Develop Reference

Setting RecyclerViews itemAnimator to null does not remove animations

My outer RecyclerView crashes either with
IllegalArgumentException: Scrapped or attached views may not be recycled. isScrap:false isAttached:true...
or
IllegalStateException: The specified child already has a parent. You must call removeView() on the child's parent first.
Like the title suggests I have an RecyclerView in the list item layout of the first RecyclerView. This layout is used to display messages and the
inner RecyclerView to display attachments that come with the message. The inner RecyclerViews visibility is set to either GONE or VISIBLE depending whether the message has any attachments or not. The simplified outer list item layout looks like this
ConstraintLayout
TextView
TextView
TextView
RecyclerView
And the part of the adapter that handles the inner RecyclerView looks like this
private fun bindFiles(message: Message?) = with(itemView) {
if (message != null && message.attachments.isNotEmpty())
{
sent_message_attachments.setAsVisible()
sent_message_attachments.layoutManager = GridLayoutManager(this.context,Math.min(message.attachments.size,3))
sent_message_attachments.adapter = AttachmentAdapter(message.attachments)
sent_message_attachments.itemAnimator = null
sent_message_attachments.setHasFixedSize(true)
}
else{
sent_message_attachments.setAsGone()
sent_message_attachments.adapter = null
sent_message_attachments.layoutManager = null
}
}
The bug has something to do with the way I fetch the attachments in the inner adapter since once I disable the part that start the download process, everything is fine. There's no problem when loading images from the device, but once I start the download process, everything goes to hell. This is the part that handles images and kicks off the download process in the inner adapter. I have functions for videos and for other file types that are pretty much the same exact thing but use slightly different layout.
private fun bindImage(item: HFile?) = with(itemView) {
if (item != null)
{
if (item.isOnDevice && !item.path.isNullOrEmpty())
{
if (item.isGif)
{
attachment_image.displayGif(File(item.path))
}
else
{
attachment_image.displayImage(File(item.path))
}
}
else
{
//TODO: Add option to load images manually
FileHandler(item.id).downloadFileAsObservable(false)
.subscribeOn(Schedulers.io())
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
.subscribe(
{ progress ->
//TODO: Show download process
},
{ error ->
error.printStackTrace()
//TODO: Enable manual retry
},
{ notifyItemChanged(adapterPosition)} //onComplete
)
}
}
}
I use the same structure as above in my DiscussionListAdapter to load discussion portraits (profile pictures etc.) and it does not have the same issue.
These are the extensions functions used to inflate the viewHolders and to display the images
fun ViewGroup.inflate(layoutRes: Int): View
{
return LayoutInflater.from(context).inflate(layoutRes, this, false)
}
fun ImageView.displayGif(file:File){
GlideApp.with(context).asGif().load(file).transforms(CenterCrop(), RoundedCorners(30)).into(this)
}
fun ImageView.displayImage(file:File){
GlideApp.with(context).load(file).transforms(CenterCrop(), RoundedCorners(30)).into(this)
}
I've been on this for the past couple of days and just can't get my head around it. Any help in any direction is greatly appreciated. I know my explanations can be a bit all over the place so just ask for clarification when needed :)
UPDATE
I have now been able to produce this with a GridLayout as well as with RecyclerView. It's safe to assume that the nested RecyclerViews were not the culprit here. I even tried to ditch the Rx-piece that handled loading the images and created an IntentService for the process, but the same crashes still occur.
With GridLayout I mean that instead of having another adapter to populate the nested RecyclerView I use only one adapter to populate the message and to inflate and populate views for the attachments as well and to attach those views to the nested GridLayout.
