Spinner in Android Using Android Studio

Chhavi Goel
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Introduction

This article explains how to create a Spinner in Android. A Spinner is similar to a drop down list. It provides a quick way to select a value from a list. It displays the current selected value and touching the spinner gives a drop down list from which we can choose the required value.

Step 1:

"strings.xml" used in this project is:

<string name="app_name">Spinner</string>

<string name="action_settings">Settings</string>

<string name="hello_world">Hello world!</string>

<string name="choose_chocolate">Choose Chocolate</string>

<string-array name="chocolate">

<item>Crackles</item>

<item>Fruit and Nut</item>

<item>Dairy milk silk</item>

</string-array>

</resources>

Note that there are two ways to add items to a Spinner, one through the string array and the other programmatically. We will be using both techniques. The Chocolate Spinner will get it's list as a string array and Ice Cream Spinner will get it's list programmatically.

Step 2:

Open the "activity_main" layout file and add the following code to it:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout 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"

android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"

android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"

android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"

android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"

tools:context=".MainActivity"

android:orientation="vertical">

<RelativeLayout

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_width="fill_parent">

<TextView

android:text="Chocolate"

android:id="@+id/txtChoco"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_width="wrap_content"

android:layout_marginTop="20dp"

android:textSize="30dp"/>

<Spinner

android:id="@+id/chocolate_spinner"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_width="fill_parent"

android:entries="@array/chocolate"

android:prompt="@string/choose_chocolate"

android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/txtChoco"

android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"

android:layout_marginTop="15dp"/>

</RelativeLayout>

<RelativeLayout

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_width="fill_parent"

android:layout_marginTop="30dp">

<TextView

android:text="Ice Cream"

android:id="@+id/txtIce"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_width="wrap_content"

android:layout_marginTop="20dp"

android:textSize="30dp"/>

<Spinner

android:id="@+id/ice_cream_spinner"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_width="fill_parent"

android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/txtIce"

android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"

android:layout_marginTop="15dp"

</RelativeLayout>

<Button

android:layout_width="wrap_content"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:text="Done"

android:layout_marginLeft="130dp"

android:layout_marginTop="100dp"

android:id="@+id/done"/>

</LinearLayout>

Note that a Spinner is added to create a Spinner in the layout. We have two Spinners here, one for chocolates and the other for Ice Creams.

The layout looks like:

Step 3:

Create a new layout file.

Right-click on layout then select "New" -> "Layout Resource File". Name it "selected_layout".

This file layout shows the selected values of spinners in a button click.

Add the following code to it:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

android:orientation="vertical"

android:layout_width="match_parent"

android:layout_height="match_parent"

android:background="#ffd088" >

<TextView android:id="@+id/display_choco"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_width="fill_parent"

android:textSize="30dp"

android:layout_marginTop="30dp"

android:layout_marginLeft="30dp"/>

<TextView android:id="@+id/display_ice"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_width="fill_parent"

android:textSize="30dp"

android:layout_marginTop="30dp"

android:layout_marginLeft="30dp"/>

</LinearLayout>

Step 4:

Open "MainActivity" and add the following code to it:

package com.chhavi.spinner;

import android.content.Intent;

import android.os.Bundle;

import android.app.Activity;

import android.view.Menu;

import android.view.View;

import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;

import android.widget.Button;

import android.widget.Spinner;

import android.widget.TextView;

import android.widget.Toast;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import java.util.List;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

private Spinner choco, ice;

private Button done;

TextView choco_display, ice_display;

@Override

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

addIceCream();

choco = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.chocolate_spinner);

choco.setOnItemSelectedListener(new SelectingItem());

done=(Button)findViewById(R.id.done);

ice=(Spinner)findViewById(R.id.ice_cream_spinner);

done.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

@Override

public void onClick(View v) {

setContentView(R.layout.selected_layout);

choco_display=(TextView)findViewById(R.id.display_choco);

ice_display=(TextView)findViewById(R.id.display_ice);

choco_display.setText("Chocolate: "+String.valueOf(choco.getSelectedItem()));

ice_display.setText("Ice cream: "+String.valueOf(ice.getSelectedItem()));

}

});

}

public void addIceCream()

{

ice = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.ice_cream_spinner);

List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();

list.add("Vanilla");

list.add("Fruit and Nut");

list.add("Choco chips");

ArrayAdapter<String> dataAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, list);

dataAdapter.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);

ice.setAdapter(dataAdapter);

}

@Override

public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {

// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.

getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);

return true;

}

In the code above, the "addIceCream" method adds a list of items to the Spinner for Ice Cream. Note the two ways of adding values to the Spinner. The SpinnerObject.getSelectedItem method returns the item currently selected.

Step 5:

Create a new Java class in the same package. Name it "SelectingItem" and add the following code to it:

package com.chhavi.spinner;

import android.view.View;

import android.widget.AdapterView;

import android.widget.Toast;

public class SelectingItem implements AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener {

public void onItemSelected(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int pos,long id) {

Toast.makeText(parent.getContext(),

"Selecting Item : " + parent.getItemAtPosition(pos).toString(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

}

@Override