Develop Reference

Holder pattern and convert view

I have learned earlier about great approach to increase performance - Holder Pattern. This is good idea to speed up UI and animation.
It is clearly why and how to use it.
I have used it a lot , but now I am little bit confused about this.
When getView method is called it has three arguments one is converView. As I undertand it is previously inflated view of list item, so the are some questions about this.
If it is previously inflated view, why not just to use it, return it from method, of course check to null before.
How does this implemented,listview class has private array or another data structure that holds all inflated views ?
Why this feature is not implemented in adapters ?
Thanks in advance.
#Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
ViewHolder holder =(ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
}

If you would just use the convertView, you would need to get hold of your views with findViewById(). This is exactly what the ViewHolder pattern is trying to avoid. findViewById() is a surprisingly expensive method and can slow down your app, especially if you constantly call it when scrolling through lists.
Listviews reuse the layouts of the child items, to avoid having to inflate the same views over and over again.
Most adapters were already available to developers before people came up with the ViewHolder pattern. The latest new list view, RecyclerView, has an adapter that enforces the use of the ViewHolder pattern.

You can't call ViewHolder holder =(ViewHolder) convertView.getTag(); at the first line of getView. Because convertView could be null. Try again like this:
#Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
ViewHoldler holder = null;
if (convertView == null) {
convertView = LayoutInflater.from(ctx).inflate(
R.layout.frag_home_gridview_item, null, false);
holder = new ViewHoldler();
holder.iv = (ImageView) convertView
.findViewById(R.id.gridview_item_label);
holder.tv = (TextView) convertView
.findViewById(R.id.gridview_item_name);
convertView.setTag(holder);
} else {
holder = (ViewHoldler) convertView.getTag();
}
holder.tv.setText(getItem(position));
holder.iv.setImageResource(this.ids[position]);
return convertView;
}
private class ViewHoldler {
ImageView iv;
TextView tv;
}

Because you most likely are not using same views. Say you have a row which has a TextView in it. The convertview is one of the recycled views and it's textview may be displaying different information that it should be.
It does keep as many views as there are visible, once you scroll down the top view get's recycled and you come back to answer 1.
I don't understand, your code is from the BaseAdapter class.

Recycling views in custom array adapter: how exactly is it handled?

I am having an unclear issue concerning the recycling of views in a getView method of a custom array adapter.
I understand that elements are reused, but how do I know exact what to implement in the first part of the if statement, and what in the second?
Right now I am having following code. I came to this question due to dropping the code in the second part of the statement which results in a list of the first 9 elements, which are repeated numberous times instead of all elements. I didn't really know what is causing this exactly...
#Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
View row = convertView;
if (row == null) {
LayoutInflater inflater = ((Activity) context).getLayoutInflater();
row = inflater.inflate(layoutResourceId, parent, false);
title = getItem(position).getTitle();
size = calculateFileSize(position);
txtTitle = (TextView) row.findViewById(R.id.txtTitle);
tvFileSize = (TextView) row.findViewById(R.id.tvFileSize);
txtTitle.setText(title);
tvFileSize.setText(size);
} else {
title = getItem(position).getTitle();
size = calculateFileSize(position);
txtTitle = (TextView) row.findViewById(R.id.txtTitle);
tvFileSize = (TextView) row.findViewById(R.id.tvFileSize);
txtTitle.setText(title);
tvFileSize.setText(size);
}
return row;
}

It's easy. The first time no row is created, so you have to inflate them. Afterwards, the Android os may decide to recycle the views that you already inflated and that are not visible anymore. Those are already inflated and passed into the convertView parameter, so all you have to do is to arrange it to show the new current item, for example placing the right values into the various text fields.
In short, in the first part you should perform the inflation AND fill the values, in the second if (if convertView != null) you should only overwrite the field because, given the view has been recycled, the textviews contain the values of the old item.
This post and this are good starting points

I understand that elements are reused, but how do I know exact what to implement in the first part of the if statement, and what in the second?
The organization is quite simple once you get the hang of it:
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
if (convertView == null) {
/* This is where you initialize new rows, by:
* - Inflating the layout,
* - Instantiating the ViewHolder,
* - And defining any characteristics that are consistent for every row */
} else {
/* Fetch data already in the row layout,
* primarily you only use this to get a copy of the ViewHolder */
}
/* Set the data that changes in each row, like `title` and `size`
* This is where you give rows there unique values. */
return convertView;
}
For detailed explanations of how ListView's RecycleBin works and why ViewHolders are important watch Turbo Charge your UI, a Google I/O presentation by Android's lead ListView programmers.

