Set selected item of spinner programmatically

Question

I am working on an android project and I am using a spinner which uses an array adapter which is populated from the database.

I can't find out how I can set the selected item programmatically from the list. For example if, in the spinner I have the following items:

Category 1
Category 2
Category 3

How would I programmatically make Category 2 the selected item when the screen is created. I was thinking it might be similar to c# I.E Spinner.SelectedText = "Category 2" but there doesn't seem to be any method similar to this for Android.

Please follow this link : [How to set selection on spinner item][1] [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16358563/how-to-maintain-spinner-state-in-android/23776382#23776382 — Maddy Sharma, May 21 '14 at 07:18
You can pass your index into `spinner.setSelection()`. That would work just fine. You can also create a method that can help you match your indexes to their actual strings. — Taslim Oseni, May 03 '19 at 11:05

score 880 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 17 '12 at 15:41

880

Use the following: spinnerObject.setSelection(INDEX_OF_CATEGORY2).

answered Jun 17 '12 at 15:41

Arun George

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Thanks, this worked great, while I was doing this I also found a way of getting the index without needing to loop through the adapter. I used the following ``mySpinner.setSelection(arrayAdapter.getPosition("Category 2"));`` – Boardy Jun 17 '12 at 16:01
101

in case you dont have the adapter to reference. mySpinner.setSelection(((ArrayAdapter)mySpinner.getAdapter()).getPosition("Value")); – Kalel Wade Apr 11 '14 at 17:10
4

sexSpinner.setSelection(adapter.getPosition(mUser.getGender()) == -1 ? 0 : adapter.getPosition(mUser.getGender())); – Goofyahead May 01 '14 at 09:06
calling SetSelection() just after setAdapter() seem to display the 1st item always (Android 2.3), even the good one is selected in the dropView. adding view.post() (@Marco Hernaiz Cao answer) fix it for me. – Christ Jun 20 '14 at 10:14
7

This doesn't work if the Spinner has an onItemSelectedListener(). The Listener won't be called. – Don Larynx May 17 '15 at 19:52

score 98 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 26 '18 at 04:30

98

No one of these answers gave me the solution, only worked with this:

mySpinner.post(new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        mySpinner.setSelection(position);
    }
});

edited Feb 26 '18 at 04:30

ישו אוהב אותך

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answered Feb 23 '14 at 18:08

Marco Hernaiz

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I call SetSelection() just after setAdapter(). This display the 1st item always (Android 2.3), even the good one is selected in the dropView. Your solution did it for me. – Christ Jun 20 '14 at 10:14
2

Thanks, that worked! btw works for ListView.post.run() performItemClick() as well – Michael D. Aug 12 '14 at 13:30
How can I select the last one based on the size? – jvargas Mar 12 '20 at 17:11

score 46 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 24 '16 at 22:13

46

public static void selectSpinnerItemByValue(Spinner spnr, long value) {
    SimpleCursorAdapter adapter = (SimpleCursorAdapter) spnr.getAdapter();
    for (int position = 0; position < adapter.getCount(); position++) {
        if(adapter.getItemId(position) == value) {
            spnr.setSelection(position);
            return;
        }
    }
}

You can use the above like:

selectSpinnerItemByValue(spinnerObject, desiredValue);

& of course you can also select by index directly like

spinnerObject.setSelection(index);

edited Jan 24 '16 at 22:13

John Slegers

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answered Jun 17 '12 at 15:44

Yaqub Ahmad

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An error with this code is that @Boardy want the selection of `Category 2` which I suppose is a String (assuming he tried using `Spinner.SelectedText = "Category 2"`) but the above code is for a `long`. – Arun George Jun 17 '12 at 15:47
He is populating the categories from the database there must be an ID for each category. – Yaqub Ahmad Jun 17 '12 at 15:50
1

Why assume it is a CursorAdapter? SpinnerAdapter works just as well. – Greg Ennis Aug 28 '13 at 23:03
I think you have a mistake here, it should be `adapter.getItem(position)`, not `adapter.getItemId(position)`. – Vadim Kotov Aug 02 '19 at 09:03

score 34 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

Some explanation (at least for Fragments - never tried with pure Activity). Hope it helps someone to understand Android better.

