how to show progress bar(circle) in an activity having a listview before loading the listview with data

Question

There are several methods of showing a progress bar (circle) while loading an activity. In your case, one with a ListView in it.

IN ACTIONBAR

If you are using an ActionBar, you can call the ProgressBar like this (this could go in your onCreate()

requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_INDETERMINATE_PROGRESS);  
setProgressBarIndeterminateVisibility(true);

And after you are done displaying the list, to hide it.

setProgressBarIndeterminateVisibility(false);

IN THE LAYOUT (The XML)

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/linlaHeaderProgress"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:visibility="gone" >

        <ProgressBar
            android:id="@+id/pbHeaderProgress"
            style="@style/Spinner"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
        </ProgressBar>
    </LinearLayout>

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/list"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:cacheColorHint="@android:color/transparent"
        android:divider="#00000000"
        android:dividerHeight="0dp"
        android:fadingEdge="none"
        android:persistentDrawingCache="scrolling"
        android:smoothScrollbar="false" >
    </ListView>
</LinearLayout>

And in your activity (Java) I use an AsyncTask to fetch data for my lists. SO, in the AsyncTask's onPreExecute() I use something like this:

// CAST THE LINEARLAYOUT HOLDING THE MAIN PROGRESS (SPINNER)
LinearLayout linlaHeaderProgress = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.linlaHeaderProgress);

@Override
protected void onPreExecute() {    
    // SHOW THE SPINNER WHILE LOADING FEEDS
    linlaHeaderProgress.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
}

and in the onPostExecute(), after setting the adapter to the ListView:

@Override
protected void onPostExecute(Void result) {     
    // SET THE ADAPTER TO THE LISTVIEW
    lv.setAdapter(adapter);

    // CHANGE THE LOADINGMORE STATUS TO PERMIT FETCHING MORE DATA
    loadingMore = false;

    // HIDE THE SPINNER AFTER LOADING FEEDS
    linlaHeaderProgress.setVisibility(View.GONE);
}

EDIT: This is how it looks in my app while loading one of several ListViews

You can do this easier.
Source: http://www.tutorialspoint.com/android/android_loading_spinner.htm
It helped me.

Layout:

<ProgressBar
   android:id="@+id/progressBar1"
   style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleLarge"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />

After defining it in xml, you have to get its reference in java file through ProgressBar class. Its syntax is given below:

private ProgressBar spinner;
spinner = (ProgressBar)findViewById(R.id.progressBar1);

After that you can make its disappear , and bring it back when needed through setVisibility Method. Its syntax is given below:

spinner.setVisibility(View.GONE);
spinner.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);

I used this one for list view loading may helpful.

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:paddingLeft="5dp"
android:paddingRight="5dp" >

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/progressbar_view"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:orientation="horizontal" >

        <ProgressBar
            style="?android:attr/progressBarStyle"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center_vertical|center_horizontal" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center_vertical|center_horizontal"
            android:text="Loading data..." />
    </LinearLayout>

    <View
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="1dp"
        android:background="#C0C0C0" />
</LinearLayout>

<ListView
    android:id="@+id/listView"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:layout_marginTop="1dip"
    android:visibility="gone" />

</RelativeLayout>

and my MainActivity class is,

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
ListView listView;
LinearLayout layout;
List<String> stringValues;
ArrayAdapter<String> adapter;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    listView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.listView);
    layout = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.progressbar_view);

    stringValues = new ArrayList<String>();

    adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
            android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, stringValues);

    listView.setAdapter(adapter);
    new Task().execute();
}

class Task extends AsyncTask<String, Integer, Boolean> {
    @Override
    protected void onPreExecute() {
        layout.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
        listView.setVisibility(View.GONE);
        super.onPreExecute();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPostExecute(Boolean result) {
        layout.setVisibility(View.GONE);
        listView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
        adapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
        super.onPostExecute(result);
    }

    @Override
    protected Boolean doInBackground(String... params) {
        stringValues.add("String 1");
        stringValues.add("String 2");
        stringValues.add("String 3");
        stringValues.add("String 4");
        stringValues.add("String 5");

        try {
            Thread.sleep(3000);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return null;
    }
}
}

this activity display progress for 3sec then it will display listview, instead of adding data statically to stringValues list you can get data from server in doInBackground() and display it.

Please use the sample at tutorialspoint.com. The whole implementation only needs a few lines of code without changing your xml file. Hope this helps.

STEP 1: Import library

import android.app.ProgressDialog;

STEP 2: Declare ProgressDialog global variable

ProgressDialog loading = null;

STEP 3: Start new ProgressDialog and use the following properties (please be informed that this sample only covers the basic circle loading bar without the real time progress status).

loading = new ProgressDialog(v.getContext());
loading.setCancelable(true);
loading.setMessage(Constant.Message.AuthenticatingUser);
loading.setProgressStyle(ProgressDialog.STYLE_SPINNER);

STEP 4: If you are using AsyncTasks, you can start showing the dialog in onPreExecute method. Otherwise, just place the code in the beginning of your button onClick event.

loading.show();

STEP 5: If you are using AsyncTasks, you can close the progress dialog by placing the code in onPostExecute method. Otherwise, just place the code before closing your button onClick event.

loading.dismiss();

Tested it with my Nexus 5 android v4.0.3. Good luck!