Implementing swipe to delete

In this tutorial we will create an App showing the popular swipe to delete design such as the one on gmail app on android. First let's create a project and call it SwipeToDeleteDemo. Next import necessary libraries for this project. Have to import support for Recyclerview and design support.

build.gradle

implementation 'com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:28.0.0'
implementation 'com.android.support:design:28.0.0'

Next open the activity_main.xml and add a recyclerview.

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout
    android:id="@+id/coordinator_layout"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_awidth="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

        <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
            android:id="@+id/recycler_view"
            android:layout_awidth="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:scrollbars="vertical"/>
</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

Next create the model class Item.

Item

public class Item {
    private int id;
    private String title;

    public Item(int id, String title) {
        this.id = id;
        this.title = title;
    }

    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getTitle() {
        return title;
    }

    public void setTitle(String title) {
        this.title = title;
    }
}

Next create the item layout file.

item.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_awidth="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/view_background"
        android:layout_awidth="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="#D50000">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/delete_icon"
            android:layout_awidth="30dp"
            android:layout_height="30dp"
            android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:layout_marginEnd="10dp"
            android:src="@android:drawable/ic_menu_delete"/>

        <TextView
            android:layout_awidth="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:layout_marginEnd="10dp"
            android:layout_toStartOf="@id/delete_icon"
            android:text="Delete"
            android:textColor="#fff"
            android:textSize="12sp"/>

    </RelativeLayout>

    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/view_foreground"
        android:layout_awidth="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="@android:color/white"
        android:padding="10dp">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/title"
            android:layout_awidth="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:ellipsize="end"
            android:fontFamily="sans-serif-medium"
            android:maxLines="1"
            android:textSize="14sp"/>

    </RelativeLayout>
</FrameLayout>

In the above layout item.xml i have added a TextView for the title of the item and also added a text "Delete" alongside a delete icon that is shown when the user interacts with the design by swipe gesture.

Next create the Adapter class ItemAdapter.

ItemAdapter.java

import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.RelativeLayout;
import android.widget.TextView;

import java.util.List;

public class ItemAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<ItemAdapter.MyViewHolder> {
    private List<Item> mItemList;
    private ItemAdapterListener listener;

    public ItemAdapter(List<Item> ItemList, ItemAdapterListener listener) {
        this.listener = listener;
        this.mItemList = ItemList;
    }

    @Override
    public MyViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View itemView = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext())
            .inflate(R.layout.item, parent, false);
        return new MyViewHolder(itemView);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(MyViewHolder holder, int position) {
        Item Item = mItemList.get(position);
        holder.title.setText(Item.getTitle());
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return mItemList.size();
    }

    public void removeItem(int position) {
        mItemList.remove(position);
        notifyItemRemoved(position);
    }

    public void restoreItem(Item item, int position) {
        mItemList.add(position, item);
        notifyItemInserted(position);
    }

    public interface ItemAdapterListener {
        void onItemSelected(Item contact);
    }

    public class MyViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        public TextView title;
        public RelativeLayout viewBackground, viewForeground;

        public MyViewHolder(View view) {
            super(view);
            title = view.findViewById(R.id.title);
            viewBackground = view.findViewById(R.id.view_background);
            viewForeground = view.findViewById(R.id.view_foreground);
            view.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View view) {
                    listener.onItemSelected(mItemList.get(getAdapterPosition()));
                }
            });
        }
    }
}

In the adapter class we have included two methods for handling removing of item removeItem() and restoring item restoreItem() when user swipes to delete an item or clicks undo.

Next create a class for implementing the swipe gesture support that will be used by the recyclerview.

