How to build a horizontal ListView with RecyclerView

I need to implement a horizontal listview in my Android application. I did a bit of research and came across https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3877040/how-can-i-make-a-horizontal-listview-in-android and https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3240331/horizontal-listview-in-android. However, these questions were asked before Recyclerview was released. Is there a better way to implement this now with Recyclerview?

> Is there a better way to implement this now with RecyclerView now?

Yes.

When you use a RecyclerView, you need to specify a LayoutManager that is responsible for laying out each item in the view. The LinearLayoutManager allows you to specify an orientation, just like a normal LinearLayout would.

To create a horizontal list with RecyclerView, you might do something like this:

LinearLayoutManager layoutManager
    = new LinearLayoutManager(requireContext(), LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false);

RecyclerView myList = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.my_recycler_view);
myList.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);

 <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        app:layoutManager="android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager" />

#Complete example

The only real difference between a vertical RecyclerView and a horizontal one is how you set up the LinearLayoutManager. Here is the code snippet. The full example is below.

LinearLayoutManager horizontalLayoutManagaer = new LinearLayoutManager(MainActivity.this, LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false);
recyclerView.setLayoutManager(horizontalLayoutManagaer);

This fuller example is modeled after my vertical RecyclerView answer.

#Update Gradle dependencies

Make sure the following dependencies are in your app gradle.build file:

implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:27.1.1'
implementation 'com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:27.1.1'

You can update the version numbers to whatever is the most current.

#Create activity layout

Add the RecyclerView to your xml layout.

activity_main.xml

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

    <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
        android:id="@+id/rvAnimals"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"/>

</RelativeLayout>

#Create item layout

Each item in our RecyclerView is going to have a single a colored View over a TextView. Create a new layout resource file.

recyclerview_item.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:padding="10dp">

    <View
        android:id="@+id/colorView"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="100dp"/>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tvAnimalName"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textSize="20sp"/>

</LinearLayout>

#Create the adapter

The RecyclerView needs an adapter to populate the views in each row (horizontal item) with your data. Create a new java file.

MyRecyclerViewAdapter.java

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

    private List<Integer> mViewColors;
    private List<String> mAnimals;
    private LayoutInflater mInflater;
    private ItemClickListener mClickListener;

    // data is passed into the constructor
    MyRecyclerViewAdapter(Context context, List<Integer> colors, List<String> animals) {
        this.mInflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);
        this.mViewColors = colors;
        this.mAnimals = animals;
    }

    // inflates the row layout from xml when needed
    @Override
    @NonNull
    public ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(@NonNull ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View view = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.recyclerview_item, parent, false);
        return new ViewHolder(view);
    }

    // binds the data to the view and textview in each row
    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(@NonNull ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        int color = mViewColors.get(position);
        String animal = mAnimals.get(position);
        holder.myView.setBackgroundColor(color);
        holder.myTextView.setText(animal);
    }

    // total number of rows
    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return mAnimals.size();
    }

    // stores and recycles views as they are scrolled off screen
    public class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder implements View.OnClickListener {
        View myView;
        TextView myTextView;

        ViewHolder(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            myView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.colorView);
            myTextView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.tvAnimalName);
            itemView.setOnClickListener(this);
        }

        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            if (mClickListener != null) mClickListener.onItemClick(view, getAdapterPosition());
        }
    }

    // convenience method for getting data at click position
    public String getItem(int id) {
        return mAnimals.get(id);
    }

    // allows clicks events to be caught
    public void setClickListener(ItemClickListener itemClickListener) {
        this.mClickListener = itemClickListener;
    }

    // parent activity will implement this method to respond to click events
    public interface ItemClickListener {
        void onItemClick(View view, int position);
    }
}

Notes

• Although not strictly necessary, I included the functionality for listening for click events on the items. This was available in the old ListViews and is a common need. You can remove this code if you don't need it.

#Initialize RecyclerView in Activity

Add the following code to your main activity.

MainActivity.java

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements MyRecyclerViewAdapter.ItemClickListener {

    private MyRecyclerViewAdapter adapter;

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

        // data to populate the RecyclerView with
        ArrayList<Integer> viewColors = new ArrayList<>();
        viewColors.add(Color.BLUE);
        viewColors.add(Color.YELLOW);
        viewColors.add(Color.MAGENTA);
        viewColors.add(Color.RED);
        viewColors.add(Color.BLACK);

        ArrayList<String> animalNames = new ArrayList<>();
        animalNames.add("Horse");
        animalNames.add("Cow");
        animalNames.add("Camel");
        animalNames.add("Sheep");
        animalNames.add("Goat");

        // set up the RecyclerView
        RecyclerView recyclerView = findViewById(R.id.rvAnimals);
        LinearLayoutManager horizontalLayoutManager
                = new LinearLayoutManager(MainActivity.this, LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false);
        recyclerView.setLayoutManager(horizontalLayoutManager);
        adapter = new MyRecyclerViewAdapter(this, viewColors, animalNames);
        adapter.setClickListener(this);
        recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);
    }

    @Override
    public void onItemClick(View view, int position) {
        Toast.makeText(this, "You clicked " + adapter.getItem(position) + " on item position " + position, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
}

Notes

• Notice that the activity implements the ItemClickListener that we defined in our adapter. This allows us to handle item click events in onItemClick.

