Question

I am having trouble using an ExpandableListView because the type of childItems in each group varies greatly. In one section there are contacts from the phone box, another has a view with a progressBar in and the last one has a TextView in.

I have thought about using 3 individual ExpandableListViews, each with their own adapter and handlers, but this seems a bit crazy too, particularly when some of the ‘lists’ only have one item in and it never changes. Essentially I am using ExpandableListViews to create expandable sections in my UI, and it doesn’t really feel right.

Is there a better UI element to use?

Answer 1

If they are completely distinct like it sounds like they are, you may want to look into using Fragments. It’s a lot of new stuff you learn if you’re not familiar with them, but you can then easily reproduce the collapsing mechanic using Animations coupled with hiding the Fragments. This also decouples the 3 UI elements (contacts, progress bar, text view) from each other, so you can reuse the Fragments pretty much anywhere you want.