AlphabetIndexer
  public
  
  
  
  class
  AlphabetIndexer
  
  
  
  
    extends DataSetObserver
  
  
  
  
  
      implements
      
        SectionIndexer
      
  
  
| java.lang.Object | ||
| ↳ | android.database.DataSetObserver | |
| ↳ | android.widget.AlphabetIndexer | |
A helper class for adapters that implement the SectionIndexer interface. If the items in the adapter are sorted by simple alphabet-based sorting, then this class provides a way to do fast indexing of large lists using binary search. It caches the indices that have been determined through the binary search and also invalidates the cache if changes occur in the cursor.
Your adapter is responsible for updating the cursor by callingsetCursor(Cursor) if the
 cursor changes. getPositionForSection(int) method does the binary search for the starting
 index of a given section (alphabet).
Summary
| Fields | |
|---|---|
| 
    protected
    
    
    CharSequence | mAlphabetThe string of characters that make up the indexing sections. | 
| 
    protected
    
    
    int | mColumnIndexThe index of the cursor column that this list is sorted on. | 
| 
    protected
    
    
    Cursor | mDataCursorCursor that is used by the adapter of the list view. | 
| Public constructors | |
|---|---|
| 
      AlphabetIndexer(Cursor cursor, int sortedColumnIndex, CharSequence alphabet)
      Constructs the indexer. | |
| Public methods | |
|---|---|
| 
        
        
        
        
        
        int | 
      getPositionForSection(int sectionIndex)
      Performs a binary search or cache lookup to find the first row that matches a given section's starting letter. | 
| 
        
        
        
        
        
        int | 
      getSectionForPosition(int position)
      Returns the section index for a given position in the list by querying the item and comparing it with all items in the section array. | 
| 
        
        
        
        
        
        Object[] | 
      getSections()
      Returns the section array constructed from the alphabet provided in the constructor. | 
| 
        
        
        
        
        
        void | 
      onChanged()
      This method is called when the entire data set has changed,
 most likely through a call to  | 
| 
        
        
        
        
        
        void | 
      onInvalidated()
      This method is called when the entire data becomes invalid,
 most likely through a call to  | 
| 
        
        
        
        
        
        void | 
      setCursor(Cursor cursor)
      Sets a new cursor as the data set and resets the cache of indices. | 
| Protected methods | |
|---|---|
| 
        
        
        
        
        
        int | 
      compare(String word, String letter)
      Default implementation compares the first character of word with letter. | 
| Inherited methods | |
|---|---|
Fields
mAlphabet
protected CharSequence mAlphabet
The string of characters that make up the indexing sections.
mColumnIndex
protected int mColumnIndex
The index of the cursor column that this list is sorted on.
mDataCursor
protected Cursor mDataCursor
Cursor that is used by the adapter of the list view.
Public constructors
AlphabetIndexer
public AlphabetIndexer (Cursor cursor, int sortedColumnIndex, CharSequence alphabet)
Constructs the indexer.
| Parameters | |
|---|---|
| cursor | Cursor: the cursor containing the data set | 
| sortedColumnIndex | int: the column number in the cursor that is sorted
        alphabetically | 
| alphabet | CharSequence: string containing the alphabet, with space as the first character.
        For example, use the string " ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" for English indexing.
        The characters must be uppercase and be sorted in ascii/unicode order. Basically
        characters in the alphabet will show up as preview letters. | 
Public methods
getPositionForSection
public int getPositionForSection (int sectionIndex)
Performs a binary search or cache lookup to find the first row that matches a given section's starting letter.
| Parameters | |
|---|---|
| sectionIndex | int: the section to search for | 
| Returns | |
|---|---|
| int | the row index of the first occurrence, or the nearest next letter. For instance, if searching for "T" and no "T" is found, then the first row starting with "U" or any higher letter is returned. If there is no data following "T" at all, then the list size is returned. | 
getSectionForPosition
public int getSectionForPosition (int position)
Returns the section index for a given position in the list by querying the item and comparing it with all items in the section array.
| Parameters | |
|---|---|
| position | int: the position within the adapter for which to return the
            corresponding section index | 
| Returns | |
|---|---|
| int | the index of the corresponding section within the array of section objects, constrained to fall within the array bounds | 
getSections
public Object[] getSections ()
Returns the section array constructed from the alphabet provided in the constructor.
| Returns | |
|---|---|
| Object[] | the section array | 
onChanged
public void onChanged ()
This method is called when the entire data set has changed,
 most likely through a call to Cursor.requery() on a Cursor.
onInvalidated
public void onInvalidated ()
This method is called when the entire data becomes invalid,
 most likely through a call to Cursor.deactivate() or Cursor.close() on a
 Cursor.
setCursor
public void setCursor (Cursor cursor)
Sets a new cursor as the data set and resets the cache of indices.
| Parameters | |
|---|---|
| cursor | Cursor: the new cursor to use as the data set | 
Protected methods
compare
protected int compare (String word, String letter)
Default implementation compares the first character of word with letter.
| Parameters | |
|---|---|
| word | String | 
| letter | String | 
| Returns | |
|---|---|
| int | |
