects from ArrayList when objects were added anonymously? How to avoid "ConcurrentModificationException" while removing elements from `ArrayList` while iterating it? How to sort an ArrayList in Java How to use an arraylist as a prepared statement parameter Create an ArrayList of unique values How to find an object in an ArrayList by property Java ArrayList of Doubles Pass Arraylist as argument to function How to create an 2D ArrayList in java? Add ArrayList to another ArrayList in java Java - How to access an ArrayList of another class? Getting Index of an item in an arraylist; How to sort an ArrayList? Sum all the elements java arraylist Java Compare Two List's object values? Java - How Can I Write My ArrayList to a file, and Read (load) that file to the original ArrayList? How to find the minimum value in an ArrayList, along with the index number? (Java) Arraylist swap elements Get value (String) of ArrayList<ArrayList<String>>(); in Java Option to ignore case with .contains method? add item in array list of android Add multiple items to already initialized arraylist in java How to dynamically add elements to String array? What is the difference between List and ArrayList? Can not deserialize instance of java.util.ArrayList out of VALUE_STRING Java ArrayList clear() function How to remove element from ArrayList by checking its value? Java ArrayList - Check if list is empty How to concat two ArrayLists? Foreach loop in java for a custom object list