Fill a ListView using SimpleAdapter with Maps vs SimpleCursorAdapter with MatrixCursor

Question

My Android application uses a ListView with simple two-line rows. The list is filled in using simple static data. I am aware of two different solutions for filling in the list in these circumstances:

1) Using a SimpleAdapter with an ArrayList of Maps, where the static data is put into HashMaps.

2) Using a SimpleCursorAdapter with a MatrixCursor, where the static data is added as rows to the MatrixCursor.

Are there any advantages or disadvantages to using either method? For example, is there a performance penalty to either of them? Is one or the other method more generally favoured, and if so, why?

Example

The main Activity of the application is a ListActivity. I fill in the built-in ListView in the onCreate method of the ListActivity.

Consider that I have some static data defined in an array like this:

private static String fruits[][] =
    {
        { "Apple", "red" },
        { "Banana", "yellow" },
        { "Coconut", "white" }
    };

Using method 1) SimpleAdapter with ArrayList of Maps

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    // Create an ArrayList of Maps and populate with fruits
    ArrayList<Map<String, String>> list = new ArrayList<Map<String, String>>(); 

    for (int i=0; i<fruits.length; i++) {
        HashMap<String, String> map = new HashMap<String, String>();
        map.put("Fruit", fruits[i][0]);
        map.put("Color", fruits[i][1]);
        list.add(map);
    }

    // Create a SimpleAdapter using the ArrayList of Maps,
    // which maps the entries Fruit and Color to the Views text1 and text2
    String entries[] = { "Fruit", "Color" };
    int views[] = { android.R.id.text1, android.R.id.text2 };
    SimpleAdapter adapter = new SimpleAdapter(this,
            list, android.R.layout.two_line_list_item, entries, views);

    // Attach adapter to ListView
    setListAdapter(adapter);
}

Using method 2) SimpleCursorAdapter with MatrixCursor

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    // Create a MatrixCursor and populate with fruits
    String columns[] = { "_id", "Fruit", "Color" };
    MatrixCursor cursor = new MatrixCursor(columns);

    for (int i=0; i<fruits.length; i++) {
        cursor.newRow()
            .add(i)
            .add(fruits[i][0])
            .add(fruits[i][1]);
    }

    // Create a SimpleCursorAdapter using the MatrixCursor,
    // which maps the entries Fruit and Color to the Views text1 and text2
    String entries[] = { "Fruit", "Color" };
    int views[] = { android.R.id.text1, android.R.id.text2 };
    SimpleCursorAdapter adapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(this,
            android.R.layout.two_line_list_item, cursor, entries, views, 0);

    // Attach adapter to ListView
    setListAdapter(adapter);
}

Which method is better?

Fill a ListView using SimpleAdapter with Maps vs SimpleCursorAdapter with MatrixCursor

0 Answers0