The crash happens when I start to download a file and then scroll the view, that is supposed to show the downloaded file, out of the screen. That view should get recycled but for some reason the download process (which in my test cases only takes around 100ms-400ms) causes the app to throw one of the two errors mentioned in the original question. It might be worth noting that I'm using Realm and the adapter takes in a RealmResults<Message> list as it's dataset. My presenter looks for changes in the list and then notifies the adapter when needed (changed due to the implementation of IntentService).
This is how I'm capable to reproduce this time and time again:
Open a discussion that has messages with attachments
Start to scroll upwards for more messages
Pass a message with an attachment and scroll it off screen while it's still loading
Crash
There is no crash if I stop and wait for the download to complete and everything works as intended. The image/video/file gets updated with a proper thumbnail and the app wont crash if I scroll that out of view.
UPDATE 2
I tried swapping the nested ViewGroup for a single ImageView just to see is the problem within the nestedness. Lo and behold! It still crashes. Now I'm really confused, since the DiscussionListAdapter I mentioned before has the same exact thing in it and that one works like a charm... My search continues. I hope someone, some day will benefit from my agony.
UPDATE 3
I started to log the parent of every ViewHolder in the onBindViewHolder() function. Like expected I got nulls after nulls after nulls, before the app crashed and spew this out.
04-26 21:54:50.718 27075-27075/com.hailer.hailer.dev D/MsgAdapter: Parent of ViewHolder: android.view.ViewOverlay$OverlayViewGroup{82a9fbc V.E...... .......D 0,0-1440,2168}
There's a method to my madness after all! But this just poses more questions. Why is ViewOverlay used here? As a part of RecyclerView or as a part of the dark magicians plans to deprive me of my sanity?
Sidenote
I went digging into RecyclerViews code to check if I could find a reason for the ViewOverlaymystery. I found out that RecyclerView calls the adapters onCreateViewHolder() function only twice. Both times providing itself as the parent argument for the function. So no luck there... What the hell can cause the item view to have the ViewOverlay as it's parent? The parent is an immutable value, so the only way for the ViewOverlay to be set as the parent, is for something to construct a new ViewHolder and supply the ViewOverlay as the parent object.
UPDATE 4
Sometimes I amaze myself with my own stupidity. The ViewOverlay is used because the items are being animated. I didn't even consider this to be an option since I've set the itemAnimator for the RecyclerView as null, but for some odd reason that does not work. The items are still being animated and that is causing this whole charade. So what could be the cause of this? (How I chose to ignore the moving items, I do not know, but the animations became very clear when I forced the app to download same picture over and over again and the whole list went haywire.)
My DiscussionInstanceFragment contains the RecyclerView in question and a nested ConstraintLayout that in turn contains an EditText for user input and a send button.
val v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_discussion_instance, container, false)
val lm = LinearLayoutManager(context)
lm.reverseLayout = true
v.disc_instance_messages_list.layoutManager = lm
v.disc_instance_messages_list.itemAnimator = null
v.disc_instance_messages_list.adapter = mPresenter.messageAdapter
This is the piece that handles the initialization of the RecyclerView. I'm most definitely setting the itemAnimator as null, but the animations just wont stop! I've tried setting the animateLayoutChanges xml attribute on the root ConstraintLayout and on the RecyclerView but neither of them worked. It's worth mentioning that I also checked whether the RecyclerView had an itemAnimator in different states of the program, and every time I check the animator, it is null. So what is animating my RecyclerView?!

