Spinner with Custom Objects

In this video we will learn, how to use the default ArrayAdapter to fill a spinner with objects of our own custom Java class. The spinner will only populate one TextView with the information we return in our POJO’s toString method, but we can still retrieve our whole object with all it’s data from the spinner selection.

If you want to build a completely customized spinner with a custom adapter, you can watch this video:
youtube.com/watch?v=GeO5F0nnzAw

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activity_main.xmlUser.javaMainActivity.java

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="center"
    tools:context="com.codinginflow.spinnercustomobjectexample.MainActivity">

    <Spinner
        android:id="@+id/spinner"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:onClick="getSelectedUser"
        android:text="Get selected User" />

</LinearLayout>

package com.codinginflow.spinnercustomobjectexample;

public class User {
    private String name;
    private int age;
    private String mail;

    public User(String name, int age, String mail) {
        this.name = name;
        this.age = age;
        this.mail = mail;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getAge() {
        return age;
    }

    public void setAge(int age) {
        this.age = age;
    }

    public String getMail() {
        return mail;
    }

    public void setMail(String mail) {
        this.mail = mail;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return name;
    }
}

package com.codinginflow.spinnercustomobjectexample;

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Spinner;
import android.widget.Toast;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    private Spinner spinner;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        spinner = findViewById(R.id.spinner);

        List<User> userList = new ArrayList<>();
        User user1 = new User("Jim", 20, "jim@gmail.com");
        userList.add(user1);
        User user2 = new User("John", 23, "john@gmail.com");
        userList.add(user2);
        User user3 = new User("Jenny", 25, "jenny@gmail.com");
        userList.add(user3);

        ArrayAdapter<User> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<User>(this,
                android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, userList);
        adapter.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);

        spinner.setAdapter(adapter);

        spinner.setOnItemSelectedListener(new AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener() {
            @Override
            public void onItemSelected(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
                User user = (User) parent.getSelectedItem();
                displayUserData(user);
            }

            @Override
            public void onNothingSelected(AdapterView<?> parent) {

            }
        });
    }

    public void getSelectedUser(View v) {
        User user = (User) spinner.getSelectedItem();
        displayUserData(user);
    }

    private void displayUserData(User user) {
        String name = user.getName();
        int age = user.getAge();
        String mail = user.getMail();

        String userData = "Name: " + name + "\nAge: " + age + "\nMail: " + mail;

        Toast.makeText(this, userData, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }
}