You want to create a ViewHolder class in your MainActivity. Something like
static class ViewHolder
{
TextView tv1;
TextView tv2;
}
then in your getView, the first time you get your Views from your xml in the if and reuse them after that in the else
View rowView = convertView;
if (rowView == null)
{
LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) context.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
rowView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.layout_name_to_inflate, parent, false);
holder = new ViewHolder();
holder.tv1= (TextView) rowView.findViewById(R.id.textView1);
holder.tv2 = (RadioGroup) rowView.findViewById(R.id.textView2);
rowView.setTag(holder);
}
else
{
holder = (ViewHolder) rowView.getTag();
}

I would recommend that you use the View holder and convertview pattern to create your listView as it will be more efficient.Here is a good explanation of how it works with a re-use strategy. This will answer your question on how re-cycling works. If you want to refer to a code sample, I have it on GitHub.
Hope this helps.

The last part of the question I really couldn't grasp without a picture of the effect but for the first part "what to implement in the first part of the if statement, and what in the second" I think I've found the this implementation very common.
You would find the view references first and store them to a static class ViewHolder which then you attach to the tag of the new inflated view. As the listview recycles the views and a convertView is passed getView you get the ViewHolder from the convertView's tag so you don't have to find the references again (which greatly improves performance) and update the view data with that of your object at the position given.
Technically you don't care what position the view was since all you care for is the references to the views you need to update which are held within it's ViewHolder.
#Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup container) {
ViewHolder holder;
Store store = getItem(position);
if (convertView == null) {
convertView = mLayoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.item_store, null);
// create a holder to store references
holder = new ViewHolder();
// find references and store in holder
ViewGroup logoPhoneLayout = (ViewGroup) convertView
.findViewById(R.id.logophonelayout);
ViewGroup addressLayout = (ViewGroup) convertView
.findViewById(R.id.addresslayout);
holder.image = (ImageView) logoPhoneLayout
.findViewById(R.id.image1);
holder.phone = (TextView) logoPhoneLayout
.findViewById(R.id.textview1);
holder.address = (TextView) addressLayout
.findViewById(R.id.textview1);
// store holder in views tag
convertView.setTag(holder);
} else {
// Retrieve holder from view
holder = (ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
}
// fill in view with our store (at this position)
holder.phone.setText(store.phone);
holder.address.setText(store.getFullAddress());
UrlImageViewHelper.setUrlDrawable(holder.image, store.storeLogoURL,
R.drawable.no_image);
return convertView;
}
private static class ViewHolder {
ImageView image;
TextView phone;
TextView address;
}

Android ListView Layout inflater

We are working with list views in college at the moment. My lecturer gave us a simple application that displays mail messages in a list and when the user selects one it displays the content of the message in a new activity. I understand pretty much all of what is going on but there are a few grey areas I want to clear up!
Basically I am wondering what this section of code does?
#Override
public View getView(final int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
View v = convertView;
if (v == null) {
LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getContext().getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
v = vi.inflate(R.layout.inbox_row, null);
}
This method is located within a class that extends ArrayAdapter. Am I right in thinking that it is some form of recycling? for when views go on and off the screen?....
Any help is much appreciated. thanks.

it's exactly what you said, a form of recycling.
Inflating a layout takes a lot of memory and a lot of time, so for the efficiency sake, the system passes to you that just went off the screen and you can simply update its text and images and give them back to the UI.
So for example, if your list view is showing 6 items on its list (due to the height of it), it will only inflate 6 items and during scroll it just keeps recycling them.
there's some extra optimisations tricks that you should use and I'm sure that the video link that the commenter posted will explain them.
edit
that example is an ArrayAdapter of Store items, but you can make it to whatever you need.
the adapter does the match and separation layer between UI and data.
#Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
if (convertView == null)
convertView = newView();
// Store is the type of this ArrayAdapter
Store store = getItem(position);
Holder h = (Holder) convertView.getTag();
// And here I get the data and address them to the UI
// as you can see, if the convertView is not null,
// I'm not creating a new one, I'm just changing text, images, etc
h.storeName.setText(store.getStoreName());
h.address.setText(store.getAddressLine1());
h.postcode.setText(store.getPostCode());
h.distance.setText(store.getDistance());
return convertView;
}
// I like to separate in a different method when the convertView is null
// but that's me being organisation obsessive
// but it also makes easy to see which methods are only being called the 1st time
private View newView() {
LayoutInflater inf = LayoutInflater.from(getContext());
View v = inf.inflate(R.layout.map_result_list, null);
Holder h = new Holder();
// here we store that holder inside the view itself
v.setTag(h);
// and only call those findById on this first start
h.storeName = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.txtLine1);
h.address = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.txtLine2);
h.postcode = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.txtLine3);
h.distance = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.txtDistance);
return v;
}
// this class is here just to hold reference to the UI elements
// findViewById is a lengthy operation so this is one of the optimisations
private class Holder {
TextView storeName;
TextView address;
TextView postcode;
TextView distance;
}

