Create ListView in Kotlin Programmatically

With this blog post I am going to share with you how to create a ListView in Kotlin programmatically. ListView is a very commonly used UI component and knowing how to work with it enables you build even more powerful apps.

The example below will cover:

Create ListView in a ConstraintLayout
Populate ListView with data using ArrayAdapter

Layout XML file

Following is the activity_list_view_example.xml containing an empty ConstraintLayout to which we will add the ListView.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:id="@+id/constraintLayout"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context="com.appsdeveloperblog.kotlin.examples.ListViewExample">

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

Create ListView in Kotlin. Source code.

The below source code in Kotlin demonstrates how to create a new ListView, populate it with sample values and then add ListView as a view into the ConstraintLayout.

package com.appsdeveloperblog.kotlin.examples

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle
import android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter
import android.widget.ListView


class ListViewExample : AppCompatActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
       
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_list_view_example)
        
        val constraintLayout = findViewById(R.id.constraintLayout) as ConstraintLayout
       
        val listView = ListView(this)
        
        val values = arrayOf(
                "Rick and Morty",
                "Gaeme of Thrones",
                "Silicon Valley",
                "IT Crowd",
                "Person of Interest")
       
       val adapter = ArrayAdapter<String>(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, values)
        
       listView.adapter =adapter
       
       constraintLayout.addView(listView)
    }
}

You can find more similar Kotlin code examples in Kotlin category. So, if you are just starting with Kotlin and are looking for simple How to’s this category will help you find a Kotlin exampleyou are looking for.

Also, checkout the books and video courses available on Kotlin below. These resources will help you learn Kotlin and how to build mobile apps for Android with Kotlin much faster!

Happy learning Kotlin! 🙂