[android] Add and Remove Views in Android Dynamically?

How do I add and remove views such as TextViews from Android app like on the original stock Android contacts screen where you press a small icon on the right side of a field and it adds or deletes a field which consists of a TextView and an editTextView (from what I can see).

Any examples on how to achieve this?

Hi First write the Activity class. The following class have a Name of category and small add button. When you press on add (+) button it adds the new row which contains an EditText and an ImageButton which performs the delete of the row.

package com.blmsr.manager;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.ImageButton;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;
import android.widget.ScrollView;
import android.widget.TableLayout;
import android.widget.TableRow;
import android.widget.TextView;

import com.blmsr.manager.R;
import com.blmsr.manager.dao.CategoryService;
import com.blmsr.manager.models.CategoryModel;
import com.blmsr.manager.service.DatabaseService;

public class CategoryEditorActivity extends Activity {
    private final String CLASSNAME = "CategoryEditorActivity";
    LinearLayout itsLinearLayout;
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_category_editor);

        itsLinearLayout = (LinearLayout)findViewById(R.id.linearLayout2);
    }
@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_category_editor, menu);
    return true;
}

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
    // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
    // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.action_delete:
            deleteCategory();
            return true;
        case R.id.action_save:
            saveCategory();
            return true;
        case R.id.action_settings:
            return true;
        default:
            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

/**
 * Adds a new row which contains the EditText and a delete button.
 * @param theView
 */
public void addField(View theView)
{
    itsLinearLayout.addView(tableLayout(), itsLinearLayout.getChildCount()-1);
}

// Using a TableLayout as it provides you with a neat ordering structure

private TableLayout tableLayout() {
    TableLayout tableLayout = new TableLayout(this);
    tableLayout.addView(createRowView());
    return tableLayout;
}

private TableRow createRowView() {
    TableRow tableRow = new TableRow(this);
    tableRow.setPadding(0, 10, 0, 0);

    EditText editText = new EditText(this);
    editText.setWidth(600);
    editText.requestFocus();

    tableRow.addView(editText);
    ImageButton btnGreen = new ImageButton(this);
    btnGreen.setImageResource(R.drawable.ic_delete);
    btnGreen.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
    btnGreen.setOnClickListener(anImageButtonListener);
    tableRow.addView(btnGreen);

    return tableRow;
}

/**
 * Delete the row when clicked on the remove button.
 */
private View.OnClickListener anImageButtonListener = new View.OnClickListener() {
    @Override
    public void onClick(View v) {
        TableRow anTableRow = (TableRow)v.getParent();
        TableLayout anTable = (TableLayout) anTableRow.getParent();
        itsLinearLayout.removeView(anTable);

    }
};

/**
 * Save the values to db.
 */
private void saveCategory()
{
    CategoryService aCategoryService = DatabaseService.getInstance(this).getCategoryService();
    aCategoryService.save(getModel());
    Log.d(CLASSNAME, "successfully saved model");

    Intent anIntent = new Intent(this, CategoriesListActivity.class);
    startActivity(anIntent);

}

/**
 * performs the delete.
 */
private void deleteCategory()
{

}

/**
 * Returns the model object. It gets the values from the EditText views and sets to the model.
 * @return
 */
private CategoryModel getModel()
{
    CategoryModel aCategoryModel = new CategoryModel();
    try
    {
        EditText anCategoryNameEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.categoryNameEditText);
        aCategoryModel.setCategoryName(anCategoryNameEditText.getText().toString());
        for(int i= 0; i< itsLinearLayout.getChildCount(); i++)
        {
            View aTableLayOutView = itsLinearLayout.getChildAt(i);
            if(aTableLayOutView instanceof  TableLayout)
            {
                for(int j= 0; j< ((TableLayout) aTableLayOutView).getChildCount() ; j++ );
                {
                    TableRow anTableRow = (TableRow) ((TableLayout) aTableLayOutView).getChildAt(i);
                    EditText anEditText =  (EditText) anTableRow.getChildAt(0);
                    if(StringUtils.isNullOrEmpty(anEditText.getText().toString()))
                    {
                        // show a validation message.
                        //return aCategoryModel;
                    }

                    setValuesToModel(aCategoryModel, i + 1, anEditText.getText().toString());
                }
            }
        }
    }
    catch (Exception anException)
    {
        Log.d(CLASSNAME, "Exception occured"+anException);
    }

    return aCategoryModel;
}

/**
 * Sets the value to model.
 * @param theModel
 * @param theFieldIndexNumber
 * @param theFieldValue
 */
private void setValuesToModel(CategoryModel theModel, int theFieldIndexNumber, String theFieldValue)
{
    switch (theFieldIndexNumber)
    {
        case 1 :
            theModel.setField1(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 2 :
            theModel.setField2(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 3 :
            theModel.setField3(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 4 :
            theModel.setField4(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 5 :
            theModel.setField5(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 6 :
            theModel.setField6(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 7 :
            theModel.setField7(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 8 :
            theModel.setField8(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 9 :
            theModel.setField9(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 10 :
            theModel.setField10(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 11 :
            theModel.setField11(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 12 :
            theModel.setField12(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 13 :
            theModel.setField13(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 14 :
            theModel.setField14(theFieldValue);
            break;
        case 15 :
            theModel.setField15(theFieldValue);
            break;
    }
}
}

