usage of findviewbyid in preferenceactivity

Question

I have a preference screen and i am specifying a layout resource using the android:layout attribute. In the preference activity i am using/inflating the preference using addPreferencesFromResource from onCreate method. Inside the layout i have few textviews and buttons.

The problem is i am unable to find any of the textviews, checkboxes and buttons using findViewById method ! Every result for findViewById returns null.

EDIT:

I need to attach a listener to the checkbox.

Can anyone please help me over here ?

EDIT 2:

1) preference_layout.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="33dp"
    android:gravity="center_vertical"
    android:minHeight="33dp"
    android:id="@+id/preference_header_switch_item_responder_layout"
    style="?android:attr/listSeparatorTextViewStyle" >

    <CheckBox
    android:id="@+id/switchWidget"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="center"
    android:clickable="true"
    android:focusable="false"
    android:padding="8dip"
    android:layout_marginRight="14dip" />
</LinearLayout>

2) preference screen

<PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >

    <Preference
        android:defaultValue="false"
        android:key="auto_responder_key"
        android:widgetLayout="@layout/preference_layout"
        android:title="@string/auto_responder">
    </Preference>

</PreferenceScreen>

3)Preference Activity onCreate:

EDIT 3:

@Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        if(savedInstanceState != null && savedInstanceState.containsKey(HEADERS_KEY))
        {
            headers = savedInstanceState.getParcelableArrayList(HEADERS_KEY);
        }

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        applicationContext = getApplicationContext();

        setupSimplePreferencesScreen();
//      setContentView(getListView());
        headerCompound = findViewById(R.id.switchWidget);
        headerCompoundEmail = findViewById(R.id.switchWidgetEmail);
    }

and

private void setupSimplePreferencesScreen()
    {
        if (!isSimplePreferences(this))
        {
            return;
        }

        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.responder_generic);

    PreferenceCategory fakeHeader = new PreferenceCategory(this);

        fakeHeader.setLayoutResource(R.layout.place_holder_auto_reply_header);

        getPreferenceScreen().addPreference(fakeHeader);
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.auto_reply_sms_call_check_box_preference);
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.auto_reply_preferences);

        Preference smsTemplatePreference = findPreference(SMS_TEMPLATE_KEY);
        if(smsTemplatePreference != null)
        {
            bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(smsTemplatePreference);
        }

        Preference customTemplatePreference = findPreference(SMS_CUSTOM_TEMPLATE_KEY);
        if(customTemplatePreference != null)
        {
            customTemplatePreference.setEnabled(false);
            bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(customTemplatePreference);
            getPreferenceScreen().removePreference(customTemplatePreference);
        }

        // Add 'email' preferences, and a corresponding header.

        // Add 'email header' preferences.
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.email_enable_check);
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.email_preferences);

        Preference passwordPreference = findPreference(EMAIL_PWD_KEY);

        if(passwordPreference != null)
        {
            bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(passwordPreference);
            // the advanced version of SMS template
        }

        Preference customPasswordPreference = findPreference(EMAIL_CUSTOM_PWD_KEY);
        if(customPasswordPreference != null)
        {
            bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(customPasswordPreference);
            getPreferenceScreen().removePreference(customPasswordPreference);
        }

        // Add 'network' preferences, and a corresponding header.
        fakeHeader = new PreferenceCategory(this);
        fakeHeader.setLayoutResource(R.layout.place_holder_network_header);

        getPreferenceScreen().addPreference(fakeHeader);
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.network_preferences_check_box);

        // Add 'misc' preferences, and a corresponding header.
        fakeHeader = new PreferenceCategory(this);
        fakeHeader.setLayoutResource(R.layout.place_holder_misc_header);

        getPreferenceScreen().addPreference(fakeHeader);
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.misc_preferences);
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.misc_reject_ignore_check_box_preferences);

        // Bind the summaries of EditText/Switch/CheckBox preferences to
        // their values. When their values change, their summaries are updated
        // to reflect the new value, per the Android Design guidelines.
        bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(findPreference(AUTO_REPLY_SMS_KEY));
        bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(findPreference(AUTO_REPLY_CALL_KEY));
        bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(findPreference(DATA_NETWORK_KEY));
        bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(findPreference(WIFI_KEY));
        bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(findPreference(PASSCODE_KEY));
        bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(findPreference(EMAIL_USR_KEY));
        bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(findPreference(EMAIL_INT_KEY));
        bindPreferenceSummaryToValue(findPreference(AUTO_RESPONDER_KEY));
}

I tried the above code in onPostCreate as well but still the value returned is null.

I want to find checkboxes for responder_generic.xml and email_preferences.xml. Is there a way to find and add listeners to them ?

Thanks, Adithya

Answer 1

What i did was create a custom preference and it worked. I simply extended Preference class and inflated the layout provided in the layout/%MY_LAYOUT%.xml. The listeners were being called as well which is what i wanted to achieve.

This solution was nowhere i believe, hence, i adding this to community Wiki.

Note : if there is a single preference being added then single preference solution should suffice. I am adding multiple preferences on screen (in my case 2), i implemented custom preferences.