Android custom Row Item for ListView

create resource layout file list_item.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
          android:orientation="vertical"
          android:layout_width="match_parent"
          android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView
        android:id="@+id/header_text"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:text="Header"
        />
<TextView
        android:id="@+id/item_text"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:text="dynamic text"
        />
</LinearLayout>

and initialise adaptor like this

adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, R.layout.list_item,R.id.item_text,data_array);

Use a custom Listview.

You can also customize how row looks by having a custom background. activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 android:layout_height="fill_parent"
 android:orientation="vertical" 
 android:background="#0095FF"> //background color

<ListView android:id="@+id/list"
 android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 android:layout_height="0dip"
 android:focusableInTouchMode="false"
 android:listSelector="@android:color/transparent"
 android:layout_weight="2"
 android:headerDividersEnabled="false"
 android:footerDividersEnabled="false"
 android:dividerHeight="8dp" 
 android:divider="#000000" 
 android:cacheColorHint="#000000"
android:drawSelectorOnTop="false">
</ListView>  

MainActivity

Define populateString() in MainActivity

 public class MainActivity extends Activity {

   String data_array[];
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
            data_array = populateString(); 
    ListView ll = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.list);
    CustomAdapter cus = new CustomAdapter();
    ll.setAdapter(cus);
}

class CustomAdapter extends BaseAdapter
{
    LayoutInflater mInflater;


    public CustomAdapter()
    {
        mInflater = (LayoutInflater) MainActivity.this.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    }
    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return data_array.length;//listview item count. 
    }

    @Override
    public Object getItem(int position) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return position; 
    }

    @Override
    public long getItemId(int position) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return 0;
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        final ViewHolder vh;
        vh= new ViewHolder();

        if(convertView==null )
         {
            convertView=mInflater.inflate(R.layout.row, parent,false);
                    //inflate custom layour
            vh.tv2= (TextView)convertView.findViewById(R.id.textView2);

         }
        else
        {
         convertView.setTag(vh);
        }
               //vh.tv2.setText("Position = "+position);
            vh.tv2.setText(data_array[position]);   
                           //set text of second textview based on position

        return convertView;
    }

 class ViewHolder
 {
    TextView tv1,tv2;
 }

   }  
}

row.xml. Custom layout for each row.

<?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" >

 <TextView
    android:id="@+id/textView1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="center"
    android:text="Header" />

 <TextView
    android:id="@+id/textView2"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="center"
    android:text="TextView" />

 </LinearLayout>

Inflate a custom layout. Use a view holder for smooth scrolling and performance.

http://developer.android.com/training/improving-layouts/smooth-scrolling.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDBM6wVEO70. The talk is about listview performance by android developers.

Add this row.xml to your layout folder

<?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" >
    
<TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Header"/>

<TextView 
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:id="@+id/text"/>
    
    
</LinearLayout>

make your main xml layout as this

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

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

</LinearLayout>

This is your adapter

class yourAdapter extends BaseAdapter {

    Context context;
    String[] data;
    private static LayoutInflater inflater = null;

    public yourAdapter(Context context, String[] data) {
        // TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
        this.context = context;
        this.data = data;
        inflater = (LayoutInflater) context
                .getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    }

    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return data.length;
    }

    @Override
    public Object getItem(int position) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return data[position];
    }

    @Override
    public long getItemId(int position) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return position;
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        View vi = convertView;
        if (vi == null)
            vi = inflater.inflate(R.layout.row, null);
        TextView text = (TextView) vi.findViewById(R.id.text);
        text.setText(data[position]);
        return vi;
    }
}

Your java activity

public class StackActivity extends Activity {

    ListView listview;

    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        listview = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.listview);
        listview.setAdapter(new yourAdapter(this, new String[] { "data1",
                "data2" }));
    }
}

the results