Android - Remove Spinner Dropdown Arrow

Question

I'm just wondering if it's at all possible to simply remove the dropdown arrow for a spinner? I have a drawable arrow in a backgroud layout for my spinner, however the system default arrow appears to the right of the spinner, which I would like to get rid of.

Here is the spinner xml code for my activity layout

<Spinner
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:id="@+id/spinnerSelectStaff"
            android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:layout_marginLeft="18dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="18dp"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:dropDownSelector="@drawable/empty"/>

And my custom spinner layout looks like this:

<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
          android:id="@android:id/text1"
          android:layout_width="match_parent"
          android:layout_height="wrap_content"
          android:layout_margin="5dp"
          android:gravity="center"
          android:textSize="20sp"
          android:background="@drawable/spinner_text_shape"
          android:drawableRight="@drawable/ic_keyboard_arrow_down_black_24dp"
          android:textColor="@color/primary_text" />

Thanks!

Check this link may it help you http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4058360/how-to-create-android-spinner-without-down-triangle-on-the-right-side-of-the-wid — Zubair Akber, Jun 02 '15 at 06:05
Not sure why the downvotes, I've been searching on how to do this for a couple of hours now before asking. — Metalor, Jun 02 '15 at 06:06
Just saw your comment @ZubairAkber, thanks heaps! Not sure how I missed that, I'm usually a pro at Googling. Thanks again :) — Metalor, Jun 02 '15 at 06:14

score 157 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 29 '16 at 13:17

157

Background @null in the layout xml file also does the trick, if you don't want to declare a specific style:

        <Spinner
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="@null"/>

answered Jan 29 '16 at 13:17

Galya

6,294
6
27
45

I were surprised that this does it very well. – Neri Jun 27 '17 at 07:41
is there any way to achieve this programmatically? – Mihir Patel Mar 20 '18 at 07:42
@MihirPatel, Spinner is View, so you can try `spinner.setBackground(null)` – Galya Mar 20 '18 at 08:30
Is there any way to return the default spinner arrow back after setting background null ? – Andriy Jul 10 '19 at 14:47
@AndriyAntoniv, you can programmatically save it as a variable, before setting the background to null and you'll have the original one to use it whenever you like. – Galya Dec 09 '19 at 08:04
@Galya Actually I was trying to avoid storing the default value in my own variable. IMO it would be much better to have some method provided by android which can reset Spinner background state to default – Andriy Mar 17 '20 at 15:13

score 25 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 21 '16 at 20:04

25

This may help You

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <style parent="@android:style/Widget.Spinner" name="SpinnerwithNoArrow">
        <item name="android:background">@android:drawable/edit_text</item>
    </style>
</resources>

Use this style in ur spinner

edited Aug 21 '16 at 20:04

user2137020

586
8
20

answered Jun 02 '15 at 11:45

Prabhuraj

928
2
8
14

this looks strange if you use material design...the answer below is correct – kenyee Jul 28 '16 at 16:39

score 19 · Answer 3 · answered May 16 '18 at 09:34

19

Please try this simple way:

android:background="@android:color/transparent"

answered May 16 '18 at 09:34

Nimisha V

461
4
12

simple and effective, nice :) – icecube Apr 10 '21 at 15:33

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 05 '18 at 22:03

Both answers were not helpful for me, so here is a really simple one-line solution that worked.

  //some spinner initialisation stuff->
mySpinner.setAdapter(adapter);

  //some spinner initialisation stuff->
mySpinner.getBackground().setColorFilter(Color.TRANSPARENT, PorterDuff.Mode.CLEAR);

I can't tell for sure if it will work with just a default spinner layout, but it worked well with my custom that I created for other needs.

Android - Remove Spinner Dropdown Arrow

4 Answers4