How to set Spinner default value to null?

Question

I\'m trying to get a Spinner to load up with no selected value. Once the user selects a value it then takes them to another page.

This is proving to be a problem be

Answer 1

This is a complete implementation of Paul Bourdeaux's idea, namely returning a special initial view (or an empty view) in getView() for position 0.

It works for me and is relatively straightforward. You might consider this approach especially if you already have a custom adapter for your Spinner. (In my case, I was using custom adapter in order to easily customise the layout of the items, each item having a couple of TextViews.)

The adapter would be something along these lines:

public class MySpinnerAdapter extends ArrayAdapter {

    public MySpinnerAdapter(Context context, List items) {
        super(context, R.layout.my_spinner_row, items);
    }

    @Override
    public View getDropDownView(int position, View convertView, @NonNull ViewGroup parent) {
        if (position == 0) {
            return initialSelection(true);
        }
        return getCustomView(position, convertView, parent);
    }

    @NonNull
    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, @NonNull ViewGroup parent) {
        if (position == 0) {
            return initialSelection(false);
        }
        return getCustomView(position, convertView, parent);
    }


    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        return super.getCount() + 1; // Adjust for initial selection item
    }

    private View initialSelection(boolean dropdown) {
        // Just an example using a simple TextView. Create whatever default view 
        // to suit your needs, inflating a separate layout if it's cleaner.
        TextView view = new TextView(getContext());
        view.setText(R.string.select_one);
        int spacing = getContext().getResources().getDimensionPixelSize(R.dimen.spacing_smaller);
        view.setPadding(0, spacing, 0, spacing);

        if (dropdown) { // Hidden when the dropdown is opened
            view.setHeight(0);
        }

        return view;
    }

    private View getCustomView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        // Distinguish "real" spinner items (that can be reused) from initial selection item
        View row = convertView != null && !(convertView instanceof TextView) 
        ? convertView :
        LayoutInflater.from(getContext()).inflate(R.layout.my_spinner_row, parent, false);

        position = position - 1; // Adjust for initial selection item
        MyModel item = getItem(position);

        // ... Resolve views & populate with data ...

        return row;
    }

}

That's it. Note that if you use a OnItemSelectedListener with your Spinner, in onItemSelected() you'd also have to adjust position to take the default item into account, for example:

if (position == 0) {
    return;
} else {
    position = position - 1;
}
MyModel selected = items.get(position);