RecyclerView
was created as a ListView
improvement, so yes, you can create an attached list with ListView
control, but using RecyclerView
is easier as it:
Reuses cells while scrolling up/down - this is possible with implementing View Holder in the ListView
adapter, but it was an optional thing, while in the RecycleView
it's the default way of writing adapter.
Decouples list from its container - so you can put list items easily at run time in the different containers (linearLayout, gridLayout) with setting LayoutManager
.
Example:
mRecyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.my_recycler_view);
mRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(this));
//or
mRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(new GridLayoutManager(this, 2));
ItemAnimator
. There is more about RecyclerView
, but I think these points are the main ones.
So, to conclude, RecyclerView
is a more flexible control for handling "list data" that follows patterns of delegation of concerns and leaves for itself only one task - recycling items.