Can't make spinner's scrollbar always visible (Android)

Question

I have such a problem - I want to make spinner's scrollbar always visible. But for spinner function

setScrollbarFadingEnabled(false);

causes crash with a NullExceptionPointer during drawing the GUI.

XML tags can't solve this problem too - it seems that spinner just ignore them.

Maybe there are another ways to move? For example, using of the custom scrollbar? If yes, how can I do this?

Thanks for your answers, Dmitry.

As I've been asked, here is LogCat error message for simple project with just a spinner in it:

AndroidRuntime(2252): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
AndroidRuntime(2252): java.lang.NullPointerException
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.View.onDrawScrollBars(View.java:5836)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.View.draw(View.java:6799)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewGroup.drawChild(ViewGroup.java:1640)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchDraw(ViewGroup.java:1367)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewGroup.drawChild(ViewGroup.java:1638)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchDraw(ViewGroup.java:1367)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.View.draw(View.java:6796)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.widget.FrameLayout.draw(FrameLayout.java:352)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewGroup.drawChild(ViewGroup.java:1640)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchDraw(ViewGroup.java:1367)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewGroup.drawChild(ViewGroup.java:1638)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchDraw(ViewGroup.java:1367)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.View.draw(View.java:6796)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.widget.FrameLayout.draw(FrameLayout.java:352)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.draw(PhoneWindow.java:2078)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewRoot.draw(ViewRoot.java:1433)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:1175)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1753)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4632)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:871)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:629)
AndroidRuntime(2252): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Answer 1

Spinner does not have a scrollbar, Hence you are getting NullPointerException.

The popup shown by spinner has a scrollbar. So you need to change the properties of the ListView shown by spinner. But ListView itself is not exposed by Spinner by any public methods.

Even if you get the ListPopupWindow by reflection, a further problem arises, that ListPopupWindow's ListView is only created after you click the Spinner.

But OnClickListener of the Spinner cannot be registered , to set the ListView Properties after the show.

You could create a Custom Spinner with performClick overridden and then get mPopup by reflection. and use mPopup.getListView().setScrollbarFadingEnabled(false)

But If you are going to create a custom Spinner, i believe it is easier to implement the whole popup to suit your needs than using reflection.

Answer 2

Thank @nandeesh for his/her answer and also @Eng.Fouad for his/her answer on another page.

public class VisibleScrollbarSpinner extends Spinner {
    @Override public boolean performClick() {
        final boolean superResult = super.performClick();

        try {
            final Field mPopupField = Spinner.class.getDeclaredField("mPopup");
            mPopupField.setAccessible(true);
            //noinspection ConstantConditions
            ((ListPopupWindow) mPopupField.get(this)).getListView().setScrollbarFadingEnabled(false);
            mPopupField.setAccessible(false);
        } catch (NoSuchFieldException | IllegalAccessException e) {
            Log.e(TAG, e.toString(), e);
        }

        return superResult;
    }

    public VisibleScrollbarSpinner(Context context) { super(context); } 
    public VisibleScrollbarSpinner(Context context, int mode) { super(context, mode); } 
    public VisibleScrollbarSpinner(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) { super(context, attrs); } 
    public VisibleScrollbarSpinner(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyleAttr) { super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr); } 
    public VisibleScrollbarSpinner(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyleAttr, int mode) { super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr, mode); }
}