2. Write the Layout xml as given below.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:background="#006699"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="com.blmsr.manager.CategoryEditorActivity">

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/addCategiryNameItem"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/categoryNameTextView"
        android:layout_width="200dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/lbl_category_name"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/categoryIconName"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/lbl_category_icon_name"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        />

</LinearLayout>

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/linearLayout1"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/categoryNameEditText"
        android:layout_width="200dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="@string/lbl_category_name"
        android:inputType="textAutoComplete" />


    <ScrollView
        android:id="@+id/scrollView1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content">

        <LinearLayout
            android:id="@+id/linearLayout2"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:orientation="vertical">

        <LinearLayout
            android:id="@+id/linearLayout3"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:orientation="horizontal">


            </LinearLayout>

            <ImageButton
                android:id="@+id/addField"
                android:layout_width="50dp"
                android:layout_height="50dp"
                android:layout_below="@+id/addCategoryLayout"
                android:src="@drawable/ic_input_add"
                android:onClick="addField"
                />
        </LinearLayout>
    </ScrollView>
</LinearLayout>

3. Once you finished your view will as shown below

Just use myView.setVisibility(View.GONE); to remove it completely. But if you want to reserve the occupied space inside its parent use myView.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);

//MainActivity :





 package com.edittext.demo;
    import android.app.Activity;
    import android.os.Bundle;
    import android.text.TextUtils;
    import android.view.Menu;
    import android.view.View;
    import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
    import android.widget.Button;
    import android.widget.EditText;
    import android.widget.LinearLayout;
    import android.widget.Toast;

    public class MainActivity extends Activity {

        private EditText edtText;
        private LinearLayout LinearMain;
        private Button btnAdd, btnClear;
        private int no;

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

            edtText = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.edtMain);
            btnAdd = (Button)findViewById(R.id.btnAdd);
            btnClear = (Button)findViewById(R.id.btnClear);
            LinearMain = (LinearLayout)findViewById(R.id.LinearMain);

            btnAdd.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View v) {
                    if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(edtText.getText().toString().trim())) {
                        no = Integer.parseInt(edtText.getText().toString());
                        CreateEdittext();
                    }else {
                        Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "Please entere value", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                    }
                }
            });

            btnClear.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View v) {
                    LinearMain.removeAllViews();
                    edtText.setText("");
                }
            });

            /*edtText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {
                @Override
                public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {

                }
                @Override
                public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count,int after) {
                }
                @Override
                public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
                }
            });*/

        }

        protected void CreateEdittext() {
            final EditText[] text = new EditText[no];
            final Button[] add = new Button[no];
            final LinearLayout[] LinearChild = new LinearLayout[no];
            LinearMain.removeAllViews();

            for (int i = 0; i < no; i++){

                View view = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.edit_text, LinearMain,false);
                text[i] = (EditText)view.findViewById(R.id.edtText);
                text[i].setId(i);
                text[i].setTag(""+i);

                add[i] = (Button)view.findViewById(R.id.btnAdd);
                add[i].setId(i);
                add[i].setTag(""+i);

                LinearChild[i] = (LinearLayout)view.findViewById(R.id.child_linear);
                LinearChild[i].setId(i);
                LinearChild[i].setTag(""+i);

                LinearMain.addView(view);

                add[i].setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
                    public void onClick(View v) {
                        //Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "add text "+v.getTag(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                        int a = Integer.parseInt(text[v.getId()].getText().toString());
                        LinearChild[v.getId()].removeAllViews();
                        for (int k = 0; k < a; k++){

                            EditText text = (EditText) new EditText(MainActivity.this);
                            text.setId(k);
                            text.setTag(""+k);

                            LinearChild[v.getId()].addView(text);
                        }
                    }
                });
            }
        }

        @Override
        public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
            // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
            getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
            return true;
        }

    }

// Now add xml main

<LinearLayout 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"
android:orientation="vertical"
tools:context=".MainActivity" >

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
    android:orientation="horizontal" >

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/edtMain"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:ems="10"
        android:hint="Enter value" >

        <requestFocus />
    </EditText>

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnAdd"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
        android:text="Add" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnClear"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="5dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="5dp"
        android:text="Clear" />
</LinearLayout>

<ScrollView
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_margin="10dp" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/LinearMain"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical" >
    </LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>

// now add view xml file..

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
    android:orientation="horizontal" >

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/edtText"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"
        android:ems="10" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnAdd"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
        android:text="Add" />
</LinearLayout>

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/child_linear"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginLeft="30dp"
    android:layout_marginRight="10dp"
    android:layout_marginTop="5dp"
    android:orientation="vertical" >
</LinearLayout>

This is my general way:

View namebar = view.findViewById(R.id.namebar);
ViewGroup parent = (ViewGroup) namebar.getParent();
if (parent != null) {
    parent.removeView(namebar);
}

Hi You can try this way by adding relative layout and than add textview in that.

