A ListView in Android is a scrollable item that is displayed using an Adapter from an array or database. An example of this is the messaging system of a mobile phone.

In this tutorial, I will show you the basic of ListView. To avoid complex code, I will simply use an array instead of database to display the item in our ListView.

Now, create an Android project. If you don’t know how to create one, please follow our tutorial on how to “Create an Android Project Using Eclipse“.

Settings:

Application Name: List View

Project Name: listview

Package Name: com.sourcecodester.listview

Activity Name: ListView

Layout Name: main

If you have followed our previous tutorial, you will probably know the settings above.

Now, open and edit your ListView.java with the following code:

1. package
   
   com.sourcecodester.listview
   
   ;
   
2. 
   
3. import
   
   android.app.ListActivity
   
   ;
   
4. import
   
   android.os.Bundle
   
   ;
   
5. import
   
   android.view.View
   
   ;
   
6. import
   
   android.widget.ArrayAdapter
   
   ;
   
7. import
   
   android.widget.Toast
   
   ;
   
8. 
   
9. public
   
   class
   
   ListView
   
   extends
   
   ListActivity {
   
10. ListView
    
    listview;
    
11. 
    
12. @Override
    
13. public
    
    void
    
    onCreate(
    
    Bundle savedInstanceState)
    
    {
    
14. super
    
    .onCreate
    
    (
    
    savedInstanceState)
    
    ;
    
15. setContentView(
    
    R.layout
    
    .main
    
    )
    
    ;
    
16. 
    
17. String
    
    [
    
    ]
    
    values =
    
    new
    
    String
    
    [
    
    ]
    
    {
    
    "Visual Basic"
    
    , "C#"
    
    , "C/C++"
    
    ,
    
18. "PHP"
    
    , "Foxpro"
    
    , "Delphi"
    
    , "Java"
    
    , "Perl"
    
    ,
    
19. "Ruby"
    
    , "Cobol"
    
    }
    
    ;
    
20. 
    
21. ArrayAdapter<
    
    String>
    
    adapter =
    
    new
    
    ArrayAdapter<
    
    String>
    
    (
    
    this
    
    ,
    
22. android.R
    
    .layout
    
    .simple_list_item_1
    
    , values)
    
    ;
    
23. 
    
24. setListAdapter(
    
    adapter)
    
    ;
    
25. }
    
26. 
    
27. protected
    
    void
    
    onListItemClick(
    
    ListView
    
    l, View
    
    v, int
    
    position, long
    
    id)
    
    {
    
28. String
    
    item =
    
    (
    
    String
    
    )
    
    getListAdapter(
    
    )
    
    .getItem
    
    (
    
    position)
    
    ;
    
29. Toast.makeText
    
    (
    
    this
    
    , item +
    
    " selected"
    
    , Toast.LENGTH_LONG
    
    )
    
    .show
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
30. }
    
31. 
    
32. }
    

And also open and edit your main.xml file that can be found under res/layout with the following code:

1. <?
   
   xml version=
   
   "1.0"
   
   encoding=
   
   "utf-8"
   
   ?>
   
2. <
   
   LinearLayout xmlns:
   
   android=
   
   "http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   
3. android:
   
   layout_width=
   
   "match_parent"
   
4. android:
   
   layout_height=
   
   "match_parent"
   
5. android:
   
   orientation=
   
   "vertical"
   
   >
   
6. 
   
7. <
   
   ListView
   
   
   
8. android:
   
   id=
   
   "@android:id/list"
   
9. android:
   
   layout_width=
   
   "wrap_content"
   
10. android:
    
    layout_height=
    
    "435dp"
    
    />
    
11. 
    
12. </
    
    LinearLayout>
    

Run and test your ListView. You will see the same result just like the image above.