#Finished

That's it. You should be able to run your project now and get something similar to the image at the top.

#Notes

• The colored views in my example could of course be replaced with images in a real project.

• Vertical RecyclerView example

If you want to use a RecyclerView with the GridLayoutManager, this is the way to achieve horizontal scroll.

recyclerView.setLayoutManager(
new GridLayoutManager(recyclerView.getContext(), rows, GridLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false));

Trying to build a horizontal ListView is taking too much time. I have resolved it in two ways.

1. By using a ViewPager whose adapter extends from PagerAdapter.

2. By using RecyclerView just as above. We need to apply LayoutManager as in the following code:

    LinearLayoutManager layoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this, LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false);
   
    RecyclerView myList = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.my_recycler_view);
    myList.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);
   

If you wish to use the Horizontal Recycler View to act as a ViewPager then it's possible now with the help of LinearSnapHelper which is added in Support Library version 24.2.0.

Firstly Add RecyclerView to your Activity/Fragment

<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
    android:layout_below="@+id/sign_in_button"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:id="@+id/blog_list"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">
</android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView>

In my case I have used a CardView inside the RecyclerView

blog_row.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.widget.CardView

    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
        android:layout_margin="15dp"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:orientation="vertical">

            <com.android.volley.toolbox.NetworkImageView
                android:id="@+id/imageBlogPost"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:adjustViewBounds="true"
                android:paddingBottom="15dp"
                android:src="@drawable/common_google_signin_btn_text_light_normal" />

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/TitleTextView"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
               android:layout_marginBottom="20dp"

                android:text="Post Title Here"
                android:textSize="16sp" />

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/descriptionTextView"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="Post Description Here"
                android:paddingBottom="15dp"
                android:textSize="14sp" />
        </LinearLayout>

    </android.support.v7.widget.CardView>

In your Activity/Fragment

private RecyclerView mBlogList;

LinearLayoutManager layoutManager =
    new LinearLayoutManager(this, LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false);

mBlogList = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.blog_list);
mBlogList.setHasFixedSize(true);
mBlogList.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);

LinearSnapHelper snapHelper = new LinearSnapHelper() {
    @Override
    public int findTargetSnapPosition(RecyclerView.LayoutManager lm, int velocityX, int velocityY) {
        View centerView = findSnapView(lm);
        if (centerView == null)
            return RecyclerView.NO_POSITION;

        int position = lm.getPosition(centerView);
        int targetPosition = -1;
        if (lm.canScrollHorizontally()) {
            if (velocityX < 0) {
                targetPosition = position - 1;
            } else {
                targetPosition = position + 1;
            }
        }

        if (lm.canScrollVertically()) {
            if (velocityY < 0) {
                targetPosition = position - 1;
            } else {
                targetPosition = position + 1;
            }
        }

        final int firstItem = 0;
        final int lastItem = lm.getItemCount() - 1;
        targetPosition = Math.min(lastItem, Math.max(targetPosition, firstItem));
        return targetPosition;
    }
};

snapHelper.attachToRecyclerView(mBlogList);

Last Step is to set adapter to RecyclerView

mBlogList.setAdapter(firebaseRecyclerAdapter);

With the release of RecyclerView library, now you can align a list of images bound with text easily. You can use LinearLayoutManager to specify the direction in which you would like to orient your list, either vertical or horizontal as shown below.

You can download a full working demo from this post.

XML File

<HorizontalScrollView
	android:layout_width="match_parent"
	android:layout_height="wrap_content">
	
	<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
		android:id="@+id/recycler_view"
		android:layout_width="match_parent"
		android:layout_height="match_parent"
		android:orientation="horizontal"
		android:scrollbars="vertical|horizontal" />

</HorizontalScrollView>

Code

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.ContextWrapper;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.Toast;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity{

	ImageView mImageView1;
	Bitmap bitmap;
	String mSavedInfo;
	@Override
	protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
		setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
		mImageView1 = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.image);
	}
	public Bitmap getBitmapFromURL(String src) {
		try {
			java.net.URL url = new java.net.URL(src);
			HttpURLConnection connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
			connection.setDoInput(true);
			connection.connect();
			InputStream input = connection.getInputStream();
			Bitmap myBitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(input);
			return myBitmap;
		} catch (IOException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
			return null;
		}
	}
	public void button2(View view) {
		new DownloadImageFromTherad().execute();
	}
	private class DownloadImageFromTherad extends AsyncTask<String, Integer, String> {
		@Override
		protected String doInBackground(String... params) {
			bitmap = getBitmapFromURL("https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/08/08/09/17/avatar-1577909_960_720.png");
			return null;
		}

