Add preferences to specific places in PreferenceScreen programmatically

Question

I am populating parts of my preferences programmatically. This works fine. Unfortunately new preferences there has to be added, when the user changes some preferences (think of an 'add a new alarm'-preference). This works fine as well, when I use PreferenceCategories (because the new ones are added at the end of one such, so myPreferenceCategory.addPreference(newPreference) does the trick). But what can I do to programmatically add a Preference to any specific place (not just the end of usual categories/the prefScreen??

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I tried to use some kind of "invisible" PreferenceCategory, by setting android:layout="my_custom_invis_layout" with

<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:id="@+id/my_custom_invis_layout"
  android:layout_width="match_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:paddingBottom="0dp"
  android:paddingTop="0dp"
  android:layout_marginTop="0dp"
  android:layout_marginBottom="0dp"/>

Unfortunately those padding and margin does not seem to have an impact on the minimum space the empty category take (but do so with positive values, which is - of cause - of no help).

---

I tried as well to nullify the layout by

<PreferenceCategory
    android:layout="@null">

but this just enlarges the space the category takes to those the other preferences have.

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Unfortunately SO did not help me on this so far. I would be very happy if anyone can point me to something like "add a preference A below preference B" or on how to make a category taking no space at all (as this would resolve my problem as well).

Answer 1

Ok, I've tried that other approach with Preferences#setOrder(int). (I left the previous answer there, cause for some use cases it might be the easier solution.) Does this one better suit your needs?

public class PreferencesFragment extends PreferenceFragmentCompat {
    private SharedPreferences mSharedPreferences;
    PreferenceCategory mMyPreferenceCategory;
    // ArrayList to keep track of the currently added Preferences
    ArrayList<Preference> mPreferenceList = new ArrayList<>();
    // this counter only serves for name-giving of the added
    // Preferences in this example
    int mCounter = 0;

    @Override
    public void onCreatePreferences(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState, String rootKey) {
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.preferences);
        mMyPreferenceCategory = (PreferenceCategory) findPreference("preferenceCategoryKey");
        addPreference(null);
    }

    // adds a Preference that is inserted on the position of the
    // clicked Preference, moving the clicked Preference - and all
    // Preferences after - one position down
    private void addPreference(Preference pref) {
        int order = 0;
        if (pref != null) {
            order = pref.getOrder();
        }
        for (Preference preference : mPreferenceList) {
            int oldOrder = preference.getOrder();
            if (oldOrder >= order) {
                preference.setOrder(oldOrder+1);
            }
        }
        Preference newPreference = new Preference(getContext());
        newPreference.setTitle("Preference " + mCounter);
        newPreference.setOrder(order);
        newPreference.setOnPreferenceClickListener(new Preference.OnPreferenceClickListener() {
            @Override
            public boolean onPreferenceClick(Preference preference) {
                addPreference(preference);
                return false;
            }
        });
        mMyPreferenceCategory.addPreference(newPreference);
        mPreferenceList.add(newPreference);
        mCounter++;
    }
}