Most popular answer by Arun George is correct but don't work in some cases.
The answer by Marco HC uses Runnable wich is a last resort due to additional CPU load.

The answer is - you should simply choose correct place to call to setSelection(), for example it works for me:

@Override
public void onResume() {
    super.onResume();

    yourSpinner.setSelection(pos);
 }

But it won't work in onCreateView(). I suspect that is the reason for the interest to this topic.

The secret is that with Android you can't do anything you want in any method - oops:( - components may just not be ready. As another example - you can't scroll ScrollView neither in onCreateView() nor in onResume() (see the answer here)

I will I could give a +18 so that your answer would be above @Marco HC's. You are the only one trying to do things the way it is meant to be done — Vedant Agarwala, Mar 18 '15 at 06:19

score 17 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 24 '16 at 22:13

17

To find a value and select it:

private void selectValue(Spinner spinner, Object value) {
    for (int i = 0; i < spinner.getCount(); i++) {
        if (spinner.getItemAtPosition(i).equals(value)) {
            spinner.setSelection(i);
            break;
        }
    }
}

edited Jan 24 '16 at 22:13

John Slegers

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answered Oct 14 '15 at 13:35

Ferran Maylinch

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score 15 · Answer 6 · edited Aug 08 '14 at 14:30

15

Why don't you use your values from the DB and store them on an ArrayList and then just use:

yourSpinner.setSelection(yourArrayList.indexOf("Category 1"));

edited Aug 08 '14 at 14:30

David Bohunek

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answered Aug 08 '14 at 14:18

RicardoSousaDev

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1

The various solutions using the DataAdapter didn't work for me, but using the ArrayList that the values were built from in this sample did the trick. – ewall Jun 06 '16 at 00:30

score 13 · Answer 7 · edited Aug 01 '19 at 13:46

13

The optimal solution is:

    public String[] items= new String[]{"item1","item2","item3"};
    // here you can use array or list 
    ArrayAdapter adapter= new ArrayAdapter(Your_Context, R.layout.support_simple_spinner_dropdown_item, items);
    final Spinner itemsSpinner= (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.itemSpinner);
itemsSpinner.setAdapter(adapter);

To get the position of the item automatically add the following statement

itemsSpinner.setSelection(itemsSpinner.getPosition("item2"));

edited Aug 01 '19 at 13:46

Vadim Kotov

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answered Mar 29 '18 at 18:57

Naham Al-Zuhairi

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Cannot resolve method 'getPosition' in 'Spinner' – Pedro Joaquín Jan 19 '21 at 20:02
For `getPosition()` use adpater like `spinnerAdapter.getPosition()`. It will resolve your problem. @PedroJoaquín – Nayan Sarder Jan 20 '21 at 19:09

score 7 · Answer 8 · edited Jan 24 '16 at 22:13

7

You can make a generic method for this kind of work as I do in my UtilityClass which is

public void SetSpinnerSelection(Spinner spinner,String[] array,String text) {
    for(int i=0;i<array.length;i++) {
        if(array[i].equals(text)) {
            spinner.setSelection(i);
        }
    }
}

edited Jan 24 '16 at 22:13

John Slegers

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answered Mar 12 '15 at 09:43

ZygoteInit

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score 6 · Answer 9 · edited Aug 01 '19 at 13:46

6

You can easily set like this: spinner.setSelection(1), instead of 1, you can set any position of list you would like to show.

edited Aug 01 '19 at 13:46

Vadim Kotov

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answered Apr 10 '17 at 19:41

score 6 · Answer 10 · answered Nov 21 '21 at 19:23

6

In Kotlin I found a simple solution using a lambda:

spinnerObjec.post {spinnerObjec.setSelection(yourIndex)}

answered Nov 21 '21 at 19:23

אריאל עדן

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There are twenty-four existing answers to this question, including an accepted answer with 843 (!!!) upvotes. Are you sure your answer hasn't already been provided? If not, why might someone prefer your approach over the existing approaches proposed? Are you taking advantage of new capabilities? Are there scenarios where your approach is better suited? – Jeremy Caney Nov 21 '21 at 21:48

score 5 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 25 '13 at 19:18

5

I have a SimpleCursorAdapter so I have to duplicate the data for use the respose in this post. So, I recommend you try this way:

for (int i = 0; i < spinnerRegion.getAdapter().getCount(); i++) {
    if (spinnerRegion.getItemIdAtPosition(i) == Integer
        .valueOf(signal.getInt(signal
            .getColumnIndexOrThrow("id_region")))) {
        spinnerRegion.setSelection(i);
        break;
    }
}

