Question

lots of searching and reading has not provided the answer to this problem.
my activity does not extend ListActivity so this line throws an error.
setListAdapter(fileList);

it is supposed to populate a listview, any solid help is much appreciated.

 ArrayAdapter<String> fileList =
    new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, R.layout.row, item);
    setListAdapter(fileList);

Answer 1

Obtain the reference of your ListView using findViewById(int). Then call the method ListView.setAdapter(ListAdapter) on that reference with your adapter as the parameter.