I once implemented a filter like the code beolow using notifyDataSetChanged() and had no problems with it.
I've also modified the views of a List on the go manually. Both have worked well. In some case I prefear to modify the data manually because its faster and because itdoesn't affect the whole list.
Anyway, views are created on the go when they need to apear on the screen and are deleted when they leave the screen, so if you modify the data used to create the views, if the user scrolls the ListView and the views get out of the screen, in theory, the views will be created with the new data once they come again into the screen.
I would recommend you to try the code below to understand how does notifyDataSetChanged() work and decide if it works for you.
public class ListText extends Activity {
private ListView lv1;
private Followed followedFriends[];
ListView lst;
EditText edt;
FollowedFilterableAdapter arrad;
/** Called when the activity is first created. */
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
lv1=(ListView)findViewById(R.id.listView1);
edt = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.editText1);
followedFriends = new Followed[10];
followedFriends[0] = new Followed("Alan Walder", "0123456789", "1");
followedFriends[1] = new Followed("Alberto Levi", "123456789", "1");
followedFriends[2] = new Followed("David Rodan", "23456789", "1");
followedFriends[3] = new Followed("David Stern", "3456789", "1");
followedFriends[4] = new Followed("Elias Jawa", "456789", "1");
followedFriends[5] = new Followed("Elian Moreno", "56789", "1");
followedFriends[6] = new Followed("Jonathan Rodan", "6789", "1");
followedFriends[7] = new Followed("Klara Rodan", "789", "1");
followedFriends[8] = new Followed("Willy Rosales", "89", "1");
followedFriends[9] = new Followed("ZZZ ZZZ", "9", "1");
arrad = new FollowedFilterableAdapter(followedFriends);
lv1.setAdapter(arrad);
addTextChangeList();
}
private void addTextChangeList()
{
edt.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher()
{
public void onTextChanged( CharSequence arg0, int arg1, int arg2, int arg3)
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
public void beforeTextChanged( CharSequence arg0, int arg1, int arg2, int arg3)
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
public void afterTextChanged( Editable arg0)
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
ListText.this.arrad.getFilter().filter(arg0);
}
});
}
///////////////////////////////////Internal classes ////////////////////////
private class Followed
{
private String _name;
private String _id;
private boolean _followed;
private String _picToDelete = "http://images.wikia.com/tibia/en/images/7/72/Skeleton.gif";
private Followed(String name, String id, String followed)
{
this._name = name;
this._id = id;
this._followed = followed.equals("1");
}
public String toString(){return _name;}
public String getName(){return _name;}
public String getId(){return _id;}
public boolean idFollowed(){return _followed;}
public String getURL(){return _picToDelete;}
}
/////////////////////////////////////////Adapter//////////////////////////////////
private class FollowedFilterableAdapter extends BaseAdapter implements Filterable
{
/**
* Lock used to modify the content of {@link #mObjects}. Any write operation
* performed on the array should be synchronized on this lock. This lock is also
* used by the filter (see {@link #getFilter()} to make a synchronized copy of
* the original array of data.
*/
private final Object _Lock = new Object();
/*/**
* Indicates whether or not {@link #notifyDataSetChanged()} must be called whenever
* {@link #mObjects} is modified.
