ExpandableListView expandable list not expanding when its height is wrap_content, and something is below it

Question

Here is my layout code. When i click on the expandable list view it does not expand. However, if I increase the height of list it expands. Is there a way to increase the height of list dynamically through code? Can i make it to expand in the middle of my layout. Because if I increase the height, it'll just add unnecessary white space in collapsed list.

Code:

<ScrollView 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">

    <RelativeLayout 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:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
        android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
        tools:context="com.pocketcash.pocketcash.HomeActivity">

        <Switch
            android:id="@+id/detailedCashInfoSwitch"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
            android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
            android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
            android:onClick="cashToggleSwitchClicked"
            android:text="Toggle Detailed Cash Info" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/addCashButton"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@+id/expandableListView2"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:onClick="launchAddCash"
            android:text="Add cash" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/addExpenditureButton"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@+id/addCashButton"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:layout_marginTop="25dp"
            android:onClick="launchAddExpenditure"
            android:text="Add expenditure" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/recentLogsText"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
            android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
            android:layout_below="@+id/addExpenditureButton"
            android:layout_marginTop="50dp"
            android:text="Recent Logs:"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/logText"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
            android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
            android:layout_below="@+id/recentLogsText"
            android:layout_marginTop="0dp"
            android:text="Small Text"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/recentViewAllText"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignTop="@+id/recentLogsText"
            android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
            android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/recentLogsText"
            android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/recentLogsText"
            android:onClick="recentViewLogClicked"
            android:text="(view all)"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/addViewAllText"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@+id/addCashButton"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:onClick="addViewLogClicked"
            android:text="(view logs)"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/expenseViewAllText"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@+id/addExpenditureButton"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:onClick="expenseViewLogClicked"
            android:text="(view logs)"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/userImage"
            android:layout_width="100dp"
            android:layout_height="100dp"
            android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
            android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
            android:layout_below="@+id/detailedCashInfoSwitch"
            android:layout_marginTop="34dp"
            android:background="@drawable/default_user" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/nameText"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignTop="@+id/userImage"
            android:layout_marginLeft="25dp"
            android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/userImage"
            android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/userImage"
            android:text="Name"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/logoutText"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/nameText"
            android:layout_alignStart="@+id/nameText"
            android:layout_below="@+id/nameText"
            android:clickable="true"
            android:onClick="logUserOut"
            android:text="logout"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />

        <ImageButton
            android:id="@+id/settingsButton"
            android:layout_width="25dp"
            android:layout_height="25dp"
            android:layout_alignTop="@+id/nameText"
            android:layout_marginLeft="25dp"
            android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/nameText"
            android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/nameText"
            android:background="@drawable/settingsicon"
            android:onClick="launchSettingsActivity" />

        <fragment
            android:id="@+id/fragment_currentBalanceInfo"
            android:name="com.pocketcash.pocketcash.CurrentBalanceInfoFragment"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@+id/userImage"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            tools:layout="@layout/fragment_current_balance_info" />

        <ExpandableListView
            android:id="@+id/expandableListView2"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@+id/fragment_currentBalanceInfo"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:clickable="true" />

    </RelativeLayout>
</ScrollView>

Answer 1

After much research on this topic, i could only reach the conclusion that a scrollable object like the expandable listview cant be declared within another scrollable view. However i tweaked around with my java code a little bit for solving this issue during runtime.

    expListView.setOnGroupExpandListener(new ExpandableListView.OnGroupExpandListener() {
        @Override
        public void onGroupExpand(int groupPosition) {
            int height = 0;
            for (int i = 0; i < expListView.getChildCount(); i++) {
                height += expListView.getChildAt(i).getMeasuredHeight();
                height += expListView.getDividerHeight();
            }
            expListView.getLayoutParams().height = (height+6)*10;
        }
    });

    // Listview Group collapsed listener
    expListView.setOnGroupCollapseListener(new ExpandableListView.OnGroupCollapseListener() {

        @Override
        public void onGroupCollapse(int groupPosition) {
            expListView.getLayoutParams().height = 61;
        }
    });

This way i adjusted the height of the widget dynamically when it was expanded or collapsed. Its not a dependable method and it works on hit and trial so i ultimately had to move this widget to a completely new activity. However this did work flawlessly. But if anyone finds a better answer, please do share.

Answer 2

As Romain Guy (Google Engineer works on UI toolkit) Said in his post

By setting the width to wrap_content you are telling ListView to be as wide as the widest of its children. ListView must therefore measure its items and to get the items it has to call getView() on the Adapter. This may happen several times depending on the number of layout passes, the behavior of the parent layout, etc.

So if you set the layout width or layout height of your ListView to wrap_content the ListView will try to measure every single view that is attached to it - which is definitely not what you want.

Keep in mind: avoid setting wrap_content for ListViews or GridViews or ExpandableListView at all times, for more details see this Google I/O video talking about the world of listview

So Make ExpandableListView to match_parent

Answer 3

I know the question was already answered but I have another solution which could work for more cases: I set the initial height of the list view by counting the number of items, and then update this height on collapse/expand of group by retrieving children count of the expanded/collapsed group. Here is a sample code:

int item_size = 50;  // 50px
int sub_item_size = 40;  // 40px
expListView.getLayoutParams().height = item_size*myAdapter.getGroupCount();
expenseListView.setAdapter(myAdapter);
// ListView Group Expand Listener
expenseListView.setOnGroupExpandListener(new ExpandableListView.OnGroupExpandListener() {
    @Override
    public void onGroupExpand(int groupPosition) {
        int nb_children = myAdapter.getChildrenCount(groupPosition);
        expenseListView.getLayoutParams().height += sub_item_size*nb_children;
    }
});

// Listview Group collapsed listener
expenseListView.setOnGroupCollapseListener(new ExpandableListView.OnGroupCollapseListener() {
    @Override
    public void onGroupCollapse(int groupPosition) {
        int nb_children = myAdapter.getChildrenCount(groupPosition);
        expenseListView.getLayoutParams().height -= sub_item_size*nb_children;
    }
});