Is there a more systematic way to populate my layout?

Question

I'm working on the layout as shown below.

enter image description here

So far I've had success with manually defining each View in xml (RelativeLayout within a ScrollView) and manually populating each spinner in java. But this is tedious. I wish I could somehow use "I have this array of items. For each item I want a row on the screen with a spinner and an EditText." I must then be able to grab the user input to put into a database. Eventually, I'll want to be able to come back and edit this screen, which means I'll have to repopulate these fields from a database query.

I tried working some with a ListView, but had trouble populating multiple rows and then read that RelativeLayout is supposed to perform better. What would you suggest? If I have to declare every field in xml and java manually, then so be it.

This is what my XML looks like...

<ScrollView
    android:id="@+id/scrollView1"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="180dp" >

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" >

        <Spinner
            android:id="@+id/category_spinner1"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
             />

         <EditText
             android:id="@+id/editWeight1"
             android:layout_width="70dp"
             android:layout_height="wrap_content"
             android:layout_toLeftOf="@+id/percentSign1"
             android:layout_alignBaseline="@id/category_spinner1"
             android:inputType="numberDecimal"   >

        </EditText>

        <TextView
                android:id="@id/percentSign1"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
                android:layout_alignBaseline="@id/category_spinner1"
                android:text="@string/percentSign"
                android:textSize="20sp" >
        </TextView>


        <Spinner
            android:id="@+id/category_spinner2"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
            android:layout_below="@id/category_spinner1"
             />

         <EditText
             android:id="@+id/editWeight2"
             android:layout_width="70dp"
             android:layout_height="wrap_content"
             android:layout_toLeftOf="@+id/percentSign2"
             android:layout_alignBaseline="@id/category_spinner2"
             android:inputType="numberDecimal"   >

        </EditText>

        <TextView
                android:id="@id/percentSign2"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
                android:layout_alignBaseline="@id/category_spinner2"
                android:text="@string/percentSign"
                android:textSize="20sp" >
        </TextView> 
...

And my Java...

Spinner catSpin1 = (Spinner) rootView.findViewById(R.id.category_spinner1);
         ArrayAdapter<String> catSpinAdapter1 = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this.getActivity(),android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, DBAdapter.gradeTypes);
         catSpinAdapter1.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);
         catSpin1.setAdapter(catSpinAdapter1);
         catSpin1.setSelection(0);

         Spinner catSpin2 = (Spinner) rootView.findViewById(R.id.category_spinner2);
         ArrayAdapter<String> catSpinAdapter2 = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this.getActivity(),android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, DBAdapter.gradeTypes);
         catSpinAdapter2.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);
         catSpin2.setAdapter(catSpinAdapter2);
         catSpin2.setSelection(1);

         Spinner catSpin3 = (Spinner) rootView.findViewById(R.id.category_spinner3);
         ArrayAdapter<String> catSpinAdapter3 = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this.getActivity(),android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, DBAdapter.gradeTypes);
         catSpinAdapter3.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);
         catSpin3.setAdapter(catSpinAdapter3);
         catSpin3.setSelection(2);
...

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 08 '14 at 19:08

1

Sure, create a String array, for example:

<string-array name="my_array">
<item>One</item>
<item>Two</item>
</string-array>

Then add it to te spinner on the xml this way:

<Spinner 
        android:id="@+id/spinner"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:drawSelectorOnTop="true"
        android:entries="@array/my_array"/>

answered Apr 08 '14 at 19:08

JasJar

336
3
14

that's a way to fill the Spinner (and I'll probably implement it), but I'm more looking for a way to avoid having to create and declare the spinners (and other screen elements) one by one. What I'm looking for may or may not exist. – NSouth Apr 08 '14 at 19:11
The only way to do that is programatically. Create a loop in which you create the spinners, set them (content, params, etc.) and then add them to the corresponding viewgroup. – JasJar Apr 08 '14 at 19:44
that sounds good. But if I add them programmatically, then how will I reference them to retrieve user input? How would I know their id? – NSouth Apr 08 '14 at 20:24
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1714297/android-view-setidint-id-programmatically-how-to-avoid-id-conflicts ;D – JasJar Apr 08 '14 at 20:34

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 08 '14 at 19:13

1

My first intention would also have been a ListView, you could create a simple datastructure like a class with two string values that will get updated/displayed by this spinner/edittext combination and you could use this class also to persist it in your database.

Some side note: You should have a look at re-using layouts: http://developer.android.com/training/improving-layouts/reusing-layouts.html That would have made your approach much easier. (define one spinner/edittext layout and re-use it inside your main xml)

answered Apr 08 '14 at 19:13

yekretsaM

421
1
4
10

Thanks for the reply. I read the "reusing layouts" article. How would I reference a field in order to retrieve and store a value if they are nested like that? – NSouth Apr 08 '14 at 19:59
You would give every one of that views an id just like you did with your spinner and edittext like: and then you could access your layout like: ViewGroup my_first_layout = (ViewGroup) findViewById(R.id.my_first_layout) and access your spinner/edittext there with: my_first_layout.findViewById(R.id.category_spinner) – yekretsaM Apr 09 '14 at 16:37

Is there a more systematic way to populate my layout?

2 Answers2