LinearLayout.LayoutParams lp = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
            (LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT), (LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));

RelativeLayout relative = new RelativeLayout(getApplicationContext());
relative.setLayoutParams(lp);

TextView tv = new TextView(getApplicationContext());
tv.setLayoutParams(lp);

EditText edittv = new EditText(getApplicationContext());
edittv.setLayoutParams(lp);

relative.addView(tv);
relative.addView(edittv);

For Adding the Button

LinearLayout dynamicview = (LinearLayout)findViewById(R.id.buttonlayout);
LinearLayout.LayoutParams  lprams = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(  LinearLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
LinearLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);

Button btn = new Button(this);
btn.setId(count);
final int id_ = btn.getId();
btn.setText("Capture Image" + id_);
btn.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
btn.setBackgroundColor(Color.rgb(70, 80, 90));
dynamicview.addView(btn, lprams);
btn = ((Button) findViewById(id_));
btn.setOnClickListener(this);

For removing the button

ViewGroup layout = (ViewGroup) findViewById(R.id.buttonlayout);
View command = layout.findViewById(count);
layout.removeView(command);

Kotlin Extension Solution

Add removeSelf to directly call on a view. If attached to a parent, it will be removed. This makes your code more declarative, and thus readable.

myView.removeSelf()

fun View?.removeSelf() {
    this ?: return
    val parent = parent as? ViewGroup ?: return
    parent.removeView(this)
}

Here are 3 options for how to programmatically add a view to a ViewGroup.

// Built-in
myViewGroup.addView(myView)

// Reverse addition
myView.addTo(myViewGroup)

fun View?.addTo(parent: ViewGroup?) {
    this ?: return
    parent ?: return
    parent.addView(this)
}

// Null-safe extension
fun ViewGroup?.addView(view: View?) {
    this ?: return
    view ?: return
    addView(view)
}

I need the exact same feature described in this question. Here is my solution and source code: https://github.com/laoyang/android-dynamic-views. And you can see the video demo in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HeqyG6FDhQ

Layout

Basically you'll two xml layout files:

• A horizontal LinearLayout row view with a TextEdit, a Spinner and an ImageButton for deletion.
• A vertical LinearLayout container view with just a Add new button.

Control

In the Java code, you'll add and remove row views into the container dynamically, using inflate, addView, removeView, etc. There are some visibility control for better UX in the stock Android app. You need add a TextWatcher for the EditText view in each row: when the text is empty you need to hide the Add new button and the delete button. In my code, I wrote a void inflateEditRow(String) helper function for all the logic.

Other tricks

• Set android:animateLayoutChanges="true" in xml to enable animation
• Use custom transparent background with pressed selector to make the buttons visually the same as the ones in the stock Android app.

Source code

The Java code of the main activity ( This explains all the logic, but quite a few properties are set in xml layout files, please refer to the Github source for complete solution):

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
// Parent view for all rows and the add button.
private LinearLayout mContainerView;
// The "Add new" button
private Button mAddButton;
// There always should be only one empty row, other empty rows will
// be removed.
private View mExclusiveEmptyView;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.row_container);
    mContainerView = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.parentView);
    mAddButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btnAddNewItem);

    // Add some examples
    inflateEditRow("Xiaochao");
    inflateEditRow("Yang");
}

// onClick handler for the "Add new" button;
public void onAddNewClicked(View v) {
    // Inflate a new row and hide the button self.
    inflateEditRow(null);
    v.setVisibility(View.GONE);
}

// onClick handler for the "X" button of each row
public void onDeleteClicked(View v) {
    // remove the row by calling the getParent on button
    mContainerView.removeView((View) v.getParent());
}

// Helper for inflating a row
private void inflateEditRow(String name) {
    LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    final View rowView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.row, null);
    final ImageButton deleteButton = (ImageButton) rowView
            .findViewById(R.id.buttonDelete);
    final EditText editText = (EditText) rowView
            .findViewById(R.id.editText);
    if (name != null && !name.isEmpty()) {
        editText.setText(name);
    } else {
        mExclusiveEmptyView = rowView;
        deleteButton.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
    }

    // A TextWatcher to control the visibility of the "Add new" button and
    // handle the exclusive empty view.
    editText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {

        @Override
        public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {

            // Some visibility logic control here:
            if (s.toString().isEmpty()) {
                mAddButton.setVisibility(View.GONE);
                deleteButton.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
                if (mExclusiveEmptyView != null
                        && mExclusiveEmptyView != rowView) {
                    mContainerView.removeView(mExclusiveEmptyView);
                }
                mExclusiveEmptyView = rowView;
            } else {
                if (mExclusiveEmptyView == rowView) {
                    mExclusiveEmptyView = null;
                }
                mAddButton.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
                deleteButton.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count,
                int after) {
        }

        @Override
        public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before,
                int count) {
        }
    });

    // Inflate at the end of all rows but before the "Add new" button
    mContainerView.addView(rowView, mContainerView.getChildCount() - 1);
}

ViewGroup class provides API for child views management in run-time, allowing to add/remove views as well.

Some other links on the subject:

Android, add new view without XML Layout

Android Runtime Layout Tutorial

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/View.html

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/LinearLayout.html