Android ListView not refreshing after notifyDataSetChanged

Question

My ListFragment code

public class ItemFragment extends ListFragment {

    private DatabaseHandler dbHelper;
    private static final String TITLE = "Items";
    private static final String LOG_TAG = "debugger";
    private ItemAdapter adapter;
    private List<Item> items;


    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.item_fragment_list, container, false);        
        return view;
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.setHasOptionsMenu(true);
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        getActivity().setTitle(TITLE);
        dbHelper = new DatabaseHandler(getActivity());
        items = dbHelper.getItems(); 
        adapter = new ItemAdapter(getActivity().getApplicationContext(), items);
        this.setListAdapter(adapter);

    }



    @Override
    public void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        items.clear();
        items = dbHelper.getItems(); //reload the items from database
        adapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    @Override
    public void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v, int position, long id) {
        super.onListItemClick(l, v, position, id);
        if(dbHelper != null) { //item is edited
            Item item = (Item) this.getListAdapter().getItem(position);
            Intent intent = new Intent(getActivity(), AddItemActivity.class);
            intent.putExtra(IntentConstants.ITEM, item);
            startActivity(intent);
        }
    }
}

My ListView

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

    <ListView
        android:id="@android:id/list"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

</LinearLayout>

But this does not refresh the ListView. Even after restarting app the updated items are not shown. My ItemAdapter extends BaseAdapter

public class ItemAdapter extends BaseAdapter{

    private LayoutInflater inflater;
    private List<Item> items;
    private Context context;

    public ProjectListItemAdapter(Context context, List<Item> items) {
        super();
        inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);
        this.context = context;
        this.items = items;

    }

    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        return items.size();
    }

    @Override
    public Object getItem(int position) {
        return items.get(position);
    }

    @Override
    public long getItemId(int position) {
        return position;
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        ItemViewHolder holder = null;
        if(convertView == null) {
            holder = new ItemViewHolder();
            convertView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.list_item, parent,false);
            holder.itemName = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.topText);
            holder.itemLocation = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.bottomText);
            convertView.setTag(holder);
        } else {
            holder = (ItemViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
        }
        holder.itemName.setText("Name: " + items.get(position).getName());
        holder.itemLocation.setText("Location: " + items.get(position).getLocation());
        if(position % 2 == 0) {                                                                                 
            convertView.setBackgroundColor(context.getResources().getColor(R.color.evenRowColor));
        } else {    
            convertView.setBackgroundColor(context.getResources().getColor(R.color.oddRowColor));
        }
        return convertView;
    }

    private static class ItemViewHolder {
        TextView itemName;
        TextView itemLocation;
    }
}

Can someone help please?

Answer 1

Look at your onResume method in ItemFragment:

@Override
public void onResume() {
    super.onResume();
    items.clear();
    items = dbHelper.getItems(); // reload the items from database
    adapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
}

what you just have updated before calling notifyDataSetChanged() is not the adapter's field private List<Item> items; but the identically declared field of the fragment. The adapter still stores a reference to list of items you passed when you created the adapter (e.g. in fragment's onCreate). The shortest (in sense of number of changes) but not elegant way to make your code behave as you expect is simply to replace the line:

    items = dbHelper.getItems(); // reload the items from database

with

    items.addAll(dbHelper.getItems()); // reload the items from database

A more elegant solution:

1) remove items private List<Item> items; from ItemFragment - we need to keep reference to them only in adapter

2) change onCreate to :

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    super.setHasOptionsMenu(true);
    getActivity().setTitle(TITLE);
    dbHelper = new DatabaseHandler(getActivity());
    adapter = new ItemAdapter(getActivity(), dbHelper.getItems());
    setListAdapter(adapter);
}

3) add method in ItemAdapter:

public void swapItems(List<Item> items) {
    this.items = items;
    notifyDataSetChanged();
}

4) change your onResume to:

@Override
public void onResume() {
    super.onResume();
    adapter.swapItems(dbHelper.getItems());
}