Android: Access child views from a ListView

I need to find out the pixel position of one element in a list that's been displayed using a ListView. It seems like I should get one of the TextView's and then use getTop(), but I can't figure out how to get a child view of a ListView.

Update: The children of the ViewGroup do not correspond 1-to-1 with the items in the list, for a ListView. Instead, the ViewGroup's children correspond to only those views that are visible right now. So getChildAt() operates on an index that's internal to the ViewGroup and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the position in the list that the ListView uses.


See: Android ListView: get data index of visible item and combine with part of Feet's answer above, can give you something like:

int wantedPosition = 10; // Whatever position you're looking for
int firstPosition = listView.getFirstVisiblePosition() - listView.getHeaderViewsCount(); // This is the same as child #0
int wantedChild = wantedPosition - firstPosition;
// Say, first visible position is 8, you want position 10, wantedChild will now be 2
// So that means your view is child #2 in the ViewGroup:
if (wantedChild < 0 || wantedChild >= listView.getChildCount()) {
  Log.w(TAG, "Unable to get view for desired position, because it's not being displayed on screen.");
  return;
}
// Could also check if wantedPosition is between listView.getFirstVisiblePosition() and listView.getLastVisiblePosition() instead.
View wantedView = listView.getChildAt(wantedChild);

The benefit is that you aren't iterating over the ListView's children, which could take a performance hit.


This code is easier to use:

 View rowView = listView.getChildAt(viewIndex);//The item number in the List View
    if(rowView != null)
        {
           // Your code here
        }

A quick search of the docs for the ListView class has turned up getChildCount() and getChildAt() methods inherited from ViewGroup. Can you iterate through them using these? I'm not sure but it's worth a try.

Found it here


listview.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
    @Override
    public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, final View view, int position, long id) {
        View v;
        int count = parent.getChildCount();
        v = parent.getChildAt(position);
        parent.requestChildFocus(v, view);
        v.setBackground(res.getDrawable(R.drawable.transparent_button));
        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
            if (i != position) {
                v = parent.getChildAt(i);
                v.setBackground(res.getDrawable(R.drawable.not_clicked));
            }
        }
    }
});

Basically, create two Drawables - one that is transparent, and another that is the desired color. Request focus at the clicked position (int position as defined) and change the color of the said row. Then walk through the parent ListView, and change all other rows accordingly. This accounts for when a user clicks on the listview multiple times. This is done with a custom layout for each row in the ListView. (Very simple, just create a new layout file with a TextView - do not set focusable or clickable!).

No custom adapter required - use ArrayAdapter


int position = 0;
listview.setItemChecked(position, true);
View wantedView = adapter.getView(position, null, listview);