--- title: "How to set listview in alert dialog on android" description: "A dialog is a small window that prompts the user to make a decision or enter additional information." author: "Manoj Pandey" published: 2015-06-26 updated: 2020-05-21 canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/articles/1798/how-to-set-listview-in-alert-dialog-on-android category: "android" tags: ["android", "android listview"] reading_time: 4 minutes --- # How to set listview in alert dialog on android The dialog is a small window that prompts the user to make a decision or enter [additional information](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/160484/error-failed-to-launch-debug-adapter-additional-information-may-be-available-in-the-output-window). The dialog does not fill the screen and is normally used for modal events that require users to take any action before they can proceed. Some times in [your application](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/95487/how-do-you-troubleshoot-when-your-application-link-is-not-responding), if you wanted to ask a user about making a decision between yes or no in the [response](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/86896/biden-s-assertive-response-to-special-counsel-critique-on-memory-strength) to any particular action taken by a user, by remaining in the common activity and without changing the screen, you can use Alert Dialog. During an order to make an alert dialog, you need to make an object of AlertDialogBuilder which an [inner class](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/12104/nested-classes-in-java-more-with-inner-classes) of AlertDialog. Its syntax is given below ### AlertDialog.Builder alertDialogBuilder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this); \ ## Methods used to add an Alert dialog To add an action button to the Alert dialog, you have to use the following methods. - **setPositiveButton (CharSequence text, DialogInterface.[OnClickListener](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/33726/inside-onclicklistener-i-cannot-access-a-lot-of-things-how-to-approach) listener):** The first argument is the text to be displayed. The second argument is the listener to be invoked when the positive button is pressed. - **setNegativeButton (CharSequence text, DialogInterface.OnClickListener listener):** The [arguments](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/92535/what-are-the-different-types-of-arguments) are the same as the setPositiveButton method. However, the second argument is applicable when the negative button is pressed. - **setNeutralButton (CharSequence text, DialogInterface.OnClickListener listener):** The arguments are same as the SetPositiveButton method. In the alert dialog, we can [add custom](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/34385/add-custom-css-in-razor-view) views such as editedtext, listview, button, etc. Here I am telling how to set listview in an alert dialog. Follow below steps to add listview in an alert dialog . - **Add button in activity_main.[xml file](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/75/how-to-read-and-write-xml-file-through-c-sharp)** ```   android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin" android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin" android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" tools:context=".MainActivity" >   ``` - **Add listview in another XML layout** ```         ``` - **Add layout for custom listview item in another XML [file name](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/95119/what-should-i-do-in-windows-10-if-the-pdf-file-name-is-too-long-and-the-windows-options-don-t-give-me-the-possibility-to-rename-it) as listview_item.xml file** ```         ``` - **Add following code in MainActivity.class** ```  package com.example.listviewinandroiddialog; import java.util.ArrayList;import java.util.List; import android.os.Bundle;import android.app.Activity;import android.app.AlertDialog;import android.content.Context;import android.content.DialogInterface;import android.view.LayoutInflater;import android.view.Menu;import android.view.View;import android.view.View.OnClickListener;import android.view.ViewGroup;import android.widget.AdapterView;import android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemClickListener;import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;import android.widget.Button;import android.widget.ListView;import android.widget.TextView;import android.widget.Toast; public class MainActivity extends Activity {     Button btnDialog;     AlertDialog.Builder alertDialog;     ArrayList myList;      @Override     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {           super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);           setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);           myList = new ArrayList();           myList.add("India");           myList.add("China");           myList.add("South Africa");           myList.add("USA");           myList.add("UK");           myList.add("Japan ");           myList.add("Canada");            alertDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(MainActivity.this);            btnDialog = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btnDialog);           btnDialog.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {                 @Override                public void onClick(View v) {                     // TODO Auto-generated method stub                     AlertDialog.Builder alertDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(                                MainActivity.this);                     LayoutInflater inflater = getLayoutInflater();                      // create view for add item in dialog         View convertView = (View) inflater.inflate(R.layout.listview, null);                     // on dialog cancel button listner                     alertDialog.setNegativeButton("Cancel",                                new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {                                      @Override                                     public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,                                                int which) {                                           // TODO Auto-generated method stub                                      }                                });                      // add custom view in dialog                     alertDialog.setView(convertView);   ListView lv = (ListView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.mylistview);                      final AlertDialog alert = alertDialog.create();                      alert.setTitle(" Select country...."); // Title                      MyAdapter myadapter = new MyAdapter(MainActivity.this,                                R.layout.listview_item, myList);                     lv.setAdapter(myadapter);                     lv.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {                            @Override     public void onItemClick(AdapterView arg0, View arg1,                                     int position, long arg3) {                                // TODO Auto-generated method stub                                Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,                                       "You have selected -: " + myList.get(position),                                           Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();                                alert.cancel();                            }                     });                     // show dialog                     alert.show();                 }           });     }      class MainListHolder {           private TextView tvText;     }      private class ViewHolder {           TextView tvSname;      }     class MyAdapter extends ArrayAdapter {           LayoutInflater inflater;           Context myContext;           List newList;            public MyAdapter(Context context, int resource, List list) {                super(context, resource, list);                // TODO Auto-generated constructor stub                 myContext = context;                newList = list;                inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);           }            @Override           public View getView(final int position, View view, ViewGroup parent) {                final ViewHolder holder;                if (view == null) {                     holder = new ViewHolder();                     view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.listview_item, null);                     holder.tvSname = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.tvtext_item);                     view.setTag(holder);                } else {                     holder = (ViewHolder) view.getTag();                }                holder.tvSname.setText(newList.get(position).toString());                 return view;           }     }      @Override     public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {           // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.           getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);           return true;     }} ``` Now run your application ![How to set listview in alert dialog on android](https://www.mindstick.com/mindstickarticle/130ee31b-2a2d-4340-92d5-fba6b8e26da4/images/f828ef40-0370-476c-b0db-7b75e39835e2.png) Press on button and you can see dialog with listview. ![How to set listview in alert dialog on android](https://www.mindstick.com/mindstickarticle/130ee31b-2a2d-4340-92d5-fba6b8e26da4/images/8cdb8fcb-58cf-40dd-a208-3714faee7be0.png) Read also this Article :- **[Dropdownlist Using BootStrap in ASP.Net](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/639/dropdownlist-using-bootstrap-in-asp-dot-net)** --- Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/articles/1798/how-to-set-listview-in-alert-dialog-on-android Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.