Android: Adding static header to the top of a ListActivity

findViewById() only works to find subviews of the object View. It will not work on a layout id.

You'll have to use layout inflater to convert the xml to it's corresponding View components. Something like this:

ListView lv = getListView();LayoutInflater inflater = getLayoutInflater();View header = inflater.inflate(R.layout.header, lv, false);lv.addHeaderView(header, null, false);

I'm not sure why your code wasn't just throwing an error. findViewById() was probably just returning null, and so no header was added to your list.

Here is the simpliest sollution:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:background="@color/background"> <include layout="@layout/actionbar"/>   <ListView    android:id="@+id/tasklist_TaskListView"    android:layout_width="fill_parent"    android:layout_height="0dip"    android:layout_weight="1"    android:textColor="@color/baseFont"/>   <include layout="@layout/bottombar"/></LinearLayout>

or

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:background="@color/background">   <Button     android:layout_width="fill_parent"    android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>   <ListView    android:id="@+id/tasklist_TaskListView"    android:layout_width="fill_parent"    android:layout_height="0dip"    android:layout_weight="1"    android:textColor="@color/baseFont"/>   <Button     android:layout_width="fill_parent"    android:layout_height="wrap_content"/></LinearLayout>

instead of button you can add another horizontal linear layout

After some research I was able to figure out that mixing TableLayout and LinearLayout within my ListActivity XML document I was able to add a header to the document. Below is my XML document if anyone is interested to see it. While synic's approach is probably the right approach after work with his solution for sometime I was unable to make it function the way I wanted it.

AuditTab.java

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);        setContentView(R.layout.audittab);        getListView().setEmptyView(findViewById(R.id.empty));}

audittab.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><TableLayout     android:layout_width="fill_parent"    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"    android:layout_height="fill_parent">    <TableRow         android:layout_width="fill_parent"        android:layout_height="fill_parent"         android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal">        <LinearLayout             xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"            android:layout_width="fill_parent"             android:layout_height="fill_parent"            android:orientation="horizontal"             android:layout_weight="1">            <Button                 android:id="@+id/btnFromDate"                 android:layout_width="fill_parent"                android:layout_height="wrap_content"                 android:text=""                android:layout_weight="1" />            <Button                 android:id="@+id/btnToDate"                 android:layout_width="fill_parent"                android:layout_height="wrap_content"                 android:text=""                android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/btnFromDate"                android:layout_weight="1" />            <Button                 android:id="@+id/btnQuery"                 android:layout_width="fill_parent"                android:layout_height="wrap_content"                 android:text="Query"                android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/btnToDate"                android:layout_weight="1" />        </LinearLayout>    </TableRow>    <TableRow         android:layout_width="fill_parent"        android:layout_height="fill_parent"         android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal">        <LinearLayout             android:layout_width="fill_parent"            android:layout_height="fill_parent">            <ListView                 android:id="@android:id/list"                android:layout_width="300dip"                 android:layout_height="330dip"                android:scrollbars="none" />            <TextView                 android:id="@+id/empty"                android:layout_width="wrap_content"                 android:layout_height="wrap_content"                android:paddingTop="10dip"                android:text="- Please select a date range and press query." />        </LinearLayout>    </TableRow></TableLayout>

AuditItem.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><RelativeLayout         xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"        android:layout_width="fill_parent"         android:orientation="horizontal"         android:padding="10sp">    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionDateLabel"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="Date: " />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionDate"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionDateLabel" />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionTypeLabel"         android:layout_below="@id/transactionDate"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="Type: " />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionType"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_marginLeft="10dip"         android:layout_below="@id/transactionDate"        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionTypeLabel" />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionAmountLabel"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_marginLeft="10dip"        android:text="Amount: "         android:layout_below="@id/transactionDate"        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionType" />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionAmount"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_below="@id/transactionDate"        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionAmountLabel" />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionCategoryLabel"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="Category: "         android:layout_below="@id/transactionAmountLabel" />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionCategory"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:layout_below="@id/transactionAmountLabel"         android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionCategoryLabel"        />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionToAccountLabel"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="To Account: "         android:layout_below="@id/transactionCategoryLabel" />    <TextView        android:id="@+id/transactionToAccount"        android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:layout_below="@+id/transactionCategoryLabel"        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionToAccountLabel" />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionFromAccountLabel"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="From Account: "         android:layout_below="@id/transactionToAccountLabel" />    <TextView        android:id="@+id/transactionFromAccount"        android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:layout_below="@id/transactionToAccountLabel"        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionFromAccountLabel" />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionNoteLabel"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="Note: "         android:layout_below="@id/transactionFromAccountLabel" />    <TextView         android:id="@+id/transactionNote"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_below="@id/transactionFromAccountLabel"         android:layout_toRightOf="@id/transactionNoteLabel" />    <Button         android:id="@+id/editTransactionBtn"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="40sp"         android:visibility="gone"         android:text="Edit"        android:layout_below="@id/transactionNoteLabel"/>    <Button         android:id="@+id/deleteTransactionBtn"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="40sp"         android:text="Delete"         android:layout_below="@+id/transactionNoteLabel"         android:visibility="gone"         android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/editTransactionBtn"         android:ellipsize="end"/></RelativeLayout>