What is the SortedList<T> working with RecyclerView.Adapter?

Question

Android Support Library 22.1 was released yesterday. Many new features were added into the v4 support library and v7, among which android.support.v7.util.SortedList<T> draws my attention.

It's said that, SortedList is a new data structure, works with RecyclerView.Adapter, maintains the item added/deleted/moved/changed animations provided by RecyclerView. It sounds like a List<T> in a ListView but seems more advanced and powerful.

So, what is the difference between SortedList<T> and List<T>? How could I use it efficiently? What's the enforcement of SortedList<T> over List<T> if it is so? Could somebody post some samples of it?

Any tips or codes will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

SortedList handles the communication to the Recycler adapter via Callback.

One difference between SortedList and List is seen in the addAll helper method in the sample below.

public void addAll(List<Page> items) {
        mPages.beginBatchedUpdates();
        for (Page item : items) {
            mPages.add(item);
        }
        mPages.endBatchedUpdates();
    }

1. Keeps last added item

Say I have 10 cached items to load immediately when my recycler list is populated. At the same time, I query my network for the same 10 items because they could have changed since I cached them. I can call the same addAll method and SortedList will replace the cachedItems with fetchedItems under the hood (always keeps the last added item).

// After creating adapter
myAdapter.addAll(cachedItems)
// Network callback
myAdapter.addAll(fetchedItems)

In a regular List, I would have duplicates of all my items (list size of 20). With SortedList its replaces items that are the same using the Callback's areItemsTheSame.

2. Its smart about when to update the Views

When the fetchedItems are added, onChange will only be called if one or more of the Page's title changed. You can customize what SortedList looks for in the Callback's areContentsTheSame.

3. Its performant

If you are going to add multiple items to a SortedList, BatchedCallback call convert individual onInserted(index, 1) calls into one onInserted(index, N) if items are added into consecutive indices. This change can help RecyclerView resolve changes much more easily.

Sample

You can have a getter on your adapter for your SortedList, but I just decided to add helper methods to my adapter.

Adapter Class:

  public class MyAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder> {
    private SortedList<Page> mPages;

    public MyAdapter() {
        mPages = new SortedList<Page>(Page.class, new SortedList.Callback<Page>() {
            @Override
            public int compare(Page o1, Page o2) {
                return o1.getTitle().compareTo(o2.getTitle());
            }

            @Override
            public void onInserted(int position, int count) {
                notifyItemRangeInserted(position, count);
            }

            @Override
            public void onRemoved(int position, int count) {
                notifyItemRangeRemoved(position, count);
            }

            @Override
            public void onMoved(int fromPosition, int toPosition) {
                notifyItemMoved(fromPosition, toPosition);
            }

            @Override
            public void onChanged(int position, int count) {
                notifyItemRangeChanged(position, count);
            }

            @Override
            public boolean areContentsTheSame(Page oldItem, Page newItem) {
                // return whether the items' visual representations are the same or not.
                return oldItem.getTitle().equals(newItem.getTitle());
            }

            @Override
            public boolean areItemsTheSame(Page item1, Page item2) {
                return item1.getId() == item2.getId();
            }
        });

    }

    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View view = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext())
                .inflate(R.layout.viewholder_page, parent, false);
        return new PageViewHolder(view);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        PageViewHolder pageViewHolder = (PageViewHolder) holder;
        Page page = mPages.get(position);
        pageViewHolder.textView.setText(page.getTitle());
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return mPages.size();
    }

    // region PageList Helpers
    public Page get(int position) {
        return mPages.get(position);
    }

    public int add(Page item) {
        return mPages.add(item);
    }

    public int indexOf(Page item) {
        return mPages.indexOf(item);
    }

    public void updateItemAt(int index, Page item) {
        mPages.updateItemAt(index, item);
    }

    public void addAll(List<Page> items) {
        mPages.beginBatchedUpdates();
        for (Page item : items) {
            mPages.add(item);
        }
        mPages.endBatchedUpdates();
    }

    public void addAll(Page[] items) {
        addAll(Arrays.asList(items));
    }

    public boolean remove(Page item) {
        return mPages.remove(item);
    }

    public Page removeItemAt(int index) {
        return mPages.removeItemAt(index);
    }

    public void clear() {
       mPages.beginBatchedUpdates();
       //remove items at end, to avoid unnecessary array shifting
       while (mPages.size() > 0) {
          mPages.removeItemAt(mPages.size() - 1);
       }
       mPages.endBatchedUpdates();
    }
}

Page class:

public class Page {
    private String title;
    private long id;

    public String getTitle() {
        return title;
    }

    public void setTitle(String title) {
        this.title = title;
    }

    public long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }
}

Viewholder xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/text_view"
        style="@style/TextStyle.Primary.SingleLine"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

</LinearLayout>

Viewholder class:

public class PageViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
    public TextView textView;


    public PageViewHolder(View itemView) {
        super(itemView);
        textView = (TextView)item.findViewById(R.id.text_view);
    }
}