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ANDROID Spinner
ANDROID
A spinner in Android is a UI widget that works like a drop-down list.
Android Spinner
➔ A spinner allows users to select a single value from a set of predefined options.
➔ It displays the currently selected item by default, and tapping on it displays a menu of all available items.
➔ Modern Material Design guidelines recommend this element as a dropdown menu instead of a spinner.
Spinner Component Implementation
➔ Spinner in XML activity_main.xml file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="@+id/main"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
tools:context=".MainActivity">
<Spinner
android:id="@+id/spinner"
android:layout_width="409dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.0"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.38" />
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>
➔ Spinner data in XML string.xml file: Define a data source: Create a string array in res/values/strings.xml
<resources>
<string name="app_name">My Application</string>
<string-array name="planets_array_name">
<item>Mercury</item>
<item>Venus</item>
<item>Earth</item>
<item>Mars</item>
<item>Jupiter</item>
<item>Saturn</item>
<item>Uranus</item>
<item>Neptune</item>
</string-array>
</resources>
➔ Set data to the spinner
Create an ArrayAdapter using the string array and set it to the spinner in the MainActivity.java file.
package com.example.myapplication;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Spinner;
import androidx.activity.EdgeToEdge;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.core.graphics.Insets;
import androidx.core.view.ViewCompat;
import androidx.core.view.WindowInsetsCompat;
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
EdgeToEdge.enable(this);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(findViewById(R.id.main), (v, insets) -> {
Insets systemBars = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.systemBars());
v.setPadding(systemBars.left, systemBars.top, systemBars.right, systemBars.bottom);
return insets;
});
Spinner spinner = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.spinner);
// Create an ArrayAdapter using the string array and a default spinner layout.
ArrayAdapter<CharSequence> adapter = ArrayAdapter.createFromResource(
this,
R.array.planets_array_name,
android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item
);
// Specify the layout to use when the list of choices appears.
adapter.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);
// Apply the adapter to the spinner.
spinner.setAdapter(adapter);
}
}
➔ Output