I think that is a real way

answered Jun 25 '13 at 19:18

pazfernando

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yes, in case of SimpleCursorAdapter, spinnerRegion.getItemIdAtPosition(i) gives a Cursor, which can be used to get the columns. – lalitm May 14 '14 at 07:26

score 4 · Answer 12 · answered Mar 25 '19 at 13:51

4

This is what I use in Kotlin:

spinner.setSelection(resources.getStringArray(R.array.choices).indexOf("Choice 1"))

answered Mar 25 '19 at 13:51

Donny Rozendal

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if `indexOf` can not make a match, then it returns `-1`, which appears to result in the default value being the selected by `spinner.setSelection`. I'm ok with that. – lasec0203 Sep 19 '19 at 07:06

score 3 · Answer 13 · answered Mar 22 '16 at 22:00

3

I know that is already answered, but simple code to select one item, very simple:

spGenre.setSelection( ( (ArrayAdapter) spGenre.getAdapter()).getPosition(client.getGenre()) );

answered Mar 22 '16 at 22:00

Dante

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score 3 · Answer 14 · answered Jul 21 '16 at 10:01

3

This is work for me.

 spinner.setSelection(spinner_adapter.getPosition(selected_value)+1);

answered Jul 21 '16 at 10:01

Arpit Patel

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what about the +1? – SHADOW.NET Jun 29 '18 at 20:08
Because it’s start from 0 so we have to add one for getting right answer – Arpit Patel Jun 29 '18 at 22:18
getposition can return 0 for first index – famfamfam Feb 22 '21 at 08:40

score 3 · Answer 15 · 2018-07-18T15:56:34.460

3

This is stated in comments elsewhere on this page but thought it useful to pull it out into an answer:

When using an adapter, I've found that the spinnerObject.setSelection(INDEX_OF_CATEGORY2) needs to occur after the setAdapter call; otherwise, the first item is always the initial selection.

// spinner setup...
spinnerObject.setAdapter(myAdapter);
spinnerObject.setSelection(INDEX_OF_CATEGORY2);

This is confirmed by reviewing the AbsSpinner code for setAdapter.

edited Jul 18 '18 at 15:56

answered Jul 18 '18 at 10:53

Of course, you can select an item only after the adapter has been filled. – CoolMind Sep 12 '18 at 13:07

score 2 · Answer 16 · answered Jul 30 '14 at 15:10

2

If you have a list of contacts the you can go for this:

((Spinner) view.findViewById(R.id.mobile)).setSelection(spinnerContactPersonDesignationAdapter.getPosition(schoolContact.get(i).getCONT_DESIGNATION()));

answered Jul 30 '14 at 15:10

Maddy Sharma

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score 2 · Answer 17 · answered Apr 28 '16 at 17:01

2

  for (int x = 0; x < spRaca.getAdapter().getCount(); x++) {
            if (spRaca.getItemIdAtPosition(x) == reprodutor.getId()) {
                spRaca.setSelection(x);
                break;
            }
        }

answered Apr 28 '16 at 17:01

Julio Cezar Riffel

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Could you add a bit of text to explain your answer? – Kmeixner Apr 28 '16 at 17:18

score 1 · Answer 18 · answered Feb 21 '19 at 00:16

Most of the time spinner.setSelection(i); //i is 0 to (size-1) of adapter's size doesn't work. If you just call spinner.setSelection(i);

It depends on your logic.

