B4A Library [Lib] UltimateListView

Informatix said:

There's a new version available. It requires B4A v5.80.

Changelog:
- UltimateListView can be added as a custom view in the designer;
- I fixed a minor bug in ClsExplorerForULV.bas;
- I added a "assets:" tag to LoadImageAsync to load images from the assets;
- I added the DeleteAllStateFiles function;
- I added the Parent property;
- I added the SynchronizePositionWith function and a demo that shows its usefulness;
- I added 12 new styles for SetStyle (still using system drawables);
- I udpated the manifest of examples and fixed a few style issues.

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shashkiranr said:

I did not receive the link for the new version.

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DonManfred said:

Use the link you got when donating. It should be the same

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luke2012 said:

Hi @Informatix,
First of all, this post is NOT a support request, this is a my consideration as licensed ULV user.

I have to use the ULV within my new project based on @Erel CloudKVS solution as data repository.

The point is that I must use a UUID as items ID but ULV DON'T allow to set UUID as item ID (only int IDs).
Absurdly your (FREE) CheckList Class (https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/class-checklist.18853/) support also UUID (string) item IDs (I successfully implemented a clsCheckList object that use UUID as item ID).

I think that it's UNREASONABLE because I paid a license to use ULV (CheckList is free) and to obtain the advance of the new ULV and I cannot use it within my important (current) project as UI.

THE POINT IS:
I have to abandon the ULV (as licensed user) in my new projects losing all the (paid) advantages and prefer the (FREE) CheckList Class that allow to load UUID as item ID (or others UIs) ?
In this case I have to migrate all my ULV implementations to CheckList Class with all the DISAVANTAGES like more implementation time & effort (a step back).

I entrust in your good sense for a concrete reply (action) about this.

Thanks in advance.

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Informatix said:

... or managing a simple list to make the correspondance between the UUID and the item ID ...

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Sub Globals
    Dim ULV As UltimateListView
    Dim lstUUIDs As List
End Sub

    ' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
    ' Put UUIDs in a global List
    ' This is a necessary step to
    ' keep the ItemId and UUId in synch
    ' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
    Dim lstUUIDs As List
    lstUUIDs.Initialize
    For i=0 To kvs.ListKeys.Size -1
        lstUUIDs.Add(kvs.ListKeys.Get(i)) ' This ensures that the index of the lstUUIDs is the same as the index of kvs.ListKeys
    Next  

    ' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
    ' Fill the ULV
    ' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
    For i=0 To lstUUIDs.Size -1
        ULV.AddItem("MEAL", i) ' "i" is the common reference for kvs and the global list
    Next

Sub ulvMeal_ContentFiller(ItemID As Long, LayoutName As String, LayoutPanel As Panel, Position As Int)
    Dim lblTextA As Label = LayoutPanel.GetView(0)
    Dim lblTextB As Label = LayoutPanel.GetView(1)
    Dim lblTextC As Label = LayoutPanel.GetView(2)

    Dim mapY As Map = kvs.Get( lstUUIDs.Get(ItemID) ) ' <-- here it happens. The ItemId is "translated" to the UUID. Now you can get the kvs-data for this key
  
    lblTextA.Text = $"ItemID=${ItemID}, UUID=${lstUUIDs.Get(ItemID)}"$
...

fredo said:

Hi @luke2012,
even though you adressed your post to Informatix I don't like the tone and I feel obligated to reply for some reasons.
I use the ULV in all of my projects since the first version came out and had never the necessity to use another listview.

I often had databases with natural keys (or even UUID) and a vast amount of recordsets to display.
In your special case it would be an option to work with a global list to hold the UUIDs and iterate through the list to perform the ulv.additem().
Then in the ContentFiller you use the ItemId to pick the UUID from the global list to get to the CloudKvs-value.

Away from that, Informatix was always very helpful even with my most annyoing questions. He answers via email from Monday to Friday.

Best regards,
fredo

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luke2012 said:

Sorry for my direct tone (generally I'm not so direct in my post / conversations) but in this case I have to take a quick decision to continue to use ULV (considering that I like it) or to choose another option.

