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

Base on @Jonik answer I have created fully functional extension to ArrayAdapter

class SpinnerArrayAdapter : ArrayAdapter {

    private val selectText : String
    private val resource: Int
    private val fieldId : Int
    private val inflater : LayoutInflater

    constructor(context: Context?, resource: Int, objects: Array, selectText : String? = null) : super(context, resource, objects) {
        this.selectText = selectText ?: context?.getString(R.string.spinner_default_select_text) ?: ""
        this.resource = resource
        this.fieldId = 0
        this.inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context)
    }
    constructor(context: Context?, resource : Int, objects: List, selectText : String? = null) : super(context, resource, objects) {
        this.selectText = selectText ?: context?.getString(R.string.spinner_default_select_text) ?: ""
        this.resource = resource
        this.fieldId = 0
        this.inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context)
    }
    constructor(context: Context?, resource: Int, textViewResourceId: Int, objects: Array, selectText : String? = null) : super(context, resource, textViewResourceId, objects) {
        this.selectText = selectText ?: context?.getString(R.string.spinner_default_select_text) ?: ""
        this.resource = resource
        this.fieldId = textViewResourceId
        this.inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context)
    }
    constructor(context: Context?, resource : Int, textViewResourceId: Int, objects: List, selectText : String? = null) : super(context, resource, textViewResourceId,  objects) {
        this.selectText = selectText ?: context?.getString(R.string.spinner_default_select_text) ?: ""
        this.resource = resource
        this.fieldId = textViewResourceId
        this.inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context)
    }

    override fun getDropDownView(position: Int, convertView: View?, parent: ViewGroup?): View {
        if(position == 0) {
            return initialSelection(true)
        }

        return createViewFromResource(inflater, position -1, convertView, parent, resource)
    }

    override fun getView(position: Int, convertView: View?, parent: ViewGroup?): View {
        if(position == 0) {
            return initialSelection(false)
        }
        return createViewFromResource(inflater, position -1, convertView, parent, resource)
    }

    override fun getCount(): Int {
        return super.getCount() + 1 // adjust for initial selection
    }

    private fun initialSelection(inDropDown: Boolean) : View {
        // Just simple TextView as initial selection.
        val view = TextView(context)
        view.setText(selectText)
        view.setPadding(8, 0, 8, 0)

        if(inDropDown) {
            // Hide when dropdown is open
            view.height = 0
        }
        return view
    }

    private fun createViewFromResource(inflater: LayoutInflater, position: Int,
                                       @Nullable convertView: View?, parent: ViewGroup?, resource: Int): View {
        val view: View
        val text: TextView?

        if (convertView == null || (convertView is TextView)) {
            view = inflater.inflate(resource, parent, false)
        } else {
            view = convertView
        }

        try {
            if (fieldId === 0) {
                //  If no custom field is assigned, assume the whole resource is a TextView
                text = view as TextView
            } else {
                //  Otherwise, find the TextView field within the layout
                text = view.findViewById(fieldId)

                if (text == null) {
                    throw RuntimeException("Failed to find view with ID "
                            + context.getResources().getResourceName(fieldId)
                            + " in item layout")
                }
            }
        } catch (e: ClassCastException) {
            Log.e("ArrayAdapter", "You must supply a resource ID for a TextView")
            throw IllegalStateException(
                    "ArrayAdapter requires the resource ID to be a TextView", e)
        }

        val item = getItem(position)
        if (item is CharSequence) {
            text.text = item
        } else {
            text.text = item!!.toString()
        }

        return view
    }