I have faced the same issue
Try this in your child RecyclerView it works for me
RecyclerView childRC = itemView.findViewById(R.id.cmol_childRC);
layoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(context);
childRC.setItemAnimator(null);
childRC.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);
childRC.setNestedScrollingEnabled(false);
childRC.setHasFixedSize(true);
now set your Adapter like this
ArrayList<Model> childArryList = new ArrayList<>();
childArryList.addAll(arrayList.get(position).getArrayList());
ChildOrderAdapter adapter = new ChildOrderAdapter(context, childArryList);
holder.childRC.swapAdapter(adapter, true);
hope this helps

I finally figured out what was causing this. In my DiscussionInstanceView I have a small view that is animated into and out of view with ConstraintLayout keyframe animations. This view only shows the download progress of the chat history and is used only once, when the discussion is first opened. BUT since I had a call to hiding that view every time my dataset got updated, I was forcing the ConstraintLayout to fire of an animation sequence thus making everything animate during the dataset update. I just added a simple check whether I was downloading the history or not and this problem got fixed.

RecyclerView and Adapter data updates

This is a question about RecyclerView internal behavior for someone that knows its mechanics or is willing to dig into the source code. I’d like an answer backed up by references to the source.
Original question
(scroll down to ‘In other words’ for a more focused question)
I need to understand how notify* actions (for example, notifyItemInserted()) are enqueued. Imagine I have an adapter backed up by this list:
ArrayList<String> list = Arrays.asList("one", "three", "four");
I want to add the values zero and two, that are missing.
Example 1
list.add(1, "two");
// notify the view
adapter.notifyItemInserted(1);
// Seconds later, I go on with zero
list.add(0, "zero");
// notify the view
adapter.notifyItemInserted(0);
This is pretty straightforward and clear, nothing to tell.
Example 2
But what if the two actions are very close to each other, and there’s no layout pass in between?
list.add(1, "two");
list.add(0, "zero”);
What should I do now?
adapter.notifyItemInserted(1);
adapter.notifyItemInserted(0);
Or maybe
adapter.notifyItemInserted(2);
adapter.notifyItemInserted(0);
? From the adapter perspective, the list immediately switched from one, three, four to zero, one, two, three, four so the second option seems more reasonable.
Example 3
list.add(0, “zero”);
adapter.notifyItemInserted(0);
list.add(2, “two”);
adapter.notifyItemInserted(...)
What about it now? 1 or 2 ? The list was updated immediately after, but I am sure there was no layout pass in between.
Question
You got the main issue, and I want to know how should I behave in these situations. The real case is that I have multiple asynchronous tasks ending up in an insert() method. I can enqueue their operations, but:
I don’t want to do that if there’s already an internal queue, and there surely is
I don’t know what happens if two actions happen without a layout pass in between, see Example 3.
In other words
To update recycler, 4 actions must happen:
I actually alter the data model (e.g. insert something into the backing array)
I call adapter.notify*()
Recycler receives the call
Recycler performs the action (e.g. calls getItem*() and onBind() on the adapter) and lays out the change.
It’s easy to understand this when there’s no concurrency, and they happen in sequence:
1. => 2. => 3. => 4. => (new update) 1. => 2. => 3. => 4. ...
Let’s see what happens between steps.
Between 1. and 2.: I would say it is the developer responsibility to call notify() immediately after having altered the data. That’s OK.
Between 2. and 3.: This happens immediately, no issue here.
Between 3. and 4.: This does not happen immediately! AFAIK. So it perfectly possible that a new update (steps 1 and 2) comes between steps 3 and 4 of the previous update.
I want to understand what happens in this case.
How should we behave?
Should I ensure that step 4 of the previous update did took place before inserting new stuff? If so how?

I thought about similar questions before, and I decided:
If I want to insert more than 1 item directly to end of list and
want to get a animation for all, I should:
list.add("0");
list.add("1");
adapter.notifyItemRangeInserted(5, 2); // Suppose there were 5 items before so "0" has index of 5 and we want to insert 2 items.
If I want to insert more than 1 item directly to end of list, but
want to get separated animation for each inserted item, I should:
list.add("0");
list.add("1");
adapter.notifyItemInserted(0);
mRecyclerView.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// before this happens, Be careful to call other notify* methods. Never call notifyDataSetChanged.
adapter.notifyItemInserted(1);
}
}, mRecyclerView.getItemAnimator().getAddDuration());
If I want to insert more than 1 item to different position of list,
similar as 2.
Hope this can help.

