How to make an Android Spinner with initial text Select One

Question

I want to use a Spinner that initially  when the user has not made a selection yet  displays the text  Select One   When the user clicks the spinner  the list of items is displayed and the user selects one of the options  After the user has made a selection  the selected item is displayed in the Spinner instead of  Select One    I have the following code to create a Spinner    String   items   new String     One    Two    Three    Spinner spinner    Spinner  findViewById R id mySpinner   ArrayAdapter lt String gt  adapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this              android R layout simple spinner item  items   adapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item   spinner setAdapter adapter     With this code  initially the item  One  is displayed  I could just add a new item  Select One  to the items  but then  Select One  would also be displayed in the dropdown list as first item  which is not what I want   How can I fix this problem

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I have a spinner on my main xml and its id is   id spinner1  this is what i write in my OnCreate function    spinner1    Spinner this findViewById R id spinner1   final String   groupes   new String     A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    ArrayAdapter lt CharSequence gt  featuresAdapter   new ArrayAdapter lt CharSequence gt  this  android R layout simple spinner item  new ArrayList lt CharSequence gt      featuresAdapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item   spinner1 setAdapter featuresAdapter   for  String s   groupes  featuresAdapter add s    spinner1 setOnItemSelectedListener new OnItemSelectedListener          public void onItemSelected AdapterView lt   gt  arg0  View arg1  int position  long id                Here go your instructions when the user chose something          Toast makeText getBaseContext    groupes position   0  show                public void onNothingSelected AdapterView lt   gt  arg0            It doesn t need any implementation in the class

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So this is my final example  all-in  for a button-spinner  In activity my form xml       lt Button         android id    id btnSpinnerPlanets          android layout width  fill parent          android layout height  wrap content          android gravity  left center vertical          android singleLine  true          android text   string selectAPlanet          android textSize  10sp          android background   android drawable btn dropdown  gt       lt  Button gt    In strings xml   lt string name  selectAPlanet  gt Select planet amp  8230  lt  string gt    lt string-array name  planets  entries  gt       lt item gt The Sun with a name very long so long long long long longThe Sun with a name very long so long long long long longThe Sun with a name very long so long long long long long lt  item gt       lt item gt Mercury lt  item gt       lt item gt Venus lt  item gt       lt item gt Earth lt  item gt       lt item gt Mars lt  item gt       lt item gt Jupiter lt  item gt       lt item gt Saturn lt  item gt       lt item gt Uranus lt  item gt       lt item gt Neptune lt  item gt   lt  string-array gt    In MyFormActivity java  public class MyFormActivity extends Activity        Override     public void onCreate Bundle savedInstanceState              Button  findViewById R id btnSpinnerPlanets   setOnClickListener new View OnClickListener                  Override             public void onClick View view                    final String   items   view getResources   getStringArray R array planets  entries                   ArrayAdapter lt String gt  adapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  MyFormActivity this  android R layout simple spinner dropdown item  items                   new AlertDialog Builder MyFormActivity this  setTitle  the prompt   setAdapter adapter  new DialogInterface OnClickListener                          Override                     public void onClick DialogInterface dialog  int which                              Button  findViewById R id btnSpinnerPlanets   setText items which                            dialog dismiss                                             create   show                                                  Finally I obtained a font size configurable no first item selectable button spinner    Thanks to HRJ

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First  you might be interested in the prompt attribute of the Spinner class  See the picture below   Choose a Planet  is the prompt that can be set in the XML with  android prompt        I was going to suggest subclassing Spinner  where you could maintain two adapters internally  One adapter that has the  Select One  option  and the other real adapter  with the actual options   then using the OnClickListener to switch the adapters before the choices dialog is shown  However  after trying implement that idea I ve come to the conclusion you cannot receive OnClick events for the widget itself   You could wrap the spinner in a different view  intercept the clicks on the view  and then tell your CustomSpinner to switch the adapter  but seems like an awful hack   Do you really need to show  Select One

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I found many good solutions for this  most is working by adding an item to the end of adapter  and don t display the last item in drop-down list  The big problem for me was the spinner drop-down list will start from the bottom of the list  So user see the last items instead of the first items  in case of have many items to show   after touch the spinner for the first time   So I put the hint item to the beginning of the list  and hide the first item in drop-down list   private void loadSpinner         HintArrayAdapter hintAdapter   new HintArrayAdapter lt String gt  context  0        hintAdapter add  Hint to be displayed        hintAdapter add  Item 1        hintAdapter add  Item 2                                    hintAdapter add  Item 30         spinner1 setAdapter hintAdapter          spinner1 setSelection 0     display hint  Actually you can ignore it  because the default is already 0       spinner1 setSelection 0  false     use this if don t want to onItemClick called for the hint      spinner1 setOnItemSelectedListener yourListener      private class HintArrayAdapter lt T gt  extends ArrayAdapter lt T gt         Context mContext       public HintArrayAdapter Context context  int resource            super context  resource           this mContext   context             Override      public View getView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent             LayoutInflater inflater    LayoutInflater  mContext getSystemService Activity LAYOUT INFLATER SERVICE           View view   inflater inflate android R layout simple spinner item  parent  false           TextView texview    TextView  view findViewById android R id text1            if position    0                texview setText                  texview setHint getItem position  toString        Hint to be displayed            else               texview setText getItem position  toString                        return view              Override     public View getDropDownView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent             LayoutInflater inflater    LayoutInflater  mContext getSystemService Activity LAYOUT INFLATER SERVICE           View view           if position    0               view   inflater inflate R layout spinner hint list item layout  parent  false      Hide first row           else               view   inflater inflate android R layout simple spinner dropdown item  parent  false               TextView texview    TextView  view findViewById android R id text1               texview setText getItem position  toString                         return view            set the below layout in  Override getDropDownView   when position is 0  to hide the first hint row   R layout spinner hint list item layout    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt 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  wrap content   gt    lt  LinearLayout gt

