Question

this is what I am trying to do.
I have a listview that is populated from a xml resource file saved in /values/menu.xml

it has this code in it:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
 <string-array name="menuchoices">
     <item name="pv">Present Value</item>
     <item name="fv">Future Value</item>
     <item name="bond">Bond Pricing</item>
 </string-array>   
</resources>

So far so simple. Then my Main.java file looks like this: (adapted from other listview questions here)

public class Main extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);
    ListView lv = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.listView1);
    lv.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
            android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,
            getResources().getStringArray(R.array.menuchoices)
            ));


}

public void onListItemClick(ListView partent, View v, int position, long id) {
   if ("pv".equals(getResources().getStringArray(R.array.menuchoices)[position])){
       setContentView(R.layout.presentvalue);
   }
   }       
}

Basically I read that launching new activities all the time is not the best practice so i just told the if statement to change the contentview. The problem is — Nothing happens when i click on the first item in the list. i also tried substituting “pv” with “Present Value” but it did not help either.

I think this i beacuase i took the code from posts like this here List View selection to start a new Activity) but I don’t know how to change it so it works with the external xml resource file.

This should be a simple fix right?

THanks in advance

Max

P.s. all the other stuff works (the presentvalue.xml file is in the layout folder and the list is properly displayed when i run the app)

EDIT //

here is the problematic line

public void onListItemClick(ListView parent, View v, int position, long id) {
   if (view.getText().toString().equals("Present Value")){
       startActivity(new Intent(Main.this, PresentValue.class));
   }
   } 

Answer 1

The function onListItemClick() is typically used with a ListActivity. There are a couple fixes to this:

1. • Change the line extends Activity to extends ListActivity.
   • Remove your ListView definition.
   • Change your main.xml id from @+id/listView1 to @android:id/list
2. • add implements OnItemClickListener in your class definition after extends Activity
   • Change the function onListItemClick to onItemClick

Try moving your menuchoices block:

 <string-array name="menuchoices">
     <item name="pv">Present Value</item>
     <item name="fv">Future Value</item>
     <item name="bond">Bond Pricing</item>
 </string-array>   

Into your string.xml file, then we can simplify your adapter (assuming you did changes #1 above):

setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
        android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,
        R.array.menuchoices));

We can also condense how you test the menu choice:

"pv".equals(getResources().getStringArray(R.array.menuchoices)[position])

Becomes:

view.getText().toString().equals("Present Value");

(Minor point, you have a typo in the word “parent”)

How’s that?