Android ListView with a Custom Adapter - getChildAt() returns null - android-widget

Question

I have a ListView with a Custom Adapter, and I need to access the View of individual rows of this ListView. I am trying to do it using getChildAt(), but it is returning null.
Here's my ListView:
myListView = (ListView) findViewById (R.id.listViewLayout);
This is the custom adapter:
public class MyListAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
...
#Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
if (convertView == null) {
LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) context.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
convertView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.list_row_layout, parent, false);
}
...
}
I create a List, and set it for the ListView:
List <String> myList = new ArrayList<String>();
myList.add("entry 1");
myList.add("entry 2");
myList.add("entry 3");
MyListAdapter myListAdapter = new MyListAdapter(getApplicationContext(), myList);
myListView.setAdapter(myListAdapter);
Now, I want to access the View for individual rows.
View v = myListView.getChildAt(myListView.getFirstVisiblePosition());
This v is null, no matter what. Additionally, myListView.getChildCount() always returns null.
What am I missing? Do I need to add the convertView to parent in getView()? Am I passing wrong parameters to inflate?
I have struggled a lot to figure this out. Please help me!
EDIT: I am posting the MyListAdapter class:
public class MyListAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
private Context context;
private List<String> myList;
public MyListAdapter(Context c, List<String> m) {
context = c;
myList = m;
}
#Override
public int getCount() {
return myList.size();
}
#Override
public Object getItem(int position) {
return myList.get(position);
}
#Override
public long getItemId(int position) {
return position;
}
#Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
final int pos = position;
if (convertView == null) {
LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) context.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
convertView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.list_row_layout, parent, false);
}
TextView text = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.itemText);
text.setText(myList.get(pos));
// Set the onClick Listener on this button
Button rowButton = (Button) convertView.findViewById(R.id.itemButton);
//commenting next two lines makes the list row clickable
rowButton.setFocusableInTouchMode(false);
rowButton.setFocusable(false);
rowButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
public void onClick(View v) {
Toast.makeText(context, myList.get(pos), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
});
convertView.setTag(pos);
return convertView;
}
}

Answer 1

In all probability you're doing all of this in onCreate(). Any view-related methods will return null (or empty) because the list has not been rendered yet. What do you need the child view for?

Answer 2

Try instead of extending the BaseAdapter, to use the ArrayAdapter class. With the BaseAdapter, I believe that you have to maintain both the list of objects and the views themselves. So something like this
public class MyAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<String>
{
...
}
Then you would create the class like this.
MyListAdapter myListAdapter = new MyListAdapter(getApplicationContext(), R.layout.list_row_layout, myList);
Updated
Also, in your constructor, you are not calling your base class constructor.