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This code has been tested and works on Android 4 4    Spinner spinner    Spinner  activity findViewById R id spinner   ArrayAdapter lt String gt  adapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  activity  android R layout simple spinner dropdown item                  Override             public View getView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent                     View v   super getView position  convertView  parent                   if  position    getCount                            TextView v findViewById android R id text1   setText                            TextView v findViewById android R id text1   setHint getItem getCount         Hint to be displayed                                     return v                                     Override             public int getCount                     return super getCount  -1     you dont display last item  It is used as hint                                     adapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item           adapter add  Daily            adapter add  Two Days            adapter add  Weekly            adapter add  Monthly            adapter add  Three Months            adapter add  HINT TEXT HERE      This is the text that will be displayed as hint            spinner setAdapter adapter           spinner setSelection adapter getCount       set the hint the default selection so it appears on launch          spinner setOnItemSelectedListener this

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For those using Xamarin  here is the C  equivalent to aaronvargas s answer above   using Android Content  using Android Database  using Android Views  using Android Widget  using Java Lang   namespace MyNamespace Droid      public class NothingSelectedSpinnerAdapter   BaseAdapter  ISpinnerAdapter  IListAdapter         protected static readonly int EXTRA   1      protected ISpinnerAdapter adapter      protected Context context      protected int nothingSelectedLayout      protected int nothingSelectedDropdownLayout      protected LayoutInflater layoutInflater       public NothingSelectedSpinnerAdapter ISpinnerAdapter spinnerAdapter  int nothingSelectedLayout  Context context    this spinnerAdapter  nothingSelectedLayout  -1  context                   public NothingSelectedSpinnerAdapter ISpinnerAdapter spinnerAdapter  int nothingSelectedLayout  int nothingSelectedDropdownLayout  Context context              this adapter   spinnerAdapter        this context   context        this nothingSelectedLayout   nothingSelectedLayout        this nothingSelectedDropdownLayout   nothingSelectedDropdownLayout        layoutInflater   LayoutInflater From context              protected View GetNothingSelectedView ViewGroup parent              return layoutInflater Inflate nothingSelectedLayout  parent  false              protected View GetNothingSelectedDropdownView ViewGroup parent              return layoutInflater Inflate nothingSelectedDropdownLayout  parent  false              public override Object GetItem int position              return position    0   null   adapter GetItem position - EXTRA              public override long GetItemId int position              return position  gt   EXTRA   adapter GetItemId position - EXTRA    position - EXTRA             public override View GetView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent                 This provides the View for the Selected Item in the Spinner  not          the dropdown  unless dropdownView is not set         if  position    0                  return GetNothingSelectedView parent                     Could re-use the convertView if possible        return this adapter GetView position - EXTRA  null  parent              public override int Count             get                 int count   this adapter Count          return count    0   0   count   EXTRA                     public override View GetDropDownView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent                 Android BUG  http   code google com p android issues detail id 17128 -          Spinner does not support multiple view types       if  position    0                  return nothingSelectedDropdownLayout    -1             new View context              GetNothingSelectedDropdownView parent                     Could re-use the convertView if possible  use setTag          return adapter GetDropDownView position - EXTRA  null  parent              public override int GetItemViewType int position              return 0             public override int ViewTypeCount   gt  1       public override bool HasStableIds   gt  this adapter HasStableIds       public override bool IsEmpty   gt  this adapter IsEmpty       public override void RegisterDataSetObserver DataSetObserver observer              adapter RegisterDataSetObserver observer              public override void UnregisterDataSetObserver DataSetObserver observer              adapter UnregisterDataSetObserver observer              public override bool AreAllItemsEnabled               return false             public override bool IsEnabled int position              return position  gt  0

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I have tried like the following  Take a button and give the click event to it  By changing the button background  it seems to be a spinner   Declare as global variables alertdialog and default value    AlertDialog d  static int default value   0  final Button btn    Button  findViewById R id button1   btn  setOnClickListener new View OnClickListener       Override public void onClick View v          c show        final CharSequence str       Android   Black Berry   Iphone            AlertDialog Builder builder             new AlertDialog Builder TestGalleryActivity this  setSingleChoiceItems              str  default value new  DialogInterface OnClickListener                   Override             public void onClick DialogInterface dialog  int position                                Toast makeText TestGalleryActivity this                                      position                                 Toast LENGTH SHORT  show                    default value   position                  btn setText str position                    if d isShowing                        d dismiss                             setTitle  Select Any            d   builder create            d show

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here s a simple one      private boolean isFirst   true  private void setAdapter         final ArrayList lt String gt  spinnerArray   new ArrayList lt String gt              spinnerArray add  Select your option        spinnerArray add  Option 1        spinnerArray add  Option 2        spin setOnItemSelectedListener new AdapterView OnItemSelectedListener              Override         public void onItemSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parentView  View selectedItemView  int position  long id                TextView tv    TextView selectedItemView              String res   tv getText   toString   trim                if  res equals  Option 1                    do Something           else if  res equals  Option 2                    do Something else                               Override         public void onNothingSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parentView                    ArrayAdapter lt String gt  adapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this  R layout my spinner style spinnerArray             public View getView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent                 View v   super getView position  convertView  parent                int height    int  TypedValue applyDimension TypedValue COMPLEX UNIT DIP  25  getResources   getDisplayMetrics                                      TextView  v  setTypeface tf2                  TextView  v  getLayoutParams   height   height                 TextView  v  setGravity Gravity CENTER                  TextView  v  setTextSize TypedValue COMPLEX UNIT SP  19                  TextView  v  setTextColor Color WHITE                return v                       public View getDropDownView int position  View convertView                   ViewGroup parent                 if  isFirst                     isFirst   false                   spinnerArray remove 0                               View v   super getDropDownView position  convertView  parent                                    TextView  v  setTextColor Color argb 255  70  70  70                   TextView  v  setTypeface tf2                  TextView  v  setGravity Gravity CENTER                return v                          spin setAdapter adapter

