android - How to update some data in a Listview without using notifyDataSetChanged()?

Question

I'm trying to create a ListView with a list of downloading tasks.

The downloading tasks are managed in a Service (DownloadService). Everytime a chunk of data is received, the task sends the progress via a Broadcast, received by the Fragment containing the ListView (SavedShowListFragment). On receiving the Broadcast message, the SavedShowListFragment updates the progress of the downloading tasks in the adapter and triggers notifyDataSetChanged().

Every row in the list contains a ProgressBar, a TextView for the title of the file being downloaded and one for the numeric value of the progress, and a Button to pause/resume the download or play the saved show when the download is finished.

The problem is that the pause/resume/play Button is often not responsive (onClick() is not called), and I think that's because the whole list is updated very frequently with notifyDataSetChanged() (every time a chunk of data, i.e. 1024 bytes is received, which can be many times per second, especially when there are several downloading tasks running).

I guess I could increase the size of the data chunk in the downloading tasks, but I really think my method is not optimal at all!

Could calling very frequently notifyDataSetChanged() make the ListView UI unresponsive?

Is there any way to update only some Views in the ListView rows, i.e. in my case the ProgressBar and the TextView with the numeric value of the progress, without calling notifyDataSetChanged(), which updates the whole list?

To update the progress of the downloading tasks in the ListView, is there any better option than "getChunk/sendBroadcast/updateData/notifyDataSetChanged"?

Below are the relevant parts of my code.

Download task in download service

public class DownloadService extends Service {

    //...

    private class DownloadTask extends AsyncTask<SavedShow, Void, Map<String, Object>> {

        //...

        @Override
        protected Map<String, Object> doInBackground(SavedShow... params) { 

            //...

            BufferedInputStream in = new BufferedInputStream(connection.getInputStream());

            byte[] data = new byte[1024];
            int x = 0;

            while ((x = in.read(data, 0, 1024)) >= 0) {

                if(!this.isCancelled()){
                    outputStream.write(data, 0, x);
                    downloaded += x;

                    MyApplication.dbHelper.updateSavedShowProgress(savedShow.getId(), downloaded);

                    Intent intent_progress = new Intent(ACTION_UPDATE_PROGRESS);
                    intent_progress.putExtra(KEY_SAVEDSHOW_ID, savedShow.getId());
                    intent_progress.putExtra(KEY_PROGRESS, downloaded );
                    LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(DownloadService.this).sendBroadcast(intent_progress);         
                }
                else{
                    break;
                }
            }

            //...
        }

        //...
    }
}

SavedShowListFragment

public class SavedShowListFragment extends Fragment {   

    //...

    @Override
    public void onResume() {         
        super.onResume();

        mAdapter = new SavedShowAdapter(getActivity(), MyApplication.dbHelper.getSavedShowList());

        mListView.setAdapter(mAdapter);

        //...
    }


    private ServiceConnection mDownloadServiceConnection = new ServiceConnection() {

        @Override
        public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder service) {

            // Get service instance

            DownloadServiceBinder binder = (DownloadServiceBinder) service;
            mDownloadService = binder.getService();

            // Set service to adapter, to 'bind' adapter to the service

            mAdapter.setDownloadService(mDownloadService);

            //...
        }

        @Override
        public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName arg0) {

            // Remove service from adapter, to 'unbind' adapter to the service

            mAdapter.setDownloadService(null);
        }
    };


    private BroadcastReceiver mMessageReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {

            String action = intent.getAction();

            if(action.equals(DownloadService.ACTION_UPDATE_PROGRESS)){  
                mAdapter.updateItemProgress(intent.getLongExtra(DownloadService.KEY_SAVEDSHOW_ID, -1),
                        intent.getLongExtra(DownloadService.KEY_PROGRESS, -1));
            }

            //...
        }
    };

    //...

}

SavedShowAdapter

public class SavedShowAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<SavedShow> { 

    private LayoutInflater mLayoutInflater;

    private List<Long> mSavedShowIdList; // list to find faster the position of the item in updateProgress

    private DownloadService mDownloadService;

    private Context mContext;

    static class ViewHolder {
        TextView title;
        TextView status;
        ProgressBar progressBar;
        DownloadStateButton downloadStateBtn;
    }

    public static enum CancelReason{ PAUSE, DELETE };

    public SavedShowAdapter(Context context, List<SavedShow> savedShowList) {
        super(context, 0, savedShowList);       
        mLayoutInflater = (LayoutInflater) context.getSystemService( Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE ); 

        mContext = context;

        mSavedShowIdList = new ArrayList<Long>();

        for(SavedShow savedShow : savedShowList){
            mSavedShowIdList.add(savedShow.getId());
        }
    }

    public void updateItemProgress(long savedShowId, long progress){
        getItem(mSavedShowIdList.indexOf(savedShowId)).setProgress(progress);
        notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    public void updateItemFileSize(long savedShowId, int fileSize){
        getItem(mSavedShowIdList.indexOf(savedShowId)).setFileSize(fileSize);
        notifyDataSetChanged();
    }


    public void updateItemState(long savedShowId, int state_ind, String msg){

        SavedShow.State state = SavedShow.State.values()[state_ind];

        getItem(mSavedShowIdList.indexOf(savedShowId)).setState(state);

        if(state==State.ERROR){
            getItem(mSavedShowIdList.indexOf(savedShowId)).setError(msg);
        }

        notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    public void deleteItem(long savedShowId){
        remove(getItem((mSavedShowIdList.indexOf(savedShowId))));       
        notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    public void setDownloadService(DownloadService downloadService){
        mDownloadService = downloadService;
        notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(final int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {

        ViewHolder holder;
        View v = convertView;

        if (v == null) {

            v = mLayoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.saved_show_list_item, parent, false);

            holder = new ViewHolder();

            holder.title = (TextView)v.findViewById(R.id.title);
            holder.status = (TextView)v.findViewById(R.id.status);
            holder.progressBar = (ProgressBar)v.findViewById(R.id.progress_bar);
            holder.downloadStateBtn = (DownloadStateButton)v.findViewById(R.id.btn_download_state);

            v.setTag(holder);
        } else {
            holder = (ViewHolder) v.getTag();
        }

        holder.title.setText(getItem(position).getTitle());

        Integer fileSize = getItem(position).getFileSize();
        Long progress = getItem(position).getProgress();
        if(progress != null && fileSize != null){
            holder.progressBar.setMax(fileSize);

            holder.progressBar.setProgress(progress.intValue());

            holder.status.setText(Utils.humanReadableByteCount(progress) + " / " +
                    Utils.humanReadableByteCount(fileSize));
        }

        holder.downloadStateBtn.setTag(position);

        SavedShow.State state = getItem(position).getState();

        /* set the button state */

        //...

        /* set buton onclicklistener */

        holder.downloadStateBtn.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {

                int position = (Integer) v.getTag();

                SavedShow.State state = getItem(position).getState();

                if(state==SavedShow.State.DOWNLOADING){

                    getItem(position).setState(SavedShow.State.WAIT_PAUSE);
                    notifyDataSetChanged();

                    mDownloadService.cancelDownLoad(getItem(position).getId(), CancelReason.PAUSE);

                }
                else if(state==SavedShow.State.PAUSED || state==SavedShow.State.ERROR){                 

                    getItem(position).setState(SavedShow.State.WAIT_DOWNLOAD);
                    notifyDataSetChanged();

                    mDownloadService.downLoadFile(getItem(position).getId());

                }
                if(state==SavedShow.State.DOWNLOADED){

                    /* play file */
                }

            }
        });

        return v;
    }
} 

Answer 1

Of course, As pjco stated, do not update at that speed. I would recommend sending broadcasts at intervals. Better yet, have a container for the data such as progress and update every interval by polling.

However, I think it is a good thing as well to update the listview at times without notifyDataSetChanged. Actually this is most useful when the application has a higher update frequency. Remember: I am not saying that your update-triggering mechanism is correct.

---

Solution

Basically, you will want to update a particular position without notifyDataSetChanged. In the following example, I have assumed the following:

1. Your listview is called mListView.
2. You only want to update the progress
3. Your progress bar in your convertView has the id R.id.progress

---

public boolean updateListView(int position, int newProgress) {
    int first = mListView.getFirstVisiblePosition();
    int last = mListView.getLastVisiblePosition();
    if(position < first || position > last) {
        //just update your DataSet
        //the next time getView is called
        //the ui is updated automatically
        return false;
    }
    else {
        View convertView = mListView.getChildAt(position - first);
        //this is the convertView that you previously returned in getView
        //just fix it (for example:)
        ProgressBar bar = (ProgressBar) convertView.findViewById(R.id.progress);
        bar.setProgress(newProgress);
        return true;
    }
}

---

Notes

This example of course is not complete. You can probably use the following sequence:

1. Update your Data (when you receive new progress)
2. Call updateListView(int position) that should use the same code but update using your dataset and without the parameter.

In addition, I just noticed that you have some code posted. Since you are using a Holder, you can simply get the holder inside the function. I will not update the code (I think it is self-explanatory).

Lastly, just to emphasize, change your whole code for triggering progress updates. A fast way would be to alter your Service: Wrap the code that sends the broadcast with an if statement which checks whether the last update had been more than a second or half second ago and whether the download has finished (no need to check finished but make sure to send update when finished):

In your download service

private static final long INTERVAL_BROADCAST = 800;
private long lastUpdate = 0;

Now in doInBackground, wrap the intent sending with an if statement

if(System.currentTimeMillis() - lastUpdate > INTERVAL_BROADCAST) {
    lastUpdate = System.currentTimeMillis();
    Intent intent_progress = new Intent(ACTION_UPDATE_PROGRESS);
    intent_progress.putExtra(KEY_SAVEDSHOW_ID, savedShow.getId());
    intent_progress.putExtra(KEY_PROGRESS, downloaded );
    LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(DownloadService.this).sendBroadcast(intent_progress);
}