If view is fully loaded and you want to call it from interface I suggest you to call

spinner.setAdapter(spinner_no_of_hospitals.getAdapter());
spinner.setSelection(i); // i is 0 or within adapter size

Or if you want to change between activity/fragment lifecycle, call like this

spinner.post(new Runnable() {
  @Override public void run() {
    spinner.setSelection(i);
  }
});

score 1 · Answer 19 · answered Oct 12 '20 at 17:06

Here is the Kotlin extension I am using:

fun Spinner.setItem(list: Array<CharSequence>, value: String) {
    val index = list.indexOf(value)
    this.post { this.setSelection(index) }
}

Usage:

spinnerPressure.setItem(resources.getTextArray(R.array.array_pressure), pressureUnit)

score 1 · Answer 20 · answered Sep 22 '21 at 10:20

1

This Worked For me:

mySpinner.post(new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        mySpinner.setSelection(position);

        spinnerAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
    }
});

answered Sep 22 '21 at 10:20

Anas Nadeem

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6
10

score 1 · Answer 21 · answered Sep 22 '21 at 11:17

1

Yes, you can achieve this by passing the index of the desired spinner item in the setSelection function of spinner. For example:

spinnerObject.setSelection(INDEX_OF_CATEGORY).

answered Sep 22 '21 at 11:17

Akshay Khajuria

103
6

score 0 · Answer 22 · answered Nov 22 '16 at 16:23

0

In my case, this code saved my day:

public static void selectSpinnerItemByValue(Spinner spnr, long value) {
    SpinnerAdapter adapter = spnr.getAdapter();
    for (int position = 0; position < adapter.getCount(); position++) {
        if(adapter.getItemId(position) == value) {
            spnr.setSelection(position);
            return;
        }
    }
}

answered Nov 22 '16 at 16:23

Juan Pablo

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You don't need to do this. adapter has a getPosition(item) call that returns int position. – tzg Apr 15 '19 at 15:09

score 0 · Answer 23 · answered Jul 04 '19 at 14:10

I had made some extension function of Spinner for loading data and tracking item selection.

Spinner.kt

fun <T> Spinner.load(context: Context, items: List<T>, item: T? = null) {
    adapter = ArrayAdapter(context, android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, items).apply {
        setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item)
    }

    if (item != null && items.isNotEmpty()) setSelection(items.indexOf(item))
}

inline fun Spinner.onItemSelected(
    crossinline itemSelected: (
        parent: AdapterView<*>,
        view: View,
        position: Int,
        id: Long
    ) -> Unit
) {
    onItemSelectedListener = object : AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener {
        override fun onNothingSelected(parent: AdapterView<*>?) {
        }

        override fun onItemSelected(parent: AdapterView<*>, view: View, position: Int, id: Long) {
            itemSelected.invoke(parent, view, position, id)
        }
    }
}

Usaage Example

val list = listOf("String 1", "String 2", "String 3")
val defaultData = "String 2"

// load data to spinner
your_spinner.load(context, list, defaultData)

// load data without default selection, it points to first item
your_spinner.load(context, list)

// for watching item selection
your_spinner.onItemSelected { parent, view, position, id -> 
    // do on item selection
}

JosinMC · Answer 24 · 2017-08-31T17:08:28.547

-1

This worked for me:

@Override
protected void onStart() {
    super.onStart();
    mySpinner.setSelection(position);
}

It's similar to @sberezin's solution but calling setSelection() in onStart().

edited Aug 31 '17 at 17:08

answered Aug 05 '17 at 03:20

JosinMC

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score -1 · Answer 25 · answered May 29 '19 at 09:23

I had the same issue since yesterday.Unfortunately the first item in the array list is shown by default in spinner widget.A turnaround would be to find the previous selected item with each element in the array list and swap its position with the first element.Here is the code.

OnResume()
{
int before_index = ShowLastSelectedElement();
if (isFound){
      Collections.swap(yourArrayList,before_index,0);
   }
adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(CurrentActivity.this,
                            android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, yourArrayList);
adapter.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item;                    yourListView.setAdapter(adapter);
}
...
private int ShowLastSelectedElement() {
        String strName = "";
        int swap_index = 0;
        for (int i=0;i<societies.size();i++){
            strName = yourArrayList.get(i);
            if (strName.trim().toLowerCase().equals(lastselectedelement.trim().toLowerCase())){
                swap_index = i;
                isFound = true;
            }
        }
        return swap_index;
    }

Set selected item of spinner programmatically

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