So lets start from little intro to RecyclerView works with notify items. And works pretty simple with other list of saved ViewGroup items (ListView for ex.)
RecyclerView has Queue of View Items which already drawn. And doesn't know about any your updates, without calling notify(...) methods. When you added new Items and notify RecyclerView, it starts cycle for checking all Views one by one.
RecyclerView contains and drawn next objects
View view-0 (position 0), view-1 (position 1), View-2 (position 2)
// Here is changes after updating
You added Item View view-new into (position 1) and Notify
RecyclerView starts loop to check changes
RecyclerView received unmodified view-0(position-0) and left them;
RecyclerView found new item view-new(position 1)
RecyclerView removing old item view-1(position 1)
RecyclerView drawing new item view-new(position 1)
// In RecyclerView queue in position-2 was item view-2,
// But now we replacing previous item to this position
RecyclerView found new item view-1 (new position-2)
RecyclerView removing old item view-2(position 2)
RecyclerView drawing new item view-1(position 2)
// And again same behavior
RecyclerView found new item view-3 (new position-3)
RecyclerView drawing new item view-1(position 2)
// And after all changes new RecyclerView would be
RecyclerView contains and drawn next objects
View view-0 (position 0), view-new (position 1) view-1 (position 2), View-2 (position 3)
It's just main flow of working notify functions, but what should know all this actions happens on UI Thread, Main Thread, even you can calling updating from Async Tasks. And answering you 2 Question - You can call Notify to the RecyclerView as much as you want, and make sure, you action would be on the correct Queue.
RecyclerView works correct in any usage, more complicated questions would be to your Adapter work. First of all, you need to synchronize you Adapter action, like adding removing items, and totally refuse of index usage. For example, it's would be better for your Example 3
Item firstItem = new Item(0, “zero”);
list.add(firstItem);
adapter.notifyItemInserted(list.indexOf(firstItem));
//Other action...
Item nextItem = new Item(2, “two”);
list.add(nextItem);
adapter.notifyItemInserted(list.indexOf(nextItem))
//Other actions
UPDATE |
Related to RecyclerView.Adapter Doc, where you can see functions same with notifyDataSetChanged(). And where this RecyclerView.Adapter invokes child items with android.database.Observable extensions, see more About Observable. Access to this Observable Holder is synchronized, until View Element in RecyclerView release usage.
See also RecyclerView from support library version 25.0 Lines 9934 - 9988;

It should not be a problem if you make multiple updates between layout passes. The RecyclerView is designed to handle (and optimize) this case :
RecyclerView introduces an additional level of abstraction between the
RecyclerView.Adapter and RecyclerView.LayoutManager to be able to
detect data set changes in batches during a layout calculation. [...]
There are two types of position related methods in RecyclerView:
layout position: Position of an item in the latest layout calculation. This is the position from the LayoutManager's
perspective.
adapter position: Position of an item in the adapter. This is the position from the Adapter's perspective.
These two positions are the same except the time between dispatching
adapter.notify* events and calculating the updated layout.
In your case the steps are :
You update the data layer
You call adapter.notify*()
The recyclerview record the change (in AdapterHelper.mPendingUpdates if I understand the code correctly). This change will be reflected in ViewHolder.getAdapterPosition(), but not yet in ViewHolder.getLayoutPosition().
At some point the recyclerView apply the recorded changes, basically it reconcile the layout's point of view with the adapter's point of view. It seems that this can happen before the layout pass.
The 1., 2., 3. sequence can happen any number of times as long as 2. immediately follows 1. (and both happen on the main thread).
(1. => 2. => 3.) ... (1. => 2. => 3.) ... 4.

Item firstItem = new Item(0, “zero”);
list.add(firstItem);
adapter.notifyItemInserted(list.indexOf(firstItem));
//Other action...
Item nextItem = new Item(2, “two”);
list.add(nextItem);
adapter.notifyItemInserted(list.indexOf(nextItem))

Adding and Deleting between two seperate Array ListViews

I want to create a custom ListView.
Initially, the custom ListView has one array of data, but when user taps one of the list items, it's then removed from current array and added to another. If the user taps on the second array, the list item is then added back over into the first array.
Please suggest how to apply logic to do this.
Updates : I wants to use only one listview/recyclerview.
Following are screen shots..