*/
//private boolean _NotifyOnChange = true;
private List<Followed> _Objects;
private ArrayList<Followed> _followedFriends;
private ArrayFilter _Filter;
public FollowedFilterableAdapter(Followed[] followedFriends)
{
_Objects = Arrays.asList(followedFriends);
}
public int getCount() {
return _Objects.size();
}
public Followed getItem(int position) {
return _Objects.get(position);
}
public long getItemId(int position) {
return position;
}
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
int px = 2;
//Creating the CategoryRow that represents the row
LinearLayout lstItem = new LinearLayout(ListText.this);
lstItem.setLayoutParams(new ListView.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,1));
lstItem.setOrientation(LinearLayout.HORIZONTAL);
//lstItem.setPadding(px,px,px,px);
lstItem.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL);
/*<LinearLayout android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="2dp" android:gravity="center_vertical">*/
//Adding the Image
ImageView icon = new ImageView(ListText.this);
icon.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(50,50));
icon.setImageResource(R.drawable.icon);
icon.setScaleType(ScaleType.CENTER_CROP);
//icon.setImage(tag.getId());
/*<ImageView android:layout_width="50dp" android:id="@+id/iconFollList"
android:src="@drawable/icon" android:layout_height="40dp"></ImageView>*/
//Adding the Linear Layout for the text
RelativeLayout lstTextx = new RelativeLayout(ListText.this);
lstTextx.setLayoutParams(new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,1));
lstTextx.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL);
lstTextx.setPadding(5, px, px, px);
/*<LinearLayout android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:orientation="vertical"
android:padding="2dp" android:paddingLeft="5dp">*/
//Adding the Name of the person who commented
TextView txtCommenter = new TextView(ListText.this);
txtCommenter.setLayoutParams(
new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
txtCommenter.setTextSize(10);
txtCommenter.setTypeface(Typeface.create("Sans Serif", Typeface.BOLD));
txtCommenter.setText(_Objects.get(position).getName());
/*<TextView android:text="TextView" android:id="@+id/FollListCategory"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"></TextView>*/
ImageView btnFollowed = new ImageView(ListText.this);
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams params =
new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(80,30);
params.addRule(RelativeLayout.ALIGN_PARENT_RIGHT);
btnFollowed.setLayoutParams(params);
btnFollowed.setImageResource(R.drawable.icon);
btnFollowed.setScaleType(ScaleType.FIT_XY);
//Arming the View
lstItem.addView(icon, 0);
lstTextx.addView(txtCommenter, 0);
lstTextx.addView(btnFollowed,1);
lstItem.addView(lstTextx,1);
return lstItem;
}
/**
* {@inheritDoc}
*/
@Override
public void notifyDataSetChanged() {
super.notifyDataSetChanged();
//_NotifyOnChange = true;
}
/*public void setNotifyOnChange(boolean notifyOnChange) {
_NotifyOnChange = notifyOnChange;
}*/
public Filter getFilter() {
if (_Filter == null) {
_Filter = new ArrayFilter();
}
return _Filter;
}
/////////////////////Second Level Internal classes //////////////////////////
private class ArrayFilter extends Filter {
@Override
protected FilterResults performFiltering(CharSequence prefix) {
FilterResults results = new FilterResults();
if (_followedFriends == null) {
synchronized (_Lock) {
_followedFriends = new ArrayList<Followed>(_Objects);
}
}
if (prefix == null || prefix.length() == 0) {
synchronized (_Lock) {
ArrayList<Followed> list = new ArrayList<Followed>(_followedFriends);
results.values = list;
results.count = list.size();
}
} else {
String prefixString = prefix.toString().toLowerCase();
final ArrayList<Followed> values = _followedFriends;
final int count = values.size();
final ArrayList<Followed> newValues = new ArrayList<Followed>(count);
for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
final Followed value = values.get(i);
final String valueText = value.toString().toLowerCase();
// First match against the whole, non-splitted value
if (valueText.startsWith(prefixString)) {
newValues.add(value);
} else {
final String[] words = valueText.split(" ");
final int wordCount = words.length;
for (int k = 0; k < wordCount; k++) {
if (words[k].startsWith(prefixString)) {
newValues.add(value);
break;
}
}
}
}
results.values = newValues;
results.count = newValues.size();
}
return results;
}
@Override
protected void publishResults(CharSequence constraint, FilterResults results) {
//no inspection unchecked
_Objects = (List<Followed>) results.values;
if (results.count > 0) {
notifyDataSetChanged();
} else {
notifyDataSetInvalidated();
}
}
}
}
xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>
<EditText android:text="" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/editText1" android:layout_width="match_parent"></EditText>
<ListView android:id="@+id/listView1" android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_weight="1"></ListView>
</LinearLayout>
Hope this helps.