Android Application Development Cookbook: 93 Recipes for Building Winning Apps

Recipe 3.6 Displaying a List of Items Using the Spinner View

Android Versions

Level 1 and above

Permissions

None

Source Code to Download from Wrox.com

Spinner.zip

In addition to using the ListView to display a list of items, you can also use the Spinner view. The Spinner behaves like the drop-down listbox that is popular in the Windows OS. This recipe demonstrates how to use the Spinner.

Solution

For this recipe, let’s use the Spinner view to display a list of names, specifically a list of US presidents.

To use the Spinner, add the <Spinner> element to the UI, such as the activity_main.xml file:

<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" >
    <Spinner
        android:id="@+id/spinner1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:drawSelectorOnTop="true" />

</RelativeLayout>

In the activity, obtain a reference to the Spinner in your UI and assign it to an ArrayAdapter object:

package net.learn2develop.spinner;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Spinner;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
    Spinner s1;
    String[] presidents = {
 "Dwight D. Eisenhower", ...