Use RecyclerViews to show subViews in Lists.

• Quick Code:

 mRecyclerView = new RecyclerView(this);
        mHorizontalManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this,
                LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false);
        mVerticalManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this,
                LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL, false);
        mVerticalGridManager = new GridLayoutManager(this,
                2, /* Number of grid columns */
                LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL, /* Orient grid vertically */
                false);
        mHorizontalGridManager = new GridLayoutManager(this,
                3, /* Number of grid rows */
                LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, /* Orient grid horizontally */
                false);
        //Connector line decorations for vertical grid
        mConnectors = new ConnectorDecoration(this);
        //Stagger the vertical grid
        mVerticalGridManager.setSpanSizeLookup(new GridStaggerLookup());
        mAdapter = new SimpleItemAdapter(this);
        mAdapter.setOnItemClickListener(this);
        mRecyclerView.setAdapter(mAdapter);
        //Apply margins decoration to all collections
        mRecyclerView.addItemDecoration(new InsetDecoration(this));
        //Default to vertical layout
        selectLayoutManager(R.id.action_vertical);
        setContentView(mRecyclerView);

• Decide how your items are laid out using LayoutManagers

• Supported LayoutManagers:

  • LinearLayoutManagers
  • GridLayoutManagers

• Interface between the View and actual data using adapters

• Adapters have to extend RecyclerView.Adapter

• Adapters have to implement three key methods:

• onCreateViewHolder() : Loads the layout file that embodies the looks of a single item in the list

• onBindViewHolder () : Stuffs the data in the item from the data set in the adapter

• getItemCount () : used to report the number of items to the RecyclerView

• Notify the view of changes in data by calls to:

  • notifyItemInserted(position)
  • notifyItemRemoved(position)

• Add a subclass of RecyclerView.ViewHolder that implements the logic to manipulate single viewItems

• Control the item span count on each row/column in GridLayoutManager using GridStaggerLookup

• Control the spacing between items using RecyclerView.ItemDecoration

• ItemDecoration can be customized even more to add stunning drawn effects( Look at ConnectorDecoration)

• Relevant files :

  • https://github.com/blikoon/Ubufundi/blob/master/App1.8.1/app/src/main/java/com/blikoon/app181/MainActivity.java
  • https://github.com/blikoon/Ubufundi/blob/master/App1.8.1/app/src/main/java/com/blikoon/app181/SimpleItemAdapter.java
  • https://github.com/blikoon/Ubufundi/blob/master/App1.8.1/app/src/main/java/com/blikoon/app181/GridStaggerLookup.java
  • https://github.com/blikoon/Ubufundi/blob/master/App1.8.1/app/src/main/java/com/blikoon/app181/InsetDecoration.java
  • https://github.com/blikoon/Ubufundi/blob/master/App1.8.1/app/src/main/java/com/blikoon/app181/ConnectorDecoration.java