Use custom View in a RecyclerView Adapter?

Question

I have a basic custom View which looks like this:

public class CustomView extends RelativeLayout {

    private User user;

    private ImageView profilePicture;

    public CustomView(Context context) {
        super(context);
        init();
    }

    public CustomView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
        init();
    }

    private void init() {
        inflate(getContext(), R.layout.custom_layout, this);

        profilePicture = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.profilePicture);

        // ACCESS USER MODEL HERE
        // e.g. user.getUsername()
    }

}

As you can see, I'd like to access user data in the View (i.e.: user.getUsername()).

I also need to be able to use the custom View in a RecyclerView Adapter.

Here is what my Adapter currently looks like:

public class MyAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<MyAdapter.ViewHolder> {

    private Context context;

    private List<User> userData;

    public MyAdapter(Context context, List<User> userData) {
        this.context = context;
        this.userData = userData;
    }

    public class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        public ViewHolder(View v) {
            super(v);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);

        // HOW TO INFLATE THE CUSTOM VIEW?

        // ViewHolder viewHolder = new ViewHolder(customView);

        return viewHolder;
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(final ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        // ANYTHING HERE?
    }

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

}

How can I inflate the custom View in the Adapter?
Also, should I put anything in onBindViewHolder()?

Note: I must use a custom View, as I use this View under different Adapters (i.e.: not just this RecyclerView Adapter).

Answer 1

Assuming a CustomView class that looks something like this:

public class CustomView extends RelativeLayout {
    private User user;
    private ImageView profilePicture;

    // override all constructors to ensure custom logic runs in all cases
    public CustomView(Context context) {
        this(context, null);
    }
    public CustomView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        this(context, attrs, 0);
    }
    public CustomView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyleAttr) {
        this(context, attrs, defStyleAttr, 0);
    }
    public CustomView(
            Context context,
            AttributeSet attrs,
            int defStyleAttr,
            int defStyleRes
    ) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr, defStyleRes);

        // put all custom logic in this constructor, which always runs
        inflate(getContext(), R.layout.custom_layout, this);
        profilePicture = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.profilePicture);
    }

    public void setUser(User newUser) {
        user = newUser;
        // ACCESS USER MODEL HERE
        // e.g. user.getUsername()
    }
}

Your RecyclerView.Adapter and RecyclerView.ViewHolder could look something like this:

public class MyAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<MyAdapter.ViewHolder> {
    // no Context reference needed—can get it from a ViewGroup parameter
    private List<User> userData;

    public MyAdapter(List<User> userData) {
        // make own copy of the list so it can't be edited externally
        this.userData = new ArrayList<User>(userData);
    }

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

    @Override
    public ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        // no need for a LayoutInflater instance—
        // the custom view inflates itself
        CustomView itemView = new CustomView(parent.getContext());
        // manually set the CustomView's size
        itemView.setLayoutParams(new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(
                ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
                ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
        ));
        return new ViewHolder(itemView);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(final ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        holder.getCustomView().setUser(userData.get(position));
    }

    public class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        private CustomView customView;

        public ViewHolder(View v) {
            super(v);
            customView = (CustomView) v;
        }

        public CustomView getCustomView() {
            return customView;
        }
    }
}

• The CustomView manages its own setup, which occurs in its own constructor and in this case uses inflation of an XML file. (Alternatively, it could set up its child views programmatically.)
• Because of this, the RecyclerView.Adapter doesn't need to perform any inflation—it just creates a new CustomView instance, and lets the CustomView worry about its own setup.
• The CustomView can't get a User instance until its setUser method is called, so user access cannot occur in the constructor. In any case, over one CustomView lifetime, a RecyclerView could ask it to show information for many different users at different times. The CustomView needs to be able to do this. Therefore, a setUser method is introduced.
• Because the CustomView is instantiated by code instead of by XML, attributes for size can't be defined in XML. Therefore, sizing is done programmatically after instantation.
• onBindViewHolder simply calls setUser on the CustomView to link the CustomView with the correct User instance.
• The ViewHolder class is now just a link between a RecyclerView item and a CustomView.

Using pre-built custom views from another class within RecyclerViews (i.e. not inflating XML within the RecyclerView.Adapter) never seems to be discussed. I think it's an excellent idea even when the custom view is exclusively used within a RecyclerView, because it promotes separation of concerns and adherence to the Single Responsibility Principle.