Finally I agree with you that @Informatix is very helpful

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Informatix said:

1) ULV and CheckList do not share the same philosophy and thus have different features. CheckList is, like ListView, able to store data in its views, while ULV cannot. ULV is built on a different basis, with a different approach, because of the big memory use and the bad performance of CheckList. That implies different drawbacks in the end.
2) If I had just to change long to string in my code, I would do it right now but it's a bit more complicated. Mostly because I use a data structure to store my items that is far more performant when based on longs than on strings, and because strings are a huge waste of memory while memory is scarce on Android devices (less true nowadays but very important when I initially created ULV).
3) You're not the first person to use UUIDs or, more globally, strings as unique identifiers. There exist solutions for that and I have a lot of happy users of ULV that implemented them. For example, hashing the string or managing a simple list to make the correspondance between the UUID and the item ID (it's what I would have to do in the ULV code anyway if I wanted to support strings).
4) You will note that the cache ID are strings in ULV. So you can see that I have nothing against strings and use them whenever it's possible and affordable (in the cache, string is the natural type because filenames are strings).
5) I never hid the fact that the ItemID is a long value and not a string. Anyone can read the type in the document available in post #1.

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fredo said:

@luke2012 Maybe this "quick and dirty" approach gives you a starter...

B4X:

Sub Globals
    Dim ULV As UltimateListView
    Dim lstUUIDs As List
End Sub

B4X:

    ' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
    ' Put UUIDs in a global List
    ' This is a necessary step to
    ' keep the ItemId and UUId in synch
    ' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
    Dim lstUUIDs As List
    lstUUIDs.Initialize
    For i=0 To kvs.ListKeys.Size -1
        lstUUIDs.Add(kvs.ListKeys.Get(i)) ' This ensures that the index of the lstUUIDs is the same as the index of kvs.ListKeys
    Next 

    ' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
    ' Fill the ULV
    ' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
    For i=0 To lstUUIDs.Size -1
        ULV.AddItem("MEAL", i) ' "i" is the common reference for kvs and the global list
    Next

B4X:

Sub ulvMeal_ContentFiller(ItemID As Long, LayoutName As String, LayoutPanel As Panel, Position As Int)
    Dim lblTextA As Label = LayoutPanel.GetView(0)
    Dim lblTextB As Label = LayoutPanel.GetView(1)
    Dim lblTextC As Label = LayoutPanel.GetView(2)

    Dim mapY As Map = kvs.Get( lstUUIDs.Get(ItemID) ) ' <-- here it happens. The ItemId is "translated" to the UUID. Now you can get the kvs-data for this key
 
    lblTextA.Text = $"ItemID=${ItemID}, UUID=${lstUUIDs.Get(ItemID)}"$
...

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luke2012 said:

First of all thanks for your quick and professional reply.

1) "CheckList is, like ListView, able to store data in its views, while ULV cannot" : but ULV doesn't mean Ultimate "ListView" ?

3) Yes, I known that there are workarounds like hashing and mapping between ULV IDs and CloudKVS IDs but it's a pity to implement workarounds to handle Items IDs within the ULV because the ULV handle Item IDs very well in a "native mode".
You Says: "it's what I would have to do in the ULV code anyway if I wanted to support strings".
It's in the next days plan or in a future plan? Sorry I ask you directly because I have to known if in the next few days I have to implement a custom workaround within my code or not.

P.S.
Away from that I'm a happy "Ultimate List View" user until now.

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jazzzzzzz said:

Hi, I haven't bought Ultimatelistview, but am willing to buy if its works good for my scenario.

I have uploaded a screenshot of one of my page,here i have a large list of photos which i have to download from internet.(I use image downloader by Erel) .

Am currently using a scroll view to display this. Can i use ultimate list view other than using scrollview to create the same page and achieve good optimization?

I have to click on each of the image to make a preview in other activity

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Mashiane said:

Hi

Can one be able to have one or similar layouts per item? For example I have 5 layouts that could appear with images and labels and some with buttons. Thus item 10 can have the same image on the left as item 2 on the list with a different image on the right. The images will be read from a web server. How can I achieve that, can you please advise?

I have attached a sketch of what I want to do here.

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Informatix said:

1) ULV is a component to view a list, and that's what a ListView is supposed to be. Note that ULV is based upon a standard Android ListView, as the B4A ListView. They share the same parent.
2) No nothing is planned. As I explained, adding the support for strings would reduce the performance and increase the memory consumption for everyone although there's only a fraction of users who needs this feature.
If I had to move from long to something else, "something else" would be a generic object, not a string.

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jazzzzzzz said:

Hi, I haven't bought Ultimatelistview, but am willing to buy if its works good for my scenario.

I have uploaded a screenshot of one of my page,here i have a large list of photos which i have to download from internet.(I use image downloader by Erel) .

Am currently using a scroll view to display this. Can i use ultimate list view other than using scrollview to create the same page and achieve good optimization?

I have to click on each of the image to make a preview in other activity

Click to expand...