Question

I have a spinner getting views from a custom base adapter. The problem is when the spinner is displayed the font colour ALWAYS seems like its disabled, whether it is disabled or not. I have searched and searched for the solution but couldn’t find any. It wasn’t like this when I developed for other platforms. Currently I am on android 3.1 honeycomb galaxy tab 10.1 . PLEASE. HELP! Thanks!!

It worked well when i use the simple spinner dropdown item for a single text display so everything looks like its messed up. part of the page looks normal and part of it looks disabled.

Adapter item view

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:padding="5dp" >
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/lblEmployeeIdentifier"
        style="@style/FormText" />
    <TextView
        style="@style/FormText"
        android:text=" - " />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/lblEmployeeName"
        style="@style/FormText" />
</LinearLayout>

And the adapter code

public class EmployeeAdapter extends BaseAdapter 
{
Employee[] employee;
int role;
boolean allActive;

public EmployeeAdapter(int role, boolean allActive)
{
    this.role = role;
    this.allActive = allActive;
    refreshData();
}

private void refreshData()
{
    DatabaseAdapter databaseAdapter = MainApplication.getDatabaseAdapter();
    databaseAdapter.open();
    employee = databaseAdapter.getEmployeesByRole(role, allActive);
    databaseAdapter.close();
}

@Override
public void notifyDataSetChanged() {
    refreshData();
    super.notifyDataSetChanged();
}

@Override
public int getCount() {
    return employee.length;
}

@Override
public Employee getItem(int position) {
    return employee[position];
}

@Override
public long getItemId(int position) {
    return employee[position].getEmployeeId();
}

@Override
public View getView(int position , View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
    View view;

    if (convertView != null)
    {
        view = convertView;
    }
    else
    {
        view = LayoutInflater.from(MainApplication.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.employee_adapter_view_1, null);
    }

    TextView lblIdentifier = (TextView)view.findViewById(R.id.lblEmployeeIdentifier);
    TextView lblName = (TextView)view.findViewById(R.id.lblEmployeeName);

    lblIdentifier.setText(employee[position].getEmployeeIdentifier());
    lblName.setText(employee[position].getFirstName() + " " + employee[position].getLastName());

    return view;
}
}

Answer 1

Delete MainApplication.getContext() and use an Activity.

Then, temporarily replace R.layout.employee_adapter_view_1 with android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item and adjust your TextView updates to match. If the Spinner now behaves properly, your problem is in your primary adapter layout (R.layout.employee_adapter_view_1).

If by:

when the spinner is displayed the font colour ALWAYS seems like its disabled

you mean that when the Spinner is opened (via the drop-down arrow) the entries in the list appear disabled, then the problem is with the layout you are using in your missing getDropDownView() implementation in EmployeeAdapter.