Add and remove a TextView dynamically in Android

Question

I have set up a FrameLayout which has a TextView on top of a ListView. Now, in the MainActivity, after executing some code, I check whether the ListView is empty. If it is, I display the TextView, if not, I remove the TextView.

The code is as follows:

Following is the main.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/flMain"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tvAddItem"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        android:text="Add some subjects"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/ItemsList"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dip"
        android:layout_weight="1" />

</FrameLayout>

In the MainActivity class, I do the following:

MainActivity.java

TextView tvNoItem = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tvAddItem);
ListView subListView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.itemsList);
FrameLayout fl = (FrameLayout) findViewById(R.id.flMain);

ArrayList<Item> itemsList;

//some code

if(itemsList.isEmpty()) {
    fl.addView(tvNoItem);
} else {
    fl.removeView(tvNoItem);
}

Now, when I run it and I add some items to the list, the TextView (tvNoItem) is removed indeed. But all I see is a blank list - the list items are not visible. [BTW, the list is working fine. When I remove the TextView from main.xml, I can see all the list items.] Please help.

Answer 1

Why don't you use ListView's emptyView option.

Here is a nice post about showing empty view while your adapter is empty. It'll be automatically shown when your Adapter's source is empty.

Android – ListView => setEmptyView()

You don't need to check whether you data source (ArrayList) is empty, android framework will handle all the hiding and showing implementation.

Make sure to call setEmptyView() before you call setAdapter() on the ListView.