ListView and ListActivity

As described in Google's documentation (http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/layout/listview.html), a ListView element is a view group that displays a list of items and enables scrolling if the items do not fit the size of the ListView element. In this section, we will build a simple ListView element—introducing adapters briefly (we will cover them in more depth in the next section) but we will not spend much time on the ListView element, as we will favor the use of the newer RecyclerView element instead in later sections. Using RecyclerView over ListView is highly recommended as it is more flexible and does not leave performance improvements optional. ListActivity is like a normal activity, but with only one single element on it: ListView.

ListView

Let's begin, first of all, with the ListView element. Adding ListView is straightforward; just add it to an existing layout or view group and it will appear in the preview view, as shown in the following screenshot...