Why the RecyclerView has no onItemClickListener
The RecyclerView is a toolbox, in contrast of the old ListView it has less build in features and more flexibility. The onItemClickListener is not the only feature being removed from ListView. But it has lot of listeners and method to extend it to your liking, it's far more powerful in the right hands ;).
In my opinion the most complex feature removed in RecyclerView is the Fast Scroll. Most of the other features can be easily re-implemented.
If you want to know what other cool features RecyclerView added read this answer to another question.
Memory efficient - drop-in solution for onItemClickListener
This solution has been proposed by Hugo Visser, an Android GDE, right after RecyclerView was released. He made a licence-free class available for you to just drop in your code and use it.
It showcase some of the versatility introduced with RecyclerView by making use of RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener.
Edit 2019: kotlin version by me, java one, from Hugo Visser, kept below
Kotlin / Java
Create a file values/ids.xml and put this in it:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<item name="item_click_support" type="id" />
</resources>
then add the code below to your source
Kotlin
Usage:
recyclerView.onItemClick { recyclerView, position, v ->
// do it
}
(it also support long item click and see below for another feature I've added).
implementation (my adaptation to Hugo Visser Java code):
typealias OnRecyclerViewItemClickListener = (recyclerView: RecyclerView, position: Int, v: View) -> Unit
typealias OnRecyclerViewItemLongClickListener = (recyclerView: RecyclerView, position: Int, v: View) -> Boolean
class ItemClickSupport private constructor(private val recyclerView: RecyclerView) {
private var onItemClickListener: OnRecyclerViewItemClickListener? = null
private var onItemLongClickListener: OnRecyclerViewItemLongClickListener? = null
private val attachListener: RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener = object : RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener {
override fun onChildViewAttachedToWindow(view: View) {
// every time a new child view is attached add click listeners to it
val holder = this@ItemClickSupport.recyclerView.getChildViewHolder(view)
.takeIf { it is ItemClickSupportViewHolder } as? ItemClickSupportViewHolder
if (onItemClickListener != null && holder?.isClickable != false) {
view.setOnClickListener(onClickListener)
}
if (onItemLongClickListener != null && holder?.isLongClickable != false) {
view.setOnLongClickListener(onLongClickListener)
}
}
override fun onChildViewDetachedFromWindow(view: View) {
}
}
init {
// the ID must be declared in XML, used to avoid
// replacing the ItemClickSupport without removing
// the old one from the RecyclerView
this.recyclerView.setTag(R.id.item_click_support, this)
this.recyclerView.addOnChildAttachStateChangeListener(attachListener)
}
companion object {
fun addTo(view: RecyclerView): ItemClickSupport {
// if there's already an ItemClickSupport attached
// to this RecyclerView do not replace it, use it
var support: ItemClickSupport? = view.getTag(R.id.item_click_support) as? ItemClickSupport
if (support == null) {
support = ItemClickSupport(view)
}
return support
}
fun removeFrom(view: RecyclerView): ItemClickSupport? {
val support = view.getTag(R.id.item_click_support) as? ItemClickSupport
support?.detach(view)
return support
}
}
private val onClickListener = View.OnClickListener { v ->
val listener = onItemClickListener ?: return@OnClickListener
// ask the RecyclerView for the viewHolder of this view.
// then use it to get the position for the adapter
val holder = this.recyclerView.getChildViewHolder(v)
listener.invoke(this.recyclerView, holder.adapterPosition, v)
}
private val onLongClickListener = View.OnLongClickListener { v ->
val listener = onItemLongClickListener ?: return@OnLongClickListener false
val holder = this.recyclerView.getChildViewHolder(v)
return@OnLongClickListener listener.invoke(this.recyclerView, holder.adapterPosition, v)
}
private fun detach(view: RecyclerView) {
view.removeOnChildAttachStateChangeListener(attachListener)
view.setTag(R.id.item_click_support, null)
}
fun onItemClick(listener: OnRecyclerViewItemClickListener?): ItemClickSupport {
onItemClickListener = listener
return this
}
fun onItemLongClick(listener: OnRecyclerViewItemLongClickListener?): ItemClickSupport {
onItemLongClickListener = listener
return this
}
}
/** Give click-ability and long-click-ability control to the ViewHolder */
interface ItemClickSupportViewHolder {
val isClickable: Boolean get() = true
val isLongClickable: Boolean get() = true
}
// Extension function
fun RecyclerView.addItemClickSupport(configuration: ItemClickSupport.() -> Unit = {}) = ItemClickSupport.addTo(this).apply(configuration)
fun RecyclerView.removeItemClickSupport() = ItemClickSupport.removeFrom(this)
fun RecyclerView.onItemClick(onClick: OnRecyclerViewItemClickListener) {
addItemClickSupport { onItemClick(onClick) }
}
fun RecyclerView.onItemLongClick(onLongClick: OnRecyclerViewItemLongClickListener) {
addItemClickSupport { onItemLongClick(onLongClick) }
}
(Remember you also need to add an XML file, see above this section)
Bonus feature of Kotlin version
Sometimes you do not want all the items of the RecyclerView to be clickable.