		@Override
		protected void onPostExecute(String s) {
			super.onPostExecute(s);
			File sdCardDirectory = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
			File image = new File(sdCardDirectory, "test.png");
			boolean success = false;
			FileOutputStream outStream;
			mSavedInfo = saveToInternalStorage(bitmap);
			if (success) {
				Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Image saved with success", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
			} else {
				Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Error during image saving" + mSavedInfo, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
			}
		}
	}
	private String saveToInternalStorage(Bitmap bitmapImage) {
		ContextWrapper cw = new ContextWrapper(getApplicationContext());
		// path to /data/data/yourapp/app_data/imageDir
		File directory = cw.getDir("imageDir", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
		File mypath = new File(directory, "profile.jpg");
		FileOutputStream fos = null;
		try {
			fos = new FileOutputStream(mypath);
			bitmapImage.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.PNG, 100, fos);
		} catch (Exception e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} finally {
			try {
				fos.close();
			} catch (IOException e) {
				e.printStackTrace();
			}
		}
		return directory.getAbsolutePath();
	}
	private void loadImageFromStorage(String path) {
		try {
			File f = new File(path, "profile.jpg");
			Bitmap b = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(new FileInputStream(f));
			mImageView1.setImageBitmap(b);
		} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
	public void showImage(View view) {
		loadImageFromStorage(mSavedInfo);
	}
	
}

> It's for both for Horizontal and for Vertical.

RecyclerView recyclerView;
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_test_recycler);
    recyclerView = (RecyclerView)findViewById(R.id.recyclerViewId);

    RecyclAdapter adapter = new RecyclAdapter();
    
    //Vertical RecyclerView
    RecyclerView.LayoutManager mLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(getApplicationContext());
    recyclerView.setLayoutManager(mLayoutManager);

    //Horizontal RecyclerView
    //recyclerView.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(getApplicationContext(),LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL,false));

    recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);

}

Recycler View in Horizontal Dynamic.

Recycler View Implementation

RecyclerView musicList = findViewById(R.id.MusicList);

// RecyclerView musiclist = findViewById(R.id.MusicList1);
// RecyclerView musicLIST = findViewById(R.id.MusicList2);
LinearLayoutManager layoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this, LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false);
musicList.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);

String[] names = {"RAP", "CH SHB", "Faheem", "Anum", "Shoaib", "Laiba", "Zoki", "Komal", "Sultan","Mansoob Gull"};
musicList.setAdapter(new ProgrammingAdapter(names));'

Adapter class for recycler view, in which there is is a view holder for holding view of that recycler

public class ProgrammingAdapter 
     extendsRecyclerView.Adapter<ProgrammingAdapter.programmingViewHolder> {

private String[] data;

public ProgrammingAdapter(String[] data)
{
    this.data = data;
}

@Override
public programmingViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(@NonNull ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
    LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext());
    View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.list_item_layout, parent, false);

    return new programmingViewHolder(view);
}

@Override
public void onBindViewHolder(@NonNull programmingViewHolder holder, int position) {
    String title = data[position];
    holder.textV.setText(title);
}

@Override
public int getItemCount() {
    return data.length;
}

public class programmingViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder{
    ImageView img;
    TextView textV;
    public programmingViewHolder(View itemView) {
        super(itemView);
        img =  itemView.findViewById(R.id.img);
        textV =  itemView.findViewById(R.id.textt);
    }
}
   

recyclerView.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(this, LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false));

recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);

You can change orientation either in the code or in the layout xml file.

In xml file

In your layout xml file set orientation to horizontal and layoutManager to the one of LinearLayoutManager, GridLayoutManager, StaggeredGridLayoutManager. Choose according to your requirement.

<androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    app:layoutManager="androidx.recyclerview.widget.LinearLayoutManager" />

In code

If you want to change orientation programmatically, set layoutManager with horizontal orientation.

recyclerView.layoutManager = LinearLayoutManager(context, RecyclerView.HORIZONTAL, false)

There is a RecyclerView subclass named HorizontalGridView. You can use it to have a horizontal direction. VerticalGridView for the vertical direction.

Try this:

myrecyclerview.setLayoutManager(
        new LinearLayoutManager(getActivity(),
                                LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL,false));
myrecyclerview.setAdapter(recyclerAdapter);

only in case you got a recycler view with some fragments on it.

Just add these attributes in RecyclerView on the XML

android:orientation="horizontal" app:layoutManager="androidx.recyclerview.widget.LinearLayoutManager"