including list_content into list layout to retain ListFragment functionality

Question

First of, I'm using The Android Compatibility Library V4 rev.3 for my 1.6(Donut)

When you first create a ListFragment it displays an indeterminant progress indicator untill you use setListAdabpter(). According to the documentation of ListFragment.onCreateView, if I want to use a custom lay out:

If you are overriding this method with your own custom content, consider including the standard layout {@link android.R.layout#list_content} in your layout file, so that you continue to retain all of the standard behavior of ListFragment. In particular, this is currently the only way to have the built-in indeterminant progress state be shown.

The problem is that when I go into my layout file and try: <include layout="@android:layout/list_content" ...> it (eclipse) tells me that

Resource is not public. (at 'layout' with value '@android:layout/list_content').

I take that to mean list_content.xml doesn't exist in my V4 source code. which is correct because according to the docs it appeared in API v11.

I just assumed it would exist in the compatibility library source, don't know if it does...

The only other solution I can see would be to dig android's API V11 source code and copy and paste list_content.xml. For now however I would like to avoid this hackery. is this the only solution?

Answer 1

The ListFragment included in the compatibility library doesn't appear to use that layout (list_content) as the real one does. This might be because it is offered as a jar and it is not possible to package resources. Here are the contents of its onCreateView:

ListFragment from compatibility library:

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
        Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    final Context context = getActivity();

    FrameLayout root = new FrameLayout(context);

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------

    LinearLayout pframe = new LinearLayout(context);
    pframe.setId(INTERNAL_PROGRESS_CONTAINER_ID);
    pframe.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
    pframe.setVisibility(View.GONE);
    pframe.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);

    ProgressBar progress = new ProgressBar(context, null,
            android.R.attr.progressBarStyleLarge);
    pframe.addView(progress, new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(
            ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));

    root.addView(pframe, new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(
            ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------

    FrameLayout lframe = new FrameLayout(context);
    lframe.setId(INTERNAL_LIST_CONTAINER_ID);

    TextView tv = new TextView(getActivity());
    tv.setId(INTERNAL_EMPTY_ID);
    tv.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);
    lframe.addView(tv, new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(
            ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));

    ListView lv = new ListView(getActivity());
    lv.setId(android.R.id.list);
    lv.setDrawSelectorOnTop(false);
    lframe.addView(lv, new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(
            ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));

    root.addView(lframe, new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(
            ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------

    root.setLayoutParams(new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(
            ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));

    return root;
}

ListFragment from Android 4.0:

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    return inflater.inflate(com.android.internal.R.layout.list_content, container, false);
}

Given the choice between copying the layout file from APIv11 source and including this view initialisation code, I think it is clear which one would be considered 'hackery' ;)

Answer 2

I was frustrated to see that the list_content layout was not available using the support library. My approach was simply to reuse the default onCreateView method of the ListFragment and add it as a part of my custom layout:

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
        Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    View listContent = super.onCreateView(inflater, container,
            savedInstanceState);

    View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.my_custom_layout, container,
            false);

    FrameLayout listContainer = (FrameLayout) v.findViewById(R.id.my_list_container);

    listContainer.addView(listContent);

    return v;
}

I added a FrameLayout where the ListView used to be in my custom layout.