What's the difference between BaseAdapter and ArrayAdapter?
AndroidPerformanceListviewAndroid ArrayadapterBaseadapterAndroid Problem Overview
I want to know the difference between using BaseAdapter
and ArrayAdapter
.
I have been achieving what I want through ArrayAdapters
.
Does it affect the performance of the ListView
on the adapter interface in which it is implemented ?
And, the last question is, can i achieve anything doing with ListView
using any of these Adapters
, or, there are certain cases where specific adapter only can be used?
Android Solutions
Solution 1 - Android
Here is the difference:
BaseAdapter
is a very generic adapter that allows you to do pretty much whatever you want. However, you have to do a bit more coding yourself to get it working.ArrayAdapter
is a more complete implementation that works well for data in arrays orArrayList
s. Similarly, there is a relatedCursorAdapter
that you should use if your data is in aCursor
. Both of these extendBaseAdapter
.
If your data is in a specialized collection of some sort or if you don't want the default behavior that ArrayAdapter
provides, you will likely want to extend BaseAdapter
to get the flexibility you need.
The performance of each really depends on how you implement them or change their behavior. At their core, either one can be just as effective (especially considering that an ArrayAdapter
is a BaseAdapter
).
You can do pretty much whatever you want with any adapter, but keep in mind that BaseAdapter
is abstract, so you can't use it directly.
Solution 2 - Android
BaseAdapter
is abstract while ArrayAdapter
extends BaseAdapter
(it is a concrete implementation of a BaseAdapter
). If you extends for ArrayAdapter
you are inheriting all the ArrayAdapter
's features and, override its implementation you can modify the ArrayAdapter
behavior. If you extends BaseAdapter
you must implements all the Abstract methods, that ArrayAdapter already implements.
> Also, does it affects the performance of the ListView
no it does not.
> And, the last question is, can i achieve anything doing with ListView > using any of these Adapters, or, there are certain cases where > specific adapter only can be used ?
If the implementation in the SDK fulfill your needs why you need to override it and re-invent the wheel?
The main difference between them is that BaseAdapter
can not be instantiate while ArrayAdapter
can
Solution 3 - Android
In response to your 3 questions:
(1) BaseAdapter, according to the Android docs, is just a superclass of a number of adapter types, one of which is ArrayAdapter
. There are a number of other adapters that are derived from BaseAdapter
that fit different purposes. As a result it is unlikley there is any difference in efficiency between the two; you just get access to a different set of functions/methods with the various subclasses.
(2) The efficiency of your ArrayAdapter
depends on the efficiency of what you're doing inside that class, i.e. the processing of bitmaps and other data.
(3) You could probably figure out a way to work your ListView
using a different kind of adapter, however, the reason ArrayAdapter
works is because it usually makes sense given the goal is to build an interactive list. The ArrayAdapte
takes an Array
, usually an ArrayList
of objects, that it then processes to create the backing information for the ListView
. In that sense the set up of ArrayList
--> ArrayAdapter
--> ListView
just logically makes sense.
Solution 4 - Android
One more difference between BaseAdapter and ArrayAdapters is, if you extend array adapter you have to call super class constructor in the subclass constructor.
UserListAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<String>{
List<String> UserList;
Context context;
public UserListAdapter(Context context, int resource,List<String> listUsers) {
super(context, resource, listUsers); /* Super class constructor is called */
UserList = listUsers;
this.context = context;
}
}
But there is no super class for BaseAdapter. As BaseAdapter serves as super class for all other adapters
UserListAdapter extends BaseAdapter{
List<String> UserList;
Context context;
public UserListAdapter(Context context, int resource,List<String> listUsers) {
/* No super class constructor */
UserList = listUsers;
this.context = context;
}
}
Solution 5 - Android
private static final String[] COUNTRIES = new String[]{
"Afghanistan", "Angola", "Australia", "Bangladesh", "Belgium",
"Bhutan", "Brazil", "Canada", "China", "Denmark"
};
ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<>(this, android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, COUNTRIES);
AutoCompleteTextView textView = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.countries_list);
textView.setAdapter(adapter);
Here we can't use BaseAdapter like ArrayAdapter.
Solution 6 - Android
BaseAdapter
s are more minimal and customizable. ArrayAdapter
s implement the most general uses of ListAdapter
s, but sometimes they are not enough.
However, almost everything can be achieved by the use of ArrayAdapter
s. If your lists are already working by using ArrayAdapter correctly, you have nothing to gain from BaseAdapter.
However, if you are storing your Context
, Arrays
or Lists
in your ArrayAdapter implementation, maybe you'll want to switch to BaseAdapter
, as ArrayAdapter
already has them implemented.
Anyway, if you're doing that, you can always remove those items, and resort to using getItem()
to get the Array items, getCount()
to get the size of the array, and getContext()
to inflate your views.