what are android's UI guidelines regarding ratingbar

Question

Are there any guidelines regarding ratingbars for android? I'm developing an android application and the way I've developed it, I can only set and edit the rating of something by adding it to a dialog box.

I wanted to know if there are any guidelines regarding the ratingbar - is it okay to have it in a dialog box? Or should I do a work-around?

Answer 1

My concern was having my rating bar within an adapter class (as seen below). I wanted to be able to get the position of the user that the rating bar is linked to. The only work-around I could think of that could do that is by putting it in a dialog box (which is the reason for my question). I solved my problem (of how to access the position from an innner class - ) by making the onRatingChanged by making position in getView to be final. Read here: Making paramters final about final attributes. Is really helpful.

Adapter Class

public class PersonAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<Person> {
private Context context;
private List<Person> people;

public PersonAdapter(Context context, List<Person> people) {
    super(context, R.layout.person_layout, people);
    this.context = context;
    this.people = people;
}

@Override
public View getView(final int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) 
{
    // if this is a new view, then inflate it
    View personView = convertView;

    if (personView == null) 
    {
        // get the inflater that will convert the person_layout.xml file
        // into an actual object (i.e. inflate it)
        LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) context
                .getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);

        // create a view to display the person's info
        personView = inflater
                .inflate(R.layout.person_layout, parent, false);

        TextView txt1stTime = (TextView) personView
                .findViewById(R.id.txt1stTime);
        txt1stTime.setText("1st time");
    } 
    else 
    {
        TextView txt1stTime = (TextView) personView
                .findViewById(R.id.txt1stTime);
        txt1stTime.setText("Recycled");
    }

    // keep track of person this view is working with
    personView.setTag(people.get(position));

    // get text views that will hold strings
    TextView txtSurname = (TextView) personView
            .findViewById(R.id.txtSurname);
    TextView txtFirstname = (TextView) personView
            .findViewById(R.id.txtFirstname);
    RatingBar ratingBar = (RatingBar) personView
            .findViewById(R.id.ratingBar1);


     //Once selected, get the question which the rating is in 
    //Start asynctask and get all the details for that question to update
    //Send and update rating
    ratingBar.setOnRatingBarChangeListener(new OnRatingBarChangeListener()
    {
        public void onRatingChanged(RatingBar ratingBar, float rating, boolean fromUser)
        {
            ratingBar.setRating(rating);
            String name = people.get(position).surname;
            Toast.makeText(getContext(),
                    "Rating set to:  " + rating + " for the position: " + position + " and user: " + name, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();   

        }
    });

    // set text fields
    txtSurname.setText(people.get(position).surname);
    txtFirstname.setText(people.get(position).firstName);

    float rate = ratingBar.getRating();
    Toast.makeText(getContext(),
            "Rating is: " + rate, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    people.get(position).rating = rate;
    System.out.print(people.get(position).rating);
    // return view to ListView to display
    return personView;
}

I know my answer is not directly linked to my actual question, but if anyone ever comes across the same problem of rather using a dialog box, there is a solution.