how can i automatically size listview so it doesn't scroll

Question

currently i have the following layout

Answer 1

Add a empty item on list end

Example:

ArrayList<String> options = new ArrayList<String>();
String lastItem = "";
int lastPosition;

options.add(lastItem);

public function addItem() {
    lastPosition = options.size() - 1;
    lastItem = options.get(lastPosition);
    options.remove(lastPosition);

    //add new items dynamically
    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) 
        options.add("new item: "+i);

    //add empty item
    options.add(lastItem);
}

Answer 2

ListViews do not go in ScrollViews.

ListView is for displaying a limited window into unbounded content efficiently. If you were to "disable scrolling" on a ListView to put it within a ScrollView you lose all practical reason for using a ListView in the first place.

If you want to use a ListView to show lots of content or unbounded content but also have content above and below that scrolls with it, add header or footer views to the ListView using addHeaderView or addFooterView. If the list content is going to be a small portion of your overall layout as you describe, this probably isn't the best approach for you.

If you have a small, bounded set of content to present, go ahead and use a ScrollView and programmatically generate child views for your "list items" where appropriate.

A common pattern used in the framework to mix inflated XML content with programmatically generated content is to add a placeholder view in the layout XML, usually a LinearLayout or FrameLayout. Use findViewById to locate it at runtime and add generated child views to it.

You could even still use a ListAdapter with this approach if you have one written already, just call content.addView(adapter.getView(position, null, content)) in a loop for all adapter positions (where content is the placeholder view you located with findViewById). Note that this is only practical if you know that you have a small number of list items in the adapter!