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In addition  There is a simple trick to show default   You can add a default value in your list and then add all of your collection using list addAll yourCollection    Sample workable code here   List lt FuelName gt  fuelList   new ArrayList lt FuelName gt                         fuelList add new FuelName 0  Select One                         fuelList addAll response body                         ArrayAdapter adapter   new ArrayAdapter lt  gt  getActivity    android R layout simple spinner item  fuelList                         fuelName setPrompt  Select Fuel                        fuelName setAdapter adapter     Hope it s recover your complexity  Happy coding

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I got the same problem for spinner  with an empty selection  and I found a better solution  Have a look at this simple code   Spinner lCreditOrDebit    Spinner lCardPayView findViewById R id CARD TYPE   spinneradapter lAdapter      new spinneradapter      BillPayScreen this       ndroid R layout simple spinner item getResources   getStringArray R array creditordebit    lAdapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item   lCreditOrDebit setAdapter lAdapter     Here spinneradapter is a small customization for arrayadapter  It looks like this   import android content Context  import android view View  import android view ViewGroup  import android widget ArrayAdapter  import android widget ImageView   public class spinneradapter extends ArrayAdapter lt String gt       private Context m cContext      public spinneradapter Context context int textViewResourceId  String   objects            super context  textViewResourceId  objects           this m cContext   context             boolean firsttime   true       Override     public View getView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent            if firsttime               firsttime   false                Just return some empty view             return new ImageView m cContext                       Let the array adapter take care of it this time          return super getView position  convertView  parent

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I found this solution   String   items   new String     Select One    Two    Three    Spinner spinner    Spinner  findViewById R id mySpinner   ArrayAdapter lt String gt  adapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this              android R layout simple spinner item  items   adapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item   spinner setAdapter adapter    spinner setOnItemSelectedListener new OnItemSelectedListener          Override     public void onItemSelected AdapterView lt   gt  arg0  View arg1  int position  long id            items 0     One           selectedItem   items position               Override     public void onNothingSelected AdapterView lt   gt  arg0                Just change the array 0  with  Select One  and then in the onItemSelected  rename it to  One    Not a classy solution  but it works  D

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I d just use a RadioGroup with RadioButtons if you only have three choices  you can make them all unchecked at first

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to make it easy just like this   String   listAges   getResources   getStringArray R array ages               Creating adapter for spinner         ArrayAdapter lt String gt  dataAdapter                   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this  android R layout simple spinner item  listAges               Drop down layout style - list view with radio button         dataAdapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item               attaching data adapter to spinner         spinner age getBackground   setColorFilter ContextCompat getColor this  R color spinner icon   PorterDuff Mode SRC ATOP           spinner age setAdapter dataAdapter           spinner age setSelection 0           spinner age setOnItemSelectedListener new AdapterView OnItemSelectedListener                  Override             public void onItemSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parent  View view  int position  long id                    String item   parent getItemAtPosition position  toString                     if position  gt  0                          get spinner value                     Toast makeText parent getContext     Age       item  Toast LENGTH SHORT  show                     else                         show toast select gender                     Toast makeText parent getContext     none    item  Toast LENGTH SHORT  show                                                 Override             public void onNothingSelected AdapterView lt   gt  parent

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This is my way   List lt String gt  list   new ArrayList lt String gt     list add  string1    list add  string2    list add  string3    list add   Select one     final int listsize   list size   - 1  ArrayAdapter lt String gt  dataAdapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this android R layout simple spinner item  list      Override public int getCount         return listsize      Truncate the list      dataAdapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item   mySpinner setAdapter dataAdapter    mySpinner setSelection listsize      Hidden item to appear in the spinner

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There is no default API to set hint on Spinner  To add it we need a small workaround with out that not safety reflection implementation  List lt Object gt  objects   new ArrayList lt Object gt     objects add firstItem   objects add secondItem      add hint as last item objects add hint    HintAdapter adapter   new HintAdapter context  objects  android R layout simple spinner item   adapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item    Spinner spinnerFilmType    Spinner  findViewById R id spinner   spinner setAdapter adapter       show hint spinner setSelection adapter getCount       Adapter source    public class HintAdapter         extends ArrayAdapter lt Objects gt         public HintAdapter Context theContext  List lt Object gt  objects            super theContext  android R id text1  android R id text1  objects              public HintAdapter Context theContext  List lt Object gt  objects  int theLayoutResId            super theContext  theLayoutResId  android R id text1  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            Original source

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Consider There are N items to be selected   After adding these N items  add the hint text as  N 1 th item   Set the selected item to Nth position   N 1 th item    In your OnItemSelected Listener  if the selected position is not N  pop the last item and call Adapter notifyDataSetChanged   and set selected item as the selected position   Something like this       spinner setItems  Daily    One time    Frequency       here  Frequency is the hint text      spinner setSelectedIndex 2        spinner setOnItemSelectedListener new OnItemSelectedListener              Override         public void onItemSelected Spinner view  int position  long id  Object item                if  position    2                    view setItems  Daily    One time                    view setSelectedIndex position                else                      This item is not a valid selection

