GarySLE / MultiType

A great Android library to retrofit multiple item view types

MultiType

An Android library to retrofit multiple item view types

English Version | 中文版

Previously, when we need to develop a complex RecyclerView/ListView, it is a boring and troublesome work. We should override the getItemViewType of RecyclerView.Adapter and add some types, then we create some ViewHolder to relate the type, all of the process it is a very bad experience. And once we need to add a new type, we have to go to the original Adapter and modify some old codes, so sad.

Today, I create a new graceful way to easily develop the complex RecyclerView/ListView, with my MultiType library, no matter how complex and how frequently changing list, we could insert a new type without changing the old codes.

Getting started

In your build.gradle:

dependencies {
    compile 'me.drakeet.multitype:multitype:1.2-beta1'
}

Usage

Step 1. Create a class implements ItemContent, It would be your data model/Java bean, for example:

public class TextItemContent implements ItemContent, Savable {

    @NonNull public String text;

    public TextItemContent(@NonNull String text) {
        this.text = text;
    }

    public TextItemContent(@NonNull byte[] data) {
        init(data);
    }

    @Override public void init(@NonNull byte[] data) {
        String json = new String(data);
        this.text = new Gson().fromJson(json, TextItemContent.class).text;
    }

    @NonNull @Override public byte[] toBytes() {
        return new Gson().toJson(this).getBytes();
    }
}

Step 2. Create a class extends ItemViewProvider<C extends ItemContent, V extends ViewHolder>, for example:

public class TextItemViewProvider
    extends ItemViewProvider<TextItemContent, TextItemViewProvider.TextHolder> {

    static class TextHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        @NonNull final TextView text;

        TextHolder(@NonNull View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            this.text = (TextView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.text);
        }
    }


    @NonNull @Override
    protected TextHolder onCreateViewHolder(
        @NonNull LayoutInflater inflater, @NonNull ViewGroup parent) {
        View root = inflater.inflate(R.layout.item_text, parent, false);
        TextHolder holder = new TextHolder(root);
        return holder;
    }


    @Override
    protected void onBindViewHolder(
        @NonNull TextHolder holder, @NonNull TextItemContent content, @NonNull TypeItem typeItem) {
        holder.text.setText("hello: " + content.text);
    }
}

Step 3. You do not need to create another new class. Just add a RecyclerView and List<TypeItem> to your Activity, for example:

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    recyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.list);
    
    itemFactory = new TypeItemFactory.Builder().build();
    TypeItem textItem = itemFactory.newItem(new TextItemContent("world"));
    TypeItem imageItem = itemFactory.newItem(new ImageItemContent(R.mipmap.ic_launcher));
    TypeItem richItem = itemFactory.newItem(new RichItemContent("小艾大人赛高", R.mipmap.avatar));
    
    List<TypeItem> typeItems = new ArrayList<>(80);
    for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
        typeItems.add(textItem);
        typeItems.add(imageItem);
        typeItems.add(richItem);
    }

    /* register the types before setAdapter, that's all right */ 
    ItemTypePool.register(TextItemContent.class, new TextItemViewProvider());
    ItemTypePool.register(ImageItemContent.class, new ImageItemViewProvider());
    ItemTypePool.register(RichItemContent.class, new RichItemViewProvider());

    recyclerView.setAdapter(new MultiTypeAdapter(typeItems));
}

You're good to go!

You could check the sample module for more details and after running it will look like:

And it has been used in drakeet/TimeMachine, you could check the Message extends TypeItem to learn how to custom TypeItem and it is recommended to read the MessageViewProvider, they are all great guide:

Q&A (English Version later)

Q: 为什么使用静态或者全局类型池？(Why we need static and single TypePool?)

A: 我不反对局部或临时类型池的设计，你可以 fork 这个项目自行实现，它们对于内存更加友好（但也只是微小优势而已），但在我看来，全局类型池在多方面更好：

• 它能够显式连接 Type 和它的 Item View，能够在同一地方统一 register，这将避免分散，带来很好的直观性和可管理性；
• 一个应用不会有超级大量的类型定义，类型 class 和 provider 对象都是非常轻薄的对象，直接静态存于内存，并不会导致内存泄漏和大的内存占用问题，几乎可以忽略；
• 至于要不要支持 optional 的局部类型池参数，我也是不喜欢支持的，前面说了，这是没必要的，而且若是可选（optional）也会使用户疑惑：“到底要还是不要？”

因此我喜欢和坚持使用全局静态类型池，它不会带来什么问题，而且好处诸多，有人给我提交了使用反射的方法来自动获取类型连接，为了避免性能话题，我不喜欢反射，而且将类型连接变得复杂和不可见性未必是好事。我一直坚持的原则是：写简单的代码，写可读的代码，实现复杂的需求（你们看我的代码是不是感觉很自然而然而且可读性十分好？）

License

Copyright 2016 drakeet.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.