Android Spinner (Drop down list) - Simple Example

Below is the simple example of Spinner element in Android:

There are three steps to generate Spinner control in Android:

• Define list of items in strings.xml file using "string-array".
• Assign string array to "entries" property of Spinner control.
• "getSelectedItem()" at code base will give selected item from the list.

Strings.xml

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

    <string name="app_name">Practicework</string>
    <string name="action_settings">Settings</string>
<string name="btn1">Check Status</string>

<string-array  name="countryname">
<item>Australia</item>
<item>New Zealand</item>
<item>England</item>
<item>Germany</item>
<item>France</item>    
        <item>India</item>
<item>Sri Lanka</item>
</string-array>
</resources>

activity_practice.xml

<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:orientation="vertical"

android:background="#d0d0d0"

    tools:context=".PracticeActivity" >

<Spinner 

   android:id="@+id/spnr1"

   android:layout_width="match_parent"

   android:layout_height="wrap_content"

   android:entries="@array/countryname"

   android:layout_margin="20dp"

   />

    <Button

        android:id="@+id/btn1"

        android:layout_width="wrap_content"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:text="@string/btn1"

        android:layout_margin="20dp"

        />

</LinearLayout>

PracticeActivity.java

package com.agilissystems.practicework;

import android.os.Bundle;

import android.app.Activity;

import android.view.Menu;

import android.view.View;

import android.view.View.OnClickListener;

import android.widget.Button;

import android.widget.Spinner;

import android.widget.Toast;

public class PracticeActivity extends Activity implements OnClickListener {

Button oBtn1;

Spinner oSpnr1;

    @Override

    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        setContentView(R.layout.activity_practice);

        

        oBtn1 = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btn1);

        oSpnr1 = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.spnr1);

        oBtn1.setOnClickListener(this);

    }

    @Override

    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {

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

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

        return true;

    }

@Override

public void onClick(View arg0) {

// TODO Auto-generated method stub

if (arg0.getId() == R.id.btn1){

StringBuffer oStr1 = new StringBuffer();

oStr1.append(oSpnr1.getSelectedItem().toString());

Toast.makeText(this, "Country : " + oStr1.toString(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

}

}

}

First, select the country name from the spinner control and then click on Button "Check Status" will toast name of selected country.

Android | Spinner Example

When we have multiple values and out of them we need to select one item then we can use Spinner UI component.

Populating Spinner is little bit different. I would like to guide you that there are two sources from which we can populate spinner (1) Array and (2) database.

Adapter is playing key role between UI component and data sources.

Note: below example verified on Android 4.0.3 emulator.

activity_spinner_example.xml


<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:orientation="vertical" >
   
    <Spinner
        android:id="@+id/spnrcountries"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        />


</LinearLayout>


Strings.xml


<resources>

    <string name="app_name">SpinnerExample</string>
    <string name="menu_settings">Settings</string>
    <string name="title_activity_spinner_example">Spinner Example</string>
   
   
</resources>

SpinnerExample.java



package com.example.spinnerexample;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Spinner;

public class SpinnerExample extends Activity  {

private Spinner spnrCountries;
private String[] strCountries = {"US","UK","Spain","Germany","Italy","India","China"};

private ArrayAdapter<String> oArrayAdapter ;

@Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_spinner_example);
       

        spnrCountries = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.spnrcountries);
       

        oArrayAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(getApplicationContext(), android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, strCountries);
        spnrCountries.setAdapter(oArrayAdapter);
       
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_spinner_example, menu);
        return true;
    }


}

Result: