Hint for Spinner

Question

I know there are lot many solutions for the same kind of question on the web, but still I couldn't find one to serve my needs.

I have a spinner in my layout xml and a string array in strings.xml .

<string-array name="days">
        <item>Monday</item>
        <item>Tuesday</item>
        <item>Wednesday</item>
        <item>Thursday</item>
        <item>Friday</item>
        <item>Saturday</item>
    </string-array>

and the java code as

Spinner days=(Spinner) findViewById(R.id.days_1);
ArrayAdapter adapter=ArrayAdapter.createFromResource(this,
R.array.days,R.layout.support_simple_spinner_dropdown_item);
    days.setAdapter(adapter);

I want to set up hint for spinner.

I have already read other answers for the same question but when I add an item in the string-array

<string-array name="days">
            <item>Monday</item>
            <item>Tuesday</item>
            <item>Wednesday</item>
            <item>Thursday</item>
            <item>Friday</item>
            <item>Saturday</item>
            <item>Select the Day</item>  <!--New item-->
        </string-array>

and in java after this line

days.setSelection(/*last element*/);

what happens is that the hint becomes permanent in the drop-down list. It is not working as the hint in edittext.

Please suggest me some method to set the hint for that.

Thanks in advance.

Its there in the dropdown because you are adding it in the adapter. To set a hint, you'll have to put a textView in the adapter statically. BUT no matter what you select, that text will be displayed (Not in the list though But as the selection). — Tushar Gogna, Feb 13 '15 at 11:11
Please go through this link it might be helpful for what you want to do. [How to make an Android Spinner with initial text “Select One”](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/867518/how-to-make-an-android-spinner-with-initial-text-select-one) — BBdev, Feb 13 '15 at 11:13

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 13 '15 at 12:33

You can try this Change your string array to

    <string-array name="days">
        <item />
        <item>Monday</item>
        <item>Tuesday</item>
        <item>Wednesday</item>
        <item>Thursday</item>
        <item>Friday</item>
        <item>Saturday</item>            
    </string-array>

Now write on item selected listener for your spinner

    days.setOnItemSelectedListener(new OnItemSelectedListener() {

        @Override
        public void onItemSelected(AdapterView<?> parent, View view,
                int position, long id) {
            TextView tv = (TextView) days.getChildAt(position);
            if (position == 0) {

                if (tv != null) {
                    tv.setText("Select the Day");
                    tv.setTextColor(Color.GRAY);
                }
            }

        }

        @Override
        public void onNothingSelected(AdapterView<?> parent) {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub

        }
    });

That's it..Enjoy...

Hint for Spinner

1 Answers1