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Seems a banal solution but I usually put simply a TextView in the front of the spinner  The whole Xml looks like this   hey guys  don t shoot me  I know that some of you don t like this kind of marriage     lt FrameLayout     android id    id selectTypesLinear      android layout width  match parent      android layout height  match parent      android orientation  horizontal   gt        lt Spinner         android id    id spinnerExercises          android layout width  match parent          android layout height  match parent          android entries   array exercise spinner entries          android prompt   string exercise spinner prompt         gt                                lt TextView         android id    id spinnerSelectText          android layout width  match parent          android layout height  match parent          android text  Hey  Select this guy           android gravity  center          android background   FF000000    gt     lt  FrameLayout gt    Then I hide the TextView when an Item was selected  Obviously the background color of the TextView should be the same as the Spinner  Works on Android 4 0  Don t know on older versions   Yes  Because the Spinner calls setOnItemSelectedListener at the beginning  the hiding of the textview could be a little bit tricky  but can be done this way       Boolean controlTouched       exerciseSpinner setOnTouchListener new OnTouchListener                Override         public boolean onTouch View v  MotionEvent event                controlTouched   true     I touched it but but not yet selected an Item              return false                         exerciseSpinner setOnItemSelectedListener new OnItemSelectedListener               Override         public void onItemSelected AdapterView lt   gt  arg0  View arg1                  int arg2  long arg3                if  controlTouched       Are you sure that I touched it with my fingers and not someone else                    spinnerSelText setVisibility View GONE                                     Override         public void onNothingSelected AdapterView lt   gt  arg0

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I handle this by using a button instead of a Spinner    I have the sample project up on GitHub   In the project  i m displaying both the Spinner and button to show that they indeed look identical   Except the button you can set the initial text to whatever you want     Here s what the activity looks like   package com stevebergamini spinnerbutton   import android app Activity  import android app AlertDialog  import android content DialogInterface  import android os Bundle  import android view View  import android view View OnClickListener  import android widget Button  import android widget Spinner   public class MainActivity extends Activity        Spinner spinner1      Button button1      AlertDialog ad      String   countries       int selected   -1        Override     protected void onCreate Bundle savedInstanceState            super onCreate savedInstanceState           setContentView R layout activity main            spinner1    Spinner  findViewById R id spinner1           button1    Button  findViewById R id button1            countries   getResources   getStringArray R array country names                You can also use an adapter for the allert dialog if you d like             ArrayAdapter lt String gt  adapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this  android R layout simple spinner dropdown item  countries                    ad   new AlertDialog Builder MainActivity this  setSingleChoiceItems countries  selected                    new  DialogInterface OnClickListener                               Override                         public void onClick DialogInterface dialog  int which                                button1 setText countries which                                selected   which                              ad dismiss                                 setTitle R string select country  create               button1 setOnClickListener  new OnClickListener                  Override             public void onClick View v                    ad getListView   setSelection selected                   ad show                                               NOTE   Yes  I realize that this is dependent on the applied Theme and the look will be slightly different if using Theme Holo   However  if you re using one of the legacy themes such as Theme Black  you re good to go

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XML file        lt Spinner android id    id locationSpinner      android layout width  fill parent      android layout height  wrap content      android prompt   string select location    gt    Activity   private Spinner featuresSelection  private ArrayAdapter lt CharSequence gt  featuresAdapter  private List lt CharSequence gt  featuresList    onCreate   featuresList   new ArrayList lt CharSequence gt     featuresAdapter   new ArrayAdapter lt CharSequence gt  this    android R layout simple spinner item  featuresList   featuresAdapter setDropDownViewResource    android R layout simple spinner dropdown item   featuresSelection     Spinner  yourActivity this    findViewById R id locationSpinner    featuresSelection setAdapter featuresAdapter   featuresSelection setOnItemSelectedListener    new MyOnItemSelectedListener       Some function  add things to the adapter programmatically    featuresAdapter add  some string      Now you have an empty spinner and you can write code to not open the dialog if empty  Or they can press back  But you also populate it with a function or another list during run time

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for me it worked something like this  has the improvement that only changes the text in SOME options  not in all   First i take the names of the spinner and create the arrayadapter with a customize view  but it doesn t matter now  the key is override the getView  and inside change the values u need to change  In my case was only the first one  the rest i leave the original  public void rellenarSpinnerCompeticiones            spinnerArrayCompeticiones   new ArrayList lt String gt             for Competicion c    Controlador getApplication    getCompeticiones                 spinnerArrayCompeticiones add c getNombre                         ArrayAdapter lt String gt  spinnerArrayAdapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this R layout spinner item competicion spinnerArrayCompeticiones           ArrayAdapter lt String gt  spinnerArrayAdapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this  R layout spinner item competicion  spinnerArrayCompeticiones                Override             public View getView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent                    LayoutInflater vi    LayoutInflater getSystemService Context LAYOUT INFLATER SERVICE                   final View v   vi inflate R layout spinner item competicion  null                   final TextView t    TextView v findViewById R id tvCompeticion                   if spinnerCompeticion getSelectedItemPosition   gt 0                       t setText spinnerArrayCompeticiones get spinnerCompeticion getSelectedItemPosition                       else                      t setText  Competiciones                                      return v                                   spinnerArrayAdapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item           spinnerCompeticion setAdapter spinnerArrayAdapter

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I think the easiest way is creating a dummy item on index 0 saying  select one  and then on saving maybe check that selection is not 0

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if you are facing this issue when your items are populates from database-cursor   the simplest solution that I found in this SO answer   use UNION in your cursor adapter query and add the additional item with id  -1 to the query result  without really adding it to the DB   something like   db rawQuery  SELECT iWorkerId as  id  nvLastName as name  FROM  Worker w  UNION  SELECT -1 as  id      as name  null     if the item selected is -1  then it s the default value  Otherwise  it s a record from the table