To handle this I've introduced the ItemClickSupportViewHolder interface that you can use on your ViewHolder to control which item is clickable.
Example:
class MyViewHolder(view): RecyclerView.ViewHolder(view), ItemClickSupportViewHolder {
override val isClickable: Boolean get() = false
override val isLongClickable: Boolean get() = false
}
Java
Usage:
ItemClickSupport.addTo(mRecyclerView)
.setOnItemClickListener(new ItemClickSupport.OnItemClickListener() {
@Override
public void onItemClicked(RecyclerView recyclerView, int position, View v) {
// do it
}
});
(it also support long item click)
Implementation (comments added by me):
public class ItemClickSupport {
private final RecyclerView mRecyclerView;
private OnItemClickListener mOnItemClickListener;
private OnItemLongClickListener mOnItemLongClickListener;
private View.OnClickListener mOnClickListener = new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
if (mOnItemClickListener != null) {
// ask the RecyclerView for the viewHolder of this view.
// then use it to get the position for the adapter
RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder = mRecyclerView.getChildViewHolder(v);
mOnItemClickListener.onItemClicked(mRecyclerView, holder.getAdapterPosition(), v);
}
}
};
private View.OnLongClickListener mOnLongClickListener = new View.OnLongClickListener() {
@Override
public boolean onLongClick(View v) {
if (mOnItemLongClickListener != null) {
RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder = mRecyclerView.getChildViewHolder(v);
return mOnItemLongClickListener.onItemLongClicked(mRecyclerView, holder.getAdapterPosition(), v);
}
return false;
}
};
private RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener mAttachListener
= new RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener() {
@Override
public void onChildViewAttachedToWindow(View view) {
// every time a new child view is attached add click listeners to it
if (mOnItemClickListener != null) {
view.setOnClickListener(mOnClickListener);
}
if (mOnItemLongClickListener != null) {
view.setOnLongClickListener(mOnLongClickListener);
}
}
@Override
public void onChildViewDetachedFromWindow(View view) {
}
};
private ItemClickSupport(RecyclerView recyclerView) {
mRecyclerView = recyclerView;
// the ID must be declared in XML, used to avoid
// replacing the ItemClickSupport without removing
// the old one from the RecyclerView
mRecyclerView.setTag(R.id.item_click_support, this);
mRecyclerView.addOnChildAttachStateChangeListener(mAttachListener);
}
public static ItemClickSupport addTo(RecyclerView view) {
// if there's already an ItemClickSupport attached
// to this RecyclerView do not replace it, use it
ItemClickSupport support = (ItemClickSupport) view.getTag(R.id.item_click_support);
if (support == null) {
support = new ItemClickSupport(view);
}
return support;
}
public static ItemClickSupport removeFrom(RecyclerView view) {
ItemClickSupport support = (ItemClickSupport) view.getTag(R.id.item_click_support);
if (support != null) {
support.detach(view);
}
return support;
}
public ItemClickSupport setOnItemClickListener(OnItemClickListener listener) {
mOnItemClickListener = listener;
return this;
}
public ItemClickSupport setOnItemLongClickListener(OnItemLongClickListener listener) {
mOnItemLongClickListener = listener;
return this;
}
private void detach(RecyclerView view) {
view.removeOnChildAttachStateChangeListener(mAttachListener);
view.setTag(R.id.item_click_support, null);
}
public interface OnItemClickListener {
void onItemClicked(RecyclerView recyclerView, int position, View v);
}
public interface OnItemLongClickListener {
boolean onItemLongClicked(RecyclerView recyclerView, int position, View v);
}
}
How it works (why it's efficient)
This class works by attaching a RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener to the RecyclerView. This listener is notified every time a child is attached or detached from the RecyclerView. The code use this to append a tap/long click listener to the view. That listener ask the RecyclerView for the RecyclerView.ViewHolder which contains the position.
This is more efficient then other solutions because it avoid creating multiple listeners for each view and keep destroying and creating them while the RecyclerView is being scrolled.
You could also adapt the code to give you back the holder itself if you need more.
Final remark
Keep in mind that it's COMPLETELY fine to handle it in your adapter by setting on each view of your list a click listener, like other answer proposed.
It's just not the most efficient thing to do (you create a new listener every time you reuse a view) but it works and in most cases it's not an issue.
It is also a bit against separation of concerns cause it's not really the Job of the Adapter to delegate click events.
