Disable state changes in views within ExpandableListView when clicking them

Question

Background

when you create your own custom views for listView, you can have a checkBox (or any other view that has "state_pressed" for its drawable) inside that will only be shown as touched only when it's really the one that is clicked , instead of clicking anywhere on the row of the listView.

The way to do it for listView is just use the next code on its adapter (as shown here) :

public boolean isEnabled(int position) 
  { 
  return false; 
  } 

The problem

this solution doesn't work for ExpandableListView, since it doesn't have this function.

Not only that, but I think that any clicking on items on the ExpandableListView (even those that do not expand) will trigger a notifyDataSetChanged (or a layout that triggers it).

Why does it occur?

What I've tried

I've tried using "isChildSelectable" ,"areAllItemsEnabled" , "setClickable" and even "duplicateParentState" . None of those solutions has helped.

The question

What is the best way to have a checkbox within rows, and allow only them to handle touches effects on themselves?

Also, why does clicking on items (even those without children) trigger refreshing of the whole ExpandableListView ?

Answer 1

If I understood correctly, you want to have a checkbox in each parent row of an ExpandableListView. I've done something similar before (not using checkboxes, but buttons) and I had to implement a custom adapter. It would be something like this:

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Typeface;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseExpandableListAdapter;
import android.widget.CheckBox;
import android.widget.CompoundButton;
import android.widget.CompoundButton.OnCheckedChangeListener;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class ExpandableListTest extends BaseExpandableListAdapter {
private Context context;
private List<String> _listDataHeader; // header titles
// child data in format of header title, child title
private HashMap<String, List<String>> _listDataChild;

public ExpandableListTest(Context context) {
    this.context = context;
}

@Override
public Object getChild(int groupPosition, int childPosititon) {
    if (_listDataChild != null) {
        return this._listDataChild.get(
                this._listDataHeader.get(groupPosition))
                .get(childPosititon);
    } else {
        return null;
    }
}

@Override
public long getChildId(int groupPosition, int childPosition) {
    return childPosition;
}

@Override
public View getChildView(int groupPosition, final int childPosition,
        boolean isLastChild, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {

    final int position = groupPosition;
    final String childText = (String) getChild(groupPosition, childPosition);

    if (convertView == null) {
        LayoutInflater infalInflater = (LayoutInflater) this.context
                .getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
        convertView = infalInflater.inflate(R.layout.child_layout, null);
    }

    TextView txtListChild = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.text);

    txtListChild.setText(childText);

    convertView.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View arg0) {
            // do something
        }
    });

    return convertView;
}

@Override
public int getChildrenCount(int groupPosition) {
    if (_listDataChild == null) {
        return 0;
    } else {
        return this._listDataChild.get(
                this._listDataHeader.get(groupPosition)).size();
    }
}

@Override
public Object getGroup(int groupPosition) {
    if (_listDataHeader == null) {
        return null;
    } else {
        return this._listDataHeader.get(groupPosition);
    }

}

@Override
public int getGroupCount() {
    if (_listDataHeader == null) {
        return 1;
    } else {
        return this._listDataHeader.size();
    }

}

@Override
public long getGroupId(int groupPosition) {
    return groupPosition;
}

@Override
public View getGroupView(int pos, boolean isExpanded, View view,
        ViewGroup parent) {

    if (view == null) {
        LayoutInflater infalInflater = (LayoutInflater) this.context
                .getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
        view = infalInflater.inflate(R.layout.layout_with_checkbox, null);
    }
    getGroup(pos);

    CheckBox checkBox=(CheckBox)view.findViewById(R.id.checkBox);
    checkBox.setOnCheckedChangeListener(new OnCheckedChangeListener() {
        @Override
        public void onCheckedChanged(CompoundButton arg0, boolean arg1) {
            if(arg1){
                //the checkBox is checked
            }
        }
    });

    return view;
}

@Override
public boolean hasStableIds() {
    return false;
}

@Override
public boolean isChildSelectable(int groupPosition, int childPosition) {
    return false;
}

}

In case you wanted to put the checkbox in the child row, just switch the code and the layouts used in getGroupView() and getChildView().

Parent layout xml:

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

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:paddingLeft="10dp"
        android:paddingRight="10dp" >

        <CheckBox
            android:id="@+id/checkBox"
            android:layout_width="30dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/text"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:layout_marginLeft="40dp"
            android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/imageView1"
            android:text="Text goes here"
            android:textSize="18sp" />
    </RelativeLayout>

</LinearLayout>