Inflating a view multiple times in the same parent when a button is clicked

Question

My app is about creating surveys. In order to do so, the user should be able to create new fields dynamically.

So, when creating a new survey, an Activity is shown with only 2 buttons (add and delete). When a user clicks the add button, a row appears containing a EditText(so he can write the question), a Spinner(that enables user to select the type of field: text, RadioButton, CheckBox, etc..) and another EditText (in which the different available answer choices are written, if applicable).

To accomplish this I created a XML file containing these Widgets and each time the user clicks in the add button, the XML is inflated. It works the first time I press the button, but after that... nothing happens.

I read somewhere that you cannot inflate the same child 2 times in a parent unless it is done in a loop.

So, my questions are:

-> How can I get around this and obtain the desired effect?

-> Why doesn't this apply in a Loop?

Any help or hint is appreciated. Once again, thank you very much for all the support the community has given me.

NOTE: In the android documentation they speak about cloning an inflator but the information there is scarce and I couldn't find any other info about it.

SOurce code:

XML - Main cointainer:

<RelativeLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/wrapper"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/mds_new_addfield_button"
        android:tag="new"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Add Field"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
    />
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/mds_new_deletefield_button"
        android:tag="delete"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Delete Field"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    />

</RelativeLayout>

XML -Inflated:

<TableLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
>
    <TableRow>
        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/mdsnew_field_tv"
            style="@style/dsn_field"
            android:text="Field Name    " 
        />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/mdsnew_type_tv"
            style="@style/dsn_field"
            android:text="Type of Field   " 
        />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/mdsnew_choices_tv"
            style="@style/dsn_field"
            android:text="Choices"  
        />
    </TableRow>

    <TableRow>

        <EditText
            android:id="@+id/mdsnew_fieldname_et"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Field Name"
            android:textSize="18sp"
        />

        <Spinner
            android:id="@+id/mdsnew_type_sp"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        />

        <EditText
            android:id="@+id/mdsnew_choices_et"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Choices    "
            android:textSize="18sp"
        />

    </TableRow>
</TableLayout>

Add Button:

LinearLayout myRoot = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.wrapper);

LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater)this.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);

inflater.inflate(R.layout.mds_new_row, myRoot);

Answer 1

Your parent is a LinearLayout, and it looks like you intended a vertical orientation, but you haven't specified this. Try setting the orientation and see if that helps.