Populate ListView with text and value from strings.xml

Question

I'm new to android and want to populate listview items that have id as value and string as caption. All I could find searching was that they suggest using string array like:

<string-array name="test">
      <item>first item</item>
      <item>second item</item>
</string-array>

What i'm looking for is something like:

<string-array name="test">
      <item value="1">first item</item>
      <item value="2">second item</item>
</string-array>

just like the option tags of a select in html

`ArrayAdapter` accepts a `String[]`. You can get a `String[]` from the XML resources. What exactly are you having problems doing that? — OneCricketeer, Aug 18 '16 at 13:58
@cricket_007 well as I said I'm new to android. then I might be looking for another `view` other than `listview`. is there a view that can have text and value for each item? — Ashkan Mobayen Khiabani, Aug 18 '16 at 14:02
Similar question. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18827470/creating-arrayadapter-using-xml-resource-and-retrieving-id-or-value-fields-u — OneCricketeer, Aug 18 '16 at 14:03
You can simply adjust the Adapter's row layout view to display a number value (like the position of the element) next to each item. The ListView isn't the problem, it is simply the display element of the Adapter (where the data is held) — OneCricketeer, Aug 18 '16 at 14:05
well the values are not ordered. first item may have value of `8` and the second one `4` — Ashkan Mobayen Khiabani, Aug 18 '16 at 14:07
And this has to be from XML resources? You could do something like this quite easily with plain Java objects or Sqlite — OneCricketeer, Aug 18 '16 at 14:10
Have a class holding an ID and a Value. Load a List of that class into an ArrayAdapter. Or do the same with a SQLite table with 2 columns (and use CursorAdapter). And there's probably more ways... I simply asked if the XML was necessary — OneCricketeer, Aug 18 '16 at 14:20

Leonardo Sibela · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-18T14:31:16.290

Create a new Activity (this will make a xml file (layout) and a Java class.

On the layout, create a Layot that has a ListView on int:

<?xml version=”1.0” encoding=”utf-8”?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android=”http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android”
    android:layout_width=”match_parent”
    android:layout_height=”match_parent”
    android:orientation=”vertical” >

 <ListView
    android:id=”@+id/itemList”
    android:layout_width=”match_parent”
    android:layout_height=”wrap_content” 
    android:entries="@array/test"
/>

On your activity, you have to:

Create a ListView variable
Map your view on the XML on this variable
Get a list of Strings from your resource array-adapter
Instanciate an Adapter (an object that you have to set on your listview to get your list (in your case, of strings) and add them in your recycler view. You can create a customized class for your adapter it, but when dealing with Strings, you can use a simple one called ArrayAdapter).
Set your adapter on your ListView object

To do all of those things, you put this in your code:

public class MyActivity extends Activity {

    // Creating variable
    ListView listView;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        // Mapping with your XML view
        listView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.itemList);

        /// Getting list of Strings from your resource
        String[] testArray = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.test); 
         List<String> testList = Arrays.asList(test);

        // Instanciating Adapter
        ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<>(getBaseContext(),
    android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, testList);

        // setting adapter on listview
        listview.setAdapter(adapter);
    }
}

@AshkanMobayenKhiabani that's what `getResources().getStringArray` does — OneCricketeer, Aug 18 '16 at 14:02
I was assuming you had a layout with a ListView and you already knew how to set a simple ArrayAdapter<> on it. — Leonardo Sibela, Aug 18 '16 at 14:14

Bibek Shakya · Answer 2 · 2016-08-18T14:24:54.410

0

This will help you to retrieve string by position..

String[] some_array = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.your_string_array)

edited Aug 18 '16 at 14:24

answered Aug 18 '16 at 13:58

Bibek Shakya

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Where's the adapter? – OneCricketeer Aug 18 '16 at 14:00
This gets the items (and I did it) but I also have to assign `id`s to each item – Ashkan Mobayen Khiabani Aug 18 '16 at 14:01
Resources res= getResources(); String [] item=res.getStringArray(R.array.test); http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30941803/how-to-get-items-from-a-string-array-using-an-id-based-mechanism – Bibek Shakya Aug 18 '16 at 14:17

Populate ListView with text and value from strings.xml

2 Answers2