Android Simple ListView Tutorial

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a simple ListView in your Android application. The ListView is a view group that displays a list of vertical scrollable items. We will create a ListView that allows users to scroll the list, and on ListView item click will show results on a new activity using an intent method. So lets begin…

Create a new project in Eclipse, select File > New > Android Application Project. Fill in the details and name your project ListViewTutorial.

Application Name : ListViewTutorial

Project Name : ListViewTutorial

Package Name : com.androidbegin.listviewtutorial

Open your MainActivity.java and paste the following code.

MainActivity.java

package com.androidbegin.listviewtutorial;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemClickListener;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.view.View;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
	// Declare variables
	ListView listView;

	@Override
	public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
		// Get the view from listview_main.xml
		setContentView(R.layout.listview_main);

		// Store string resources into an Array
		String[] SamsungPhones = new String[] { "Galaxy S", "Galaxy S2",
				"Galaxy Note", "Galaxy Beam", "Galaxy Ace Plus", "Galaxy S3",
				"Galaxy S Advance", "Galaxy Wave 3", "Galaxy Wave Y",
				"Galaxy Nexus", "Galaxy W", "Galaxy Y", "Galaxy Mini",
				"Galaxy Gio", "Galaxy Wave", "Galaxy Wave 2" };

		// Locate ListView in listview_main.xml
		listView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.listview);

		// Bind array strings into an adapter
		ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
				android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, android.R.id.text1,
				SamsungPhones);
		listView.setAdapter(adapter);

		// Capture ListView item click
		listView.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {
			public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view,
					int position, long id) {

				// Capture the click position and set it into a string
				String phones = (String) listView.getItemAtPosition(position);

				// Launch SingleItemView.java using intent
				Intent i = new Intent(MainActivity.this, SingleItemView.class);

				// Send captured string to SingleItemView.java
				i.putExtra("phones", phones);

				// Start SingleItemView.java
				startActivity(i);

			}
		});
	}

	@Override
	public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
		getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_list_view, menu);
		return true;
	}
}

Strings are stored in a string array and set into a ListView using an adapter. We used an onitemclicklistener to capture ListView item click position and pass the selected string to a new activity called SingleItemView.java.

Next, create an XML file for your MainActivity graphical layout. Go to res > layout > Right Click on layout > New > Android XML File

Name your new XML file listview_main.xml and paste the following code.

listview_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" >

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/listview"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent" />

</RelativeLayout>

Output:

Next, create a new activity in a new class called SingleItemView.java. Go to File > New > Class and name it SingleItemView.java. Select your package named com.androidbegin.listviewtutorial and click Finish.

Open your SingleItemView.java and paste the following code.

SingleItemView.java

package com.androidbegin.listviewtutorial;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class SingleItemView extends Activity {
	// Declare variable
	String phones;

	@Override
	public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
		// Get the view from single_item_view.xml
		setContentView(R.layout.single_item_view);

		// Locate the TextView in single_item_view.xml
		TextView txtPhones = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.text);

		// Get string from intent passed from MainActivity.java
		Intent i = getIntent();
		phones = i.getStringExtra("phones");

		// Set the string into TextView
		txtPhones.setText(phones);

	}
}

An intent is used to retrieve a string from the previous activity and set the string into a TextView.

Next, create an XML file for your SingleItemView graphical layout. Go to res > layout > Right Click on layout > New > Android XML File

Name your new XML file singleitemview.xml and paste the following code.

singleitemview.xml

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/text"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:textSize="30dip" />

</RelativeLayout>

Next, change the application name. Open your strings.xml in your res > values folder and paste the following code.
strings.xml

<resources>

    <string name="app_name">ListView Tutorial</string>
    <string name="hello_world">Hello world!</string>
    <string name="menu_settings">Settings</string>

</resources>

In your AndroidManifest.xml, we need to declare an activity for SingleItemView.java. Open your AndroidManifest.xml and paste the following code.

AndroidManifest.xml

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.androidbegin.listviewtutorial"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="8"
        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity android:name=".MainActivity" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity android:name=".SingleItemView" >
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

Output:

Source Code 

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