How can I force the position of an element in a ListView

I have an Activity, which simply consists in listing Pair<String, String> objects. I have a custom TextWithSubTextAdapter, which extends ArrayAdapter:
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent)
{
View view;
if (convertView == null)
{
LayoutInflater li = (LayoutInflater) mContext.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
view = li.inflate(R.layout.text_sub, null);
TextView tv = (TextView)view.findViewById(R.id.mainText);
tv.setText(mCategories.get(position).first);
TextView desc = (TextView)view.findViewById(R.id.subText);
desc.setText(Html.fromHtml(mCategories.get(position).second));
}
else
{
view = (View) convertView;
}
return view;
}
mCategories is an ArrayList<Pair<String, String>>
I then call lv.setAdapter(new TextSubTextAdapter(this, Common.physConstants));
As long as I have a limited set of elements, It works great, because I don't need to scroll. However, when I add enough elements, after scrolling, the items swap their positions, like this:
I suspect that this behavior is due to me calling mCategories.get(position). Because the Views are never kept in the background and Android regenerates them every time, I never get the same item, as position will rarely have the same value.
Is there a way to get a constant id, which could allow me to get items with fixed positions ? I tried to use getItemID, but I do not understand how to implement it.
Note: Every string comes from a strings.xml file. They are never compared, and instanciated once, at startup.

When you scroll your list Android dynamically reuses the Views which scroll out of the screen. These convertViews don't have the content which should be at this position yet. You have to set that manually.
View view;
if (convertView == null)
{
LayoutInflater li = (LayoutInflater) mContext.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
view = li.inflate(R.layout.text_sub, null);
}
else
{
view = convertView;
}
TextView tv = (TextView)view.findViewById(R.id.mainText);
tv.setText(mCategories.get(position).first);
TextView desc = (TextView)view.findViewById(R.id.subText);
desc.setText(Html.fromHtml(mCategories.get(position).second));
return view;

How to implement a view holder?

i am using a viewholder to display from a dynamic arrayadapter.it works but the data displayed changes irregularly when i scroll the List.i want my List View to be populated only once ,Not all the time when i scroll my list. Any suggestion?
Here is my Code
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
// A ViewHolder keeps references to children views to avoid unneccessary calls
// to findViewById() on each row.
ViewHolder holder;
// When convertView is not null, we can reuse it directly, there is no need
// to reinflate it. We only inflate a new View when the convertView supplied
// by ListView is null.
if (convertView == null) {
convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.sample, null);
// Creates a ViewHolder and store references to the two children views
// we want to bind data to.
holder = new ViewHolder();
holder.name = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.text);
holder.icon = (ImageView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.icon);
convertView.setTag(holder);
} else {
// Get the ViewHolder back to get fast access to the TextView
// and the ImageView.
holder = (ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
}
// Bind the data efficiently with the holder.
if(_first==true)
{
if(id<myElements.size())
{
holder.name.setText(myElements.get(id));
holder.icon.setImageBitmap( mIcon1 );
id++;
}
else
{
_first=false;
}
}
//holder.icon.setImageBitmap(mIcon2);
/*try{
if(id<myElements.size())
id++;
else
{
id--;
}
}
catch(Exception e)
{
android.util.Log.i("callRestService",e.getMessage());
}*/
return convertView;
}
static class ViewHolder {
TextView name;
ImageView icon;
}
when the list is loaded it looks like this : http://i.stack.imgur.com/NrGhR.png after scrolling some data http://i.stack.imgur.com/sMbAD.png it looks like this, and again if i scroll to the beginning it looks http://i.stack.imgur.com/0KjMa.png
P.S : my list have to be in alphabetic order

Have you tried this?
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
// A ViewHolder keeps references to children views to avoid unneccessary calls
// to findViewById() on each row.
ViewHolder holder;
// When convertView is not null, we can reuse it directly, there is no need
// to reinflate it. We only inflate a new View when the convertView supplied
// by ListView is null.
if (convertView == null) {
convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.sample, null);
// Creates a ViewHolder and store references to the two children views
// we want to bind data to.
holder = new ViewHolder();
holder.name = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.text);
holder.icon = (ImageView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.icon);
convertView.setTag(holder);
} else {
// Get the ViewHolder back to get fast access to the TextView
// and the ImageView.
holder = (ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
}
// Bind the data efficiently with the holder.
holder.name.setText(myElements.get(id));
holder.icon.setImageBitmap( mIcon1 );
return convertView;
}
static class ViewHolder {
TextView name;
ImageView icon;
}
If yes, what's wrong with it?
I don't think loading all the rows at once is a good idea. You will end up having plenty of useless Views in memory that are going to slow the application down for nothing.
Views and operations on views (like inflate, findViewById, getChild..) are expensive, you should try to reuse them as much as possible. That's why we use ViewHolders.

You would need to write you own version of ListView to do that (which is bad). If the ListView doesn't work properly, it probably means that you are doing something wrong.
Where does the id element come from? You are getting the position in your getView() method, so you don't need to worry about exceeding list bounds. The position is linked to the element position in your list, so you can get the correct element like this:
myElements.get(position);
When the data in your list changes, you can call this:
yourAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged()
That will rebuild your list with new data (while keeping your scrolling and stuff).