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When extending SpinnerAdapter  you override two View-producing methods  getView int  View  ViewGroup  and getDropDownView int  View  ViewGroup    The first one supplies the View inserted into the Spinner itself  the second supplies the View in the drop-down list  as the name suggests    You can override the getView      so that  until an item has been selected  it displays a TextView containing a prompt  then  when you detect an item has been selected  you change it to display a TextView corresponding to that   public class PromptingAdapter extends SpinnerAdapter              various code          private boolean selectionmade   false         call this method from the OnItemSelectedListener for your Spinner     public setSelectionState boolean b            selectionmade   b              Override     public View getView int position  View recycle  ViewGroup container            if selectionmade                  your existing code to supply a View for the Spinner               you could even put  return getDropDownView position  recycle  container                      else               View output              if recycle instanceof TextView                     output   recycle                            else                    output   new TextView                       and layout stuff                           output setText R string please select one                 put a string  please select one  in res values strings xml             return output

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I was facing the same problem yesterday and did not want to add a hidden item to the ArrayAdapter or use reflections  which works fine but is kind of dirty   After reading many posts and trying around I found a solution by extending ArrayAdapter and Overriding the getView method   import android content Context  import android support annotation NonNull  import android view LayoutInflater  import android view View  import android view ViewGroup  import android widget ArrayAdapter  import android widget Spinner  import android widget TextView          A SpinnerAdapter which does not show the value of the initial selection initially     but an initialText     To use the spinner with initial selection instead call notifyDataSetChanged        public class SpinnerAdapterWithInitialText lt T gt  extends ArrayAdapter lt T gt         private Context context      private int resource       private boolean initialTextWasShown   false      private String initialText    Please select                   Constructor                param context The current context          param resource The resource ID for a layout file containing a TextView to use when                        instantiating views          param objects The objects to represent in the ListView              public SpinnerAdapterWithInitialText  NonNull Context context  int resource   NonNull T   objects            super context  resource  objects           this context   context          this resource   resource                        Returns whether the user has selected a spinner item  or if still the initial text is shown          param spinner The spinner the SpinnerAdapterWithInitialText is assigned to          return true if the user has selected a spinner item  false if not              public boolean selectionMade Spinner spinner            return    TextView spinner getSelectedView    getText   toString   equals initialText                         Returns a TextView with the initialText the first time getView is called         So the Spinner has an initialText which does not represent the selected item         To use the spinner with initial selection instead call notifyDataSetChanged           after assigning the SpinnerAdapterWithInitialText               Override     public View getView int position  View recycle  ViewGroup container            if initialTextWasShown                return super getView position  recycle  container             else               initialTextWasShown   true              LayoutInflater inflater   LayoutInflater from context               final View view   inflater inflate resource  container  false                  TextView  view  setText initialText                return view                      What Android does when initialising the Spinner  is calling getView for the selected item before calling getView for all items in T   objects  The SpinnerAdapterWithInitialText returns a TextView with the initialText  the first time it is called  All the other times it calls super getView which is the getView method of ArrayAdapter which is called if you are using the Spinner normally   To find out whether the user has selected a spinner item  or if the spinner still displays the initialText  call selectionMade and hand over the spinner the adapter is assigned to

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None of the previously submitted answers really worked the way I wanted to solve this issue  To me the ideal solution would provide the    Select One      or whatever initial text  when the spinner is first displayed  When the user taps the spinner  the initial text shouldn   t be a part of the drop down that is displayed   To further complicate my particular situation  my spinner data is coming form a cursor that is loaded via the LoaderManager callbacks   After considerable experimentation I came up with the following solution   public class MyFragment extends Fragment implements LoaderManager LoaderCallbacks lt Cursor gt    private static final String SPINNER INIT VALUE    Select A Widget   private Spinner mSpinner  private int mSpinnerPosition  private boolean mSpinnerDropDownShowing   false  private View mSpinnerDropDown   private MyCursorAdapter mCursorAdapter         Override public View onCreateView LayoutInflater inflater  ViewGroup container  Bundle savedInstanceState        mCursorAdapter   new MyCursorAdapter getActivity      mSpinner    Spinner  rootView findViewById R id theSpinner   mSpinner setOnTouchListener mSpinnerTouchListener   mSpinner setAdapter mCursorAdapter             Capture the touch events to toggle the spinner s dropdown visibility private OnTouchListener mSpinnerTouchListener   new View OnTouchListener          Override     public boolean onTouch View view  MotionEvent motionEvent            if mSpinnerDropDown    null  amp  amp  mSpinnerDropDownShowing    false               mSpinnerDropDownShowing   true              mSpinnerDropDown setVisibility View VISIBLE                     return false              Capture the click event on the spinner drop down items protected OnClickListener spinnerItemClick   new OnClickListener          Override     public void onClick View view            String widget     TextView  view findViewById android R id text1   getText   toString             if  widget equals SPINNER INIT VALUE                if mCursorAdapter    null                   Cursor cursor   mCursorAdapter getCursor                    if cursor moveToFirst                         while  cursor isAfterLast                             if widget equals cursor getString WidgetQuery WIDGET NAME                                                                     Set the spinner to the correct item                             mSpinnerPosition   cursor getPosition     1                              mSpinner setSelection mSpinnerPosition                               break                                                    cursor moveToNext                                                                               Hide the drop down  Not the most elegent solution but it is the only way I could hide dismiss the drop down         mSpinnerDropDown   view getRootView            mSpinnerDropDownShowing   false          mSpinnerDropDown setVisibility View GONE             private class MyCursorAdapter extends CursorAdapter        private final int DISPLACEMENT   1      private final int DEFAULT ITEM ID   Integer MAX VALUE       private Activity mActivity       public MyCursorAdapter Activity activity                super activity  null  false               mActivity   activity               When loading the regular views  inject the defualt item      Override     public View getView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent            if position    0               if convertView    null                   convertView   mActivity getLayoutInflater   inflate R layout list item widget  parent  false                             return getDefaultItem convertView                     return super getView position - DISPLACEMENT  convertView  parent                When loading the drop down views  set the onClickListener for each view      Override     public View getDropDownView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent           View view   super getDropDownView position  convertView  parent           view setOnClickListener spinnerItemClick           return view               The special default item that is being injected     private View getDefaultItem View convertView           TextView text    TextView  convertView findViewById android R id text1           text setText SPINNER INIT VALUE           return convertView              Override     public long getItemId int position            if  position    0                return DEFAULT ITEM ID                    return super getItemId position - DISPLACEMENT               Override     public boolean isEnabled int position            return position    0   true   super isEnabled position - DISPLACEMENT               Override     public int getViewTypeCount             return super getViewTypeCount     DISPLACEMENT              Override     public int getItemViewType int position            if  position    0                return super getViewTypeCount                       return super getItemViewType position - DISPLACEMENT               Override     public View newView Context context  Cursor cursor  ViewGroup parent            return mActivity getLayoutInflater   inflate R layout list item widget  parent  false               Override     public void bindView View view  Context context  Cursor cursor            if cursor isAfterLast                 return                     TextView text    TextView  view findViewById android R id text1           String WidgetName   cursor getString WidgetQuery WIDGET NAME           text setText WidgetName

