How can I put a ListView into a ScrollView without it collapsing?

Question

I've searched around for solutions to this problem, and the only answer I can find seems to be "don't put a ListView into a ScrollView". I have yet to see any real explanation for why though. The only reason I can seem to find is that Google doesn't think you should want to do that. Well I do, so I did.

So the question is, how can you place a ListView into a ScrollView without it collapsing to its minimum height?

Answer 1

Here's my solution. I'm fairly new to the Android platform, and I'm sure this is a bit hackish, especially in the part about calling .measure directly, and setting the LayoutParams.height property directly, but it works.

All you have to do is call Utility.setListViewHeightBasedOnChildren(yourListView) and it will be resized to exactly accommodate the height of its items.

public class Utility {
    public static void setListViewHeightBasedOnChildren(ListView listView) {
        ListAdapter listAdapter = listView.getAdapter();
        if (listAdapter == null) {
            // pre-condition
            return;
        }

        int totalHeight = listView.getPaddingTop() + listView.getPaddingBottom();

        for (int i = 0; i < listAdapter.getCount(); i++) {
            View listItem = listAdapter.getView(i, null, listView);
            if (listItem instanceof ViewGroup) {
                listItem.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
             }

             listItem.measure(0, 0);
             totalHeight += listItem.getMeasuredHeight();
        }

        ViewGroup.LayoutParams params = listView.getLayoutParams();
        params.height = totalHeight + (listView.getDividerHeight() * (listAdapter.getCount() - 1));
        listView.setLayoutParams(params);
    }
}