[java] How to create RecyclerView with multiple view type?

I have a better solution which allows to create multiple view types in a declarative and type safe way. It’s written in Kotlin which btw is really nice.

Simple view holders for all required view types

class ViewHolderMedium(itemView: View) : RecyclerView.ViewHolder(itemView) {
    val icon: ImageView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.icon) as ImageView
    val label: TextView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.label) as TextView
}

There is an abstraction of adapter data item. Note that a view type is represented by a hashCode of particular view holder class (KClass in Kotlin)

trait AdapterItem {
   val viewType: Int
   fun bindViewHolder(viewHolder: RecyclerView.ViewHolder)
}

abstract class AdapterItemBase<T>(val viewHolderClass: KClass<T>) : AdapterItem {
   override val viewType: Int = viewHolderClass.hashCode()  
   abstract fun bindViewHolder(viewHolder: T)
   override fun bindViewHolder(viewHolder: RecyclerView.ViewHolder) {
       bindViewHolder(viewHolder as T)
   }
}

Only bindViewHolder needs to be overriden in concrete adapter item classes (type safe way)

class AdapterItemMedium(val icon: Drawable, val label: String, val onClick: () -> Unit) : AdapterItemBase<ViewHolderMedium>(ViewHolderMedium::class) {
    override fun bindViewHolder(viewHolder: ViewHolderMedium) {
        viewHolder.icon.setImageDrawable(icon)
        viewHolder.label.setText(label)
        viewHolder.itemView.setOnClickListener { onClick() }
    }
}

List of such AdapterItemMedium objects is a data source for the adapter which actually accepts List<AdapterItem> see below.

Important part of this solution is a view holder factory which will provide fresh instances of a specific ViewHolder

class ViewHolderProvider {
    private val viewHolderFactories = hashMapOf<Int, Pair<Int, Any>>()

    fun provideViewHolder(viewGroup: ViewGroup, viewType: Int): RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        val (layoutId: Int, f: Any) = viewHolderFactories.get(viewType)
        val viewHolderFactory = f as (View) -> RecyclerView.ViewHolder
        val view = LayoutInflater.from(viewGroup.getContext()).inflate(layoutId, viewGroup, false)
        return viewHolderFactory(view)
    }

    fun registerViewHolderFactory<T>(key: KClass<T>, layoutId: Int, viewHolderFactory: (View) -> T) {
        viewHolderFactories.put(key.hashCode(), Pair(layoutId, viewHolderFactory))
    }
}

And the simple adapter class looks like this

public class MultitypeAdapter(val items: List<AdapterItem>) : RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder>() {

   val viewHolderProvider = ViewHolderProvider() // inject ex Dagger2

   init {
        viewHolderProvider!!.registerViewHolderFactory(ViewHolderMedium::class, R.layout.item_medium, { itemView ->
            ViewHolderMedium(itemView)
        })
   }

   override fun getItemViewType(position: Int): Int {
        return items[position].viewType
    }

    override fun getItemCount(): Int {
        return items.size()
    }

    override fun onCreateViewHolder(viewGroup: ViewGroup, viewType: Int): RecyclerView.ViewHolder? {
        return viewHolderProvider!!.provideViewHolder(viewGroup, viewType)
    }

    override fun onBindViewHolder(viewHolder: RecyclerView.ViewHolder, position: Int) {
        items[position].bindViewHolder(viewHolder)     
    }
}

Only 3 steps to create a new view type:

1. create a view holder class
2. create an adapter item class (extending from AdapterItemBase)
3. register view holder class in ViewHolderProvider

Here is an example of this concept : android-drawer-template It goes even further - view type which act as a spinner component, selectable adapter items.