User · Answer

Take a look at the iosched app for a general purpose solution to adding an element to the top of a list   In particular  if you are using a CursorAdapter  look at TracksAdapter java which extends that definition to provide a  setHasAllItem  method and associated code to manage the list count to deal with the extra item at the top   Using the custom adapter you can set the text to  Select One  or whatever else you may want that top item to say

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ArrayList lt String gt  sizes   new ArrayList lt  gt       spinner    Spinner  findViewById R id spinner size        if  sizes    null  amp  amp   sizes isEmpty                 SORT ArrayList If You Want Data in ASC or DSC Order          sizes add  28            sizes add  29            sizes add  31             sizes add  Choose Size      adding String at the end of ArrayList         Collections reverse sizes     Last Item Will Be Shown As A Spinner Title          ArrayAdapter lt String gt  adapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this  android R layout simple spinner item  sizes           spinner setAdapter adapter     Simply use arraylist add  Your Data   method to add item at the end of arrayList then just reverse it using Collection reverse arrayList  so that the Title be the 1st Item in Spinner  You can also sort the item before adding the data at the end

User · Answer

Here s a general solution that overrides the Spinner view  It overrides setAdapter   to set the initial position to -1  and proxies the supplied SpinnerAdapter to display the prompt string for position less than 0   This has been tested on Android 1 5 through 4 2  but buyer beware  Because this solution relies on reflection to call the private AdapterView setNextSelectedPositionInt   and AdapterView setSelectedPositionInt    it s not guaranteed to work in future OS updates  It seems likely that it will  but it is by no means guaranteed   Normally I wouldn t condone something like this  but this question has been asked enough times and it seems like a reasonable enough request that I thought I would post my solution          A modified Spinner that doesn t automatically select the first entry in the list        Shows the prompt if nothing is selected        Limitations  does not display prompt if the entry list is empty      public class NoDefaultSpinner extends Spinner        public NoDefaultSpinner Context context            super context              public NoDefaultSpinner Context context  AttributeSet attrs            super context  attrs              public NoDefaultSpinner Context context  AttributeSet attrs  int defStyle            super context  attrs  defStyle               Override     public void setAdapter SpinnerAdapter orig             final SpinnerAdapter adapter   newProxy orig            super setAdapter adapter            try               final Method m   AdapterView class getDeclaredMethod                                  setNextSelectedPositionInt  int class               m setAccessible true               m invoke this -1                final Method n   AdapterView class getDeclaredMethod                                  setSelectedPositionInt  int class               n setAccessible true               n invoke this -1                      catch  Exception e                 throw new RuntimeException e                        protected SpinnerAdapter newProxy SpinnerAdapter obj            return  SpinnerAdapter  java lang reflect Proxy newProxyInstance                  obj getClass   getClassLoader                    new Class   SpinnerAdapter class                   new SpinnerAdapterProxy obj                            Intercepts getView   to display the prompt if position  lt  0             protected class SpinnerAdapterProxy implements InvocationHandler            protected SpinnerAdapter obj          protected Method getView            protected SpinnerAdapterProxy SpinnerAdapter obj                this obj   obj              try                   this getView   SpinnerAdapter class getMethod                                    getView  int class View class ViewGroup class                              catch  Exception e                     throw new RuntimeException e                                    public Object invoke Object proxy  Method m  Object   args  throws Throwable               try                   return m equals getView   amp  amp                           Integer  args 0   lt 0                             getView  Integer args 0   View args 1   ViewGroup args 2                               m invoke obj  args                              catch  InvocationTargetException e                    throw e getTargetException                               catch  Exception e                    throw new RuntimeException e                                    protected View getView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent             throws IllegalAccessException                if  position lt 0                     final TextView v                       TextView    LayoutInflater getContext   getSystemService                      Context LAYOUT INFLATER SERVICE   inflate                        android R layout simple spinner item parent false                   v setText getPrompt                     return v                            return obj getView position convertView parent

User · Answer

You can change it to a Text View and use this   android style   android style Widget DeviceDefault Light Spinner    and then define the android text property