Regarding the object switch - this is a simple transfer between lists, , just know beforehand if the insertion and removal is index based, e.g:
contacts.add(iLocation, ContactObject);
favorites.remove(iOtherLocation);
Regarding the ListView stuff, I would suggest converting to RecyclerView, let's build a general scenario:
You have a screen (Activity or Fragment) that holds one list (the implementation can be ListView or Recycler), and another screen that holds the other list.
In both of your lists you have adapters in which you implement the logic for the clicks on the objects in the lists.
The click transfers the object, either directly to the other list, OR to a temporary Object holder (because you might need it for other stuff), in which case you will need to pull that object from the other view, either way you remove it from the current one.
you switch to the other view, and refresh it.
An easy way to go -
Assuming the screens are the same, use only one Activity, holding a single RecyclerView, and handle 2 adapters, each for every list, the adapters allow you to handle the clicks easily, with an index for the object clicked, the click executes the info swap action,the Activity handles the visual swap Action.
a very general example would be:
//init everything obviously ;)
List<ContactObject> contacts;
List<ContactObject> favoritesContacts;
//the AdapteListener is an interface declared inside the adapter
mContactsRecyclerAdapter = new ContactsRecyclerAdapter(this, contacts,new ContactsRecyclerAdapter.AdapterListener()
{
#Override
public void cellClicked(int iIndex, ContactObject object)
{
favoritesContacts.add(iIndex, ContactObject);
contacts.remove(iIndex);
mContactsRecyclerAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
mFavoritesRecyclerAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
mRecyclerView.swapAdapter(mFavoritesRecyclerAdapter, false);
}
});
And vice-versa for the other adapter.
Hope this helps, comment if you have problems and I'll update.

Please implements with custom view extend with Linearlayout
Custom view has 2 child Linearlayout in which will add with this custom view
First time add all the element in first Linearlayout and based on user action please remove from first Linearlayout and add it in another layout

setListAdapter(adapter_name) to change the list displayed on screen, but still appears information from the previous displayed list

I have an activity that extends ListActivity, a list of "concepts" (let's call this list "C") and an onItemClickListener defined for this list. Whenever I click a "concept", no matter which one, the app must display another list. I have the following code to change the displayed list:
if(position == 0) change_list("adapter1");
else if (position == 1) change_list("adapter2");
else if (position == 2) change_list("adapter3");
else if (position == 3) change_list("adapter4");
else if (position == 4) change_list("adapter5");
Where position is the position of the clicked element in C
The function change_list performs setListAdapter(parameter) depending on the parameter I pass.
If I click the first element of C (the first concept), a list related to the first concept must appear. However, after calling setListAdapter(adapter), the data related to this concept is displayed, and also part of the C's list data.
For example: let's suppose C has these concepts:
A B C D E
and I click "A", which would lead to display a list with the following data: {a1,a2}
That's the final result:
a1 a2 C D E
And then, when I interact with another element on screen or I scroll down the list, the "ghost" data disappears and only the correct data remains on screen, just like this:
a1 a2
To make things worse, when I want to display list C again, nothing strange happens. Everything is displayed correctly.
At any time incorrect data is stored where it doesn't have to. One function my app must allow is to generate a txt file , and the generated txt file contains exactly the data I introduced. No data is corrupted or duplicated. I also tried using notifyDataSetChanged() and other functions, but I didn't solve the problem.
EDIT :
Here goes the xml code used for the main list of the activity:
<ListView
android:id="#android:id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#FF0000"
android:layout_below="#+id/afegir"/>
And an example of code in which I determine which contents must be displayed on screen:
else if(comprovar_concepte_actiu() == 1){
pnt = mydbhandler.getStoredValues("despeses1");
pnt.moveToFirst();
if(pnt.moveToFirst()){
do{
adapter_mostrar.add(pnt.getString(pnt.getColumnIndex("nom")));
}while(pnt.moveToNext());
}
adapter_mostrar.notifyDataSetChanged();
}
Where comprovar_concepte_actiu() returns and integer that tells which concept has been clicked in the main list C and adapter_mostrar is the single adapter I'm using now, instead of using multiple adapters (which made me use setListAdapter)
At the beginning of the activity, I call this.setListAdapter(adapter_mostrar). That's all I have.
EDIT 2 :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7twgy043lkxb2x5/conceptes.java?dl=0
Here is a link to my conceptes.java activity. Press CTRL+F once opened and search "this is where I call.. " and you will directly get to the function where the change of list displayed on screen starts
I haven't found a solution yet. Any idea will be totally appreciated