User · Answer

What you can do is decorate your SpinnerAdapter with one that presents a  Select Option     View initially for the Spinner to display with nothing selected   Here is a working example tested for Android 2 3  and 4 0  it uses nothing in the compatibility library  so it should be fine for awhile  Since it s a decorator  it should be easy to retrofit existing code and it works fine with CursorLoaders also   Swap cursor on the wrapped cursorAdapter of course      There is an Android bug that makes this a little tougher to re-use views   So you have to use the setTag or something else to ensure your convertView is correct   Spinner does not support multiple view types  Code notes  2 constructors  This allows you to use a standard prompt or define your own  nothing selected  as the first row  or both  or none   Note  Some themes show a DropDown for a Spinner instead of a dialog  The Dropdown doesn t normally show the prompt   You define a layout to  look  like a prompt  for example  grayed out       Using a standard prompt  notice that nothing is selected      Or with a prompt and something dynamic  could have had no prompt also      Usage in above example  Spinner spinner    Spinner  findViewById R id spinner   ArrayAdapter lt CharSequence gt  adapter   ArrayAdapter createFromResource this  R array planets array  android R layout simple spinner item   adapter setDropDownViewResource android R layout simple spinner dropdown item   spinner setPrompt  Select your favorite Planet      spinner setAdapter        new NothingSelectedSpinnerAdapter              adapter              R layout contact spinner row nothing selected                 R layout contact spinner nothing selected dropdown     Optional             this      contact spinner row nothing selected xml   lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt TextView xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android      android id   android id text1      style   android attr spinnerItemStyle      android singleLine  true      android layout width  match parent      android layout height  wrap content      android ellipsize  marquee      android textSize  18sp      android textColor   808080      android text   Select a Planet        gt    NothingSelectedSpinnerAdapter java  import android content Context  import android database DataSetObserver  import android view LayoutInflater  import android view View  import android view ViewGroup  import android widget ListAdapter  import android widget SpinnerAdapter          Decorator Adapter to allow a Spinner to show a  Nothing Selected     initially    displayed instead of the first choice in the Adapter      public class NothingSelectedSpinnerAdapter implements SpinnerAdapter  ListAdapter        protected static final int EXTRA   1      protected SpinnerAdapter adapter      protected Context context      protected int nothingSelectedLayout      protected int nothingSelectedDropdownLayout      protected LayoutInflater layoutInflater                  Use this constructor to have NO  Select One     item  instead use        the standard prompt or nothing at all          param spinnerAdapter wrapped Adapter          param nothingSelectedLayout layout for nothing selected  perhaps        you want text grayed out like a prompt            param context             public NothingSelectedSpinnerAdapter        SpinnerAdapter spinnerAdapter        int nothingSelectedLayout  Context context             this spinnerAdapter  nothingSelectedLayout  -1  context                         Use this constructor to Define your  Select One     layout as the first        row in the returned choices         If you do this  you probably don t want a prompt on your spinner or it ll        have two  Select  rows          param spinnerAdapter wrapped Adapter  Should probably return false for isEnabled 0          param nothingSelectedLayout layout for nothing selected  perhaps you want        text grayed out like a prompt            param nothingSelectedDropdownLayout layout for your  Select an Item     in        the dropdown          param context             public NothingSelectedSpinnerAdapter SpinnerAdapter spinnerAdapter              int nothingSelectedLayout  int nothingSelectedDropdownLayout  Context context            this adapter   spinnerAdapter          this context   context          this nothingSelectedLayout   nothingSelectedLayout          this nothingSelectedDropdownLayout   nothingSelectedDropdownLayout          layoutInflater   LayoutInflater from context               Override     public final View getView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent               This provides the View for the Selected Item in the Spinner  not            the dropdown  unless dropdownView is not set           if  position    0                return getNothingSelectedView parent                     return adapter getView position - EXTRA  null  parent      Could re-use                                                     the convertView if possible                        View to show in Spinner with Nothing Selected        Override this to do something dynamic    e g   37 Options Found          param parent         return             protected View getNothingSelectedView ViewGroup parent            return layoutInflater inflate nothingSelectedLayout  parent  false               Override     public View getDropDownView int position  View convertView  ViewGroup parent               Android BUG  http   code google com p android issues detail id 17128 -            Spinner does not support multiple view types         if  position    0                return nothingSelectedDropdownLayout    -1                 new View context                  getNothingSelectedDropdownView parent                         Could re-use the convertView if possible  use setTag            return adapter getDropDownView position - EXTRA  null  parent                         Override this to do something dynamic    For example   Pick your favorite        of these 37           param parent         return             protected View getNothingSelectedDropdownView ViewGroup parent            return layoutInflater inflate nothingSelectedDropdownLayout  parent  false               Override     public int getCount             int count   adapter getCount            return count    0   0   count   EXTRA              Override     public Object getItem int position            return position    0   null   adapter getItem position - EXTRA               Override     public int getItemViewType int position            return 0              Override     public int getViewTypeCount             return 1              Override     public long getItemId int position            return position  gt   EXTRA   adapter getItemId position - EXTRA    position - EXTRA              Override     public boolean hasStableIds             return adapter hasStableIds                Override     public boolean isEmpty             return adapter isEmpty                Override     public void registerDataSetObserver DataSetObserver observer            adapter registerDataSetObserver observer               Override     public void unregisterDataSetObserver DataSetObserver observer            adapter unregisterDataSetObserver observer               Override     public boolean areAllItemsEnabled             return false              Override     public boolean isEnabled int position            return position    0     Don t allow the  nothing selected                                                  item to be picked