The problem here is that - when you set a new adapter - the old data is still drawn. In other words, there has been no command to "refresh" the listView. However, the new adapter will be commanded to draw its own views. What ultimately occurs is that the old items are still there, the new items are redrawn, but when scrolled away the new adapter won't redraw/recreate the old items.
The solution is to simply refresh the adapter. However, there are two ways to go about this:
Add a new adapter every time and use myListView.invalidateViews(); or something similar [This is probably the easiest solution to implement, although probably not the best in the long run]
Change the dataset of the adapter and use notifyDataSetChanged() [on the adapter]
The latter option is a far better idea. You should use a single adapter and simply change its data over time. Once its dataset is changed, then tell the adapter that such a thing happened so it refreshes. However, you should read more here on all the different thoughts and processes about it, rather than take my opinion on it.
Edit:
There's apparently some very nicely, thought out answers around. Here's another one, that tells you more specifically about the differences between these two:
Is there any difference between ListView.invalidateViews() and Adapter.notifyDataSetChanged()?
Edit2:
With the onClickListener in mind, invalidateViews() will most likely not work, as it'll probably still draw the old views to "finish" the click (ie, draw the highlighting).
Changing the data directly inside a single adapter and using Adapter.notifyDataSetChanged() is your best bet, as it'll know to redraw everything from a single adapter and use only the current data defined by this single adapter.
Best to leave the data specifics (and defining what to draw based off of that data) up to what actually knows the data, rather than a higher up container that knows nothing specific about the actual data.

Should I use several activities for an app with several screens?

I'm new to Android and I'm building a simple application to start with. It consists of a client with three screens. In the first screen the user is prompted for an Ip to connect to a server (I use an EditText and a button). If the connection is successfully established, some data will be retrieved from the server and the client will show the data on a blank screen (I use a TextView). This would be the second screen. Then, the user could ask the server for detailed information about any data that has been retrieved from the server, which would be the third screen (I use a TextView again).
The problem is that I don't know what's the best way to go about it. I have currently one activity and one XML file containing all the components of the view (EditText, button, TextView). Until now, I've been using setVisibility(View.GONE);to hide certain components depending on the screen the user is in. (For example in the first screen I have to hide both TextViews).
One of the problems I'm facing is that when I put the phone in a horizontal position the components I had hidden show up again. I don't know if hiding views is the ideal thing to do for my purpose.
I've thought that maybe I should use more than one activity, shouldn't I?
I really appreciate any help you can give me to structure my first app.

I would definitely recommend splitting up your App into multiple Activities/Fragments. Depending on how big the logic for each screen gets you will be glad you did it later on because each Activity only has one responsibility.
Look at your mail app for example. You got your List Activity showing you all your mails and then when you select one it starts the Detail Activity showing you the content of your mail. Each Activity is only responsible for one thing which make each one easier to write and maintain.
It also simplifies your layout definitions because each one only contains the relevant parts.

Seems like this is coming up a lot. Android destroys and recreates and Activity when the configuration changes. Screen rotation is part of the orientation. In order to avoid that, the Activity is responsible for retaining state. The mechanisms given for that are the onCreate and onSaveInstanceState. In your example, you could do something like the following:
int uiPhase = 1;
#Override
void onCreate( Bundle data ) {
uiPhase = data.getInt( "uiPhase", 1 );
// inflate layout
setPhase( uiPhase );
}
// invoke the following each time your screen changes
void setPhase( int newPhase ) {
uiPhase = newPhase;
switch( uiPhase ) {
case 1: // show UI elements for first screen, hide others
break;
case 2: // show UI elements for second screen, hide others
break;
case 3: // show UI elements for third screen, hide others
break;
}
}
#Override
void onSaveInstanceState( Bundle data ) {
data.put( "uiPhase", uiPhase );
}
I didn't want to complicate the pattern above too much, but a good method for setting visibility is as follows:
phase1view.setVisibility( uiPhase == 1 ? View.VISIBLE : View.GONE );
phase2view.setVisibility( uiPhase == 2 ? View.VISIBLE : View.GONE );
phase3view.setVisibility( uiPhase == 3 ? View.VISIBLE : View.GONE );
That pulls the repetition in the setPhase method quite a bit together.

Set button visibility to GONE (button will be completely "removed" -- the buttons space will be available for another widgets) or INVISIBLE (button will became "transparent" -- its space will not be available for another widgets):
use in place of
setVisibility(View.GONE)
change to
setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE) and try