User · Answer

The best solution I found for this is actually not to use a Spinner but an AutoCompleteTextView  Its basically an EditText with attached Spinner to show suggestions as you type - but  with the right config  it can behave exactly as the OP wishes and more   XML     lt com google android material textfield TextInputLayout                 android id    id item                  android layout width  match parent                  android layout height  wrap content  gt                lt androidx appcompat widget AppCompatAutoCompleteTextView                     android id    id input                      android hint  Select one                      style   style AutoCompleteTextViewDropDown   gt           lt  com google android material textfield TextInputLayout gt    Style    lt style name  AutoCompleteTextViewDropDown  gt       lt item name  android clickable  gt false lt  item gt       lt item name  android cursorVisible  gt false lt  item gt       lt item name  android focusable  gt false lt  item gt       lt item name  android focusableInTouchMode  gt false lt  item gt       lt item name  android layout width  gt match parent lt  item gt       lt item name  android layout height  gt wrap content lt  item gt   lt  style gt    As for the adapter use the basic ArrayAdapter or extend it to make your own  but no additional customization on the adapter side is necessary  Set the adapter on the AutoCompleteTextView

User · Answer

I also solved this problem by using the following code  Suppose you are having a list of items e g    ArrayList lt Item gt  itemsArrayList   new ArrayList lt Item gt     Item item1   new Item    item1 setId 1   item1 setData  First Element    Item item2   new Item    item2 setId 2   Item2 setData  Second Element    itemsArrayList add item1   itemsArrayList add item2     Now we have to provide the strings to spinner because spinner can not understand the object  So we will create an new array list with string items like this -   ArrayList lt String gt  itemStringArrayList   new ArrayList lt String gt     for Item item   itemsArrayList        itemStringArrayList add item getData         Now we have itemStringArrayList array list with two string items  And we have to show the  Select Item  text as first item  So we have to insert an new string into the itemStringArrayList   itemStringArrayList add  Select Item      Now we have an array list itemsArrayList and we want to show two elements in the drop down  But the condition here is    If we don t select anything then Select Item should appear as first element which will not be enabled   So we can implement this functionality like this  If you need to load the array list items into the android spinner  So you will have to use some adapter  So here i ll use the ArrayAdapter  We can use the customise adapter too    ArrayAdapter lt String gt  itemsArrayAdapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  getApplicationContext    R layout spinner item  itemsArrayList            Override         public boolean isEnabled int position                if position    0                                return false                            else                               return true                                    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                    itemsArrayAdapter setDropDownViewResource R layout spinner item   your spinner name setAdapter itemsArrayAdapter     Here in this code  we are using the customised spinner layout i e  R layout spinner item  It s a simple text view    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt TextView     xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android      android layout width  match parent      android layout height  wrap content      android padding  10dp      android textStyle  italic      android fontFamily  sans-serif-medium        gt    We need to disable the first text in the spinner  So for the position 0 we are disabling the text  And color also we can set by overiding getDropDownView method  So in this way we will get the expected spinner

User · Answer

I ended up using a Button instead  While a Button is not a Spinner  the behavior is easy to customize   First create the Adapter as usual   String   items   new String     One    Two    Three    ArrayAdapter lt String gt  adapter   new ArrayAdapter lt String gt  this          android R layout simple spinner dropdown item  items     Note that I am using the simple spinner dropdown item as the layout id  This will help create a better look when creating the alert dialog   In the onClick handler for my Button I have   public void onClick View w      new AlertDialog Builder this     setTitle  the prompt      setAdapter adapter  new DialogInterface OnClickListener           Override     public void onClick DialogInterface dialog  int which              TODO  user specific action        dialog dismiss               create   show        And that s it

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public AdapterView OnItemSelectedListener instructorSpinnerListener   new AdapterView OnItemSelectedListener          Override     public void onItemSelected AdapterView  lt  lt     gt  adapterView  View view  int i  long l            String selectedInstructorName   adapterView getItemAtPosition i  toString            if  selectedInstructorName equals   Select Instructor                   instructorSpinnerAdapter clear                for  Offering offering  allOfferingsList                  instructorSpinnerAdapter add offering             else               instructorSpinnerAdapter clear                          Override     public void onNothingSelected AdapterView lt  lt     gt  adapterView            adapterView setSelection 0               Toast makeText getApplicationContext     Why    Toast LENGTH SHORT  show

User · Answer

Refer to one of the above answers  https   stackoverflow com a 23005376 1312796  I added my code to fix a little bug  That where no data retrieved  How to show the prompt text      Here is my Trick   It works fine with me      Try to put your spinner in a Relative layoutand align a Textview with your spinner and play with the visibility of the Textview  SHOW HIDE  whenever the adapter of the spinner loaded or empty  Like this     lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt RelativeLayout xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  android layout width  match parent  android layout height  match parent  android layout marginLeft  10dp  android layout marginRight  10dp  android layout marginTop  20dp  android background   ededed  android orientation  vertical  gt          lt TextView         android id    id txt prompt from          android layout width  wrap content          android layout height  wrap content          android layout centerVertical  true          android textColor   color gray          android textSize  16sp          android layout alignStart    id sp from          android text  From          android visibility  gone   gt        lt Spinner         android id    id sp from          android layout width  match parent          android layout height  wrap content          android layout centerVertical  true            gt      Here is the code     txt  from    TextView  rootView findViewById R id txt prompt from     call this method after and before spinner adapter loaded and empty    setPromptTextViewVisibility       True or fales   public void setPromptTextViewVisibility  boolean visible         if  visible                txt from setVisibility View VISIBLE             else               txt from setVisibility View INVISIBLE

User · Answer

Lots of answers here but I m surprised no one suggested a simple solution  Place a TextView on top of the Spinner   Set a click listener on the TextView which hides the TextView shows the Spinner  and calls spinner performClick

[android] How to make an Android Spinner with initial text "Select One"?

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