RecyclerItemTouchHelper

import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.support.v7.widget.helper.ItemTouchHelper;
import android.view.View;

public class RecyclerItemTouchHelper extends ItemTouchHelper.SimpleCallback {
    private RecyclerItemTouchHelperListener listener;

    public RecyclerItemTouchHelper(int dragDirs, int swipeDirs,
                                   RecyclerItemTouchHelperListener listener) {
        super(dragDirs, swipeDirs);
        this.listener = listener;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onMove(RecyclerView recyclerView, RecyclerView.ViewHolder viewHolder,
                          RecyclerView.ViewHolder target) {
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public void onSelectedChanged(RecyclerView.ViewHolder viewHolder, int actionState) {
        if (viewHolder != null) {
            final View foregroundView = ((ItemAdapter.MyViewHolder) viewHolder).viewForeground;
            getDefaultUIUtil().onSelected(foregroundView);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onChildDrawOver(Canvas c, RecyclerView recyclerView,
                                RecyclerView.ViewHolder viewHolder, float dX, float dY,
                                int actionState, boolean isCurrentlyActive) {
        final View foregroundView = ((ItemAdapter.MyViewHolder) viewHolder).viewForeground;
        getDefaultUIUtil().onDrawOver(c, recyclerView, foregroundView, dX, dY,
            actionState, isCurrentlyActive);
    }

    @Override
    public void clearView(RecyclerView recyclerView, RecyclerView.ViewHolder viewHolder) {
        final View foregroundView = ((ItemAdapter.MyViewHolder) viewHolder).viewForeground;
        getDefaultUIUtil().clearView(foregroundView);
    }

    @Override
    public void onChildDraw(Canvas c, RecyclerView recyclerView,
                            RecyclerView.ViewHolder viewHolder, float dX, float dY,
                            int actionState, boolean isCurrentlyActive) {
        final View foregroundView = ((ItemAdapter.MyViewHolder) viewHolder).viewForeground;
        getDefaultUIUtil().onDraw(c, recyclerView, foregroundView, dX, dY,
            actionState, isCurrentlyActive);
    }

    @Override
    public void onSwiped(RecyclerView.ViewHolder viewHolder, int direction) {
        listener.onSwiped(viewHolder, direction, viewHolder.getAdapterPosition());
    }

    @Override
    public int convertToAbsoluteDirection(int flags, int layoutDirection) {
        return super.convertToAbsoluteDirection(flags, layoutDirection);
    }

    public interface RecyclerItemTouchHelperListener {
        void onSwiped(RecyclerView.ViewHolder viewHolder, int direction, int position);
    }
}

Next open the main activity and populate a list with some data for demo purpose.

MainActivity.java

import android.graphics.Color;
import android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout;
import android.support.design.widget.Snackbar;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.widget.DefaultItemAnimator;
import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.support.v7.widget.helper.ItemTouchHelper;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Toast;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements RecyclerItemTouchHelper.RecyclerItemTouchHelperListener,
    ItemAdapter.ItemAdapterListener {
    private List<Item> mItemList = new ArrayList<>();
    private RecyclerView mRecyclerViewSongs;
    private ItemAdapter mAdapter;
    private CoordinatorLayout mCoordinatorLayout;
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        init();
        setUpAdapter();
        getItems();
    }

    private void init() {
        mRecyclerViewSongs = findViewById(R.id.recycler_view);
        mCoordinatorLayout = findViewById(R.id.coordinator_layout);
    }


    private void setUpAdapter() {
        mAdapter = new ItemAdapter(mItemList, this);
        RecyclerView.LayoutManager mLayoutManager =
            new LinearLayoutManager(getApplicationContext());
        mRecyclerViewSongs.setLayoutManager(mLayoutManager);
        mRecyclerViewSongs.setItemAnimator(new DefaultItemAnimator());
        mRecyclerViewSongs.setAdapter(mAdapter);

        ItemTouchHelper.SimpleCallback itemTouchHelperCallback =
            new RecyclerItemTouchHelper(0, ItemTouchHelper.LEFT, this);
        new ItemTouchHelper(itemTouchHelperCallback).attachToRecyclerView(mRecyclerViewSongs);
    }

    private void getItems() {
        Item itemOne = new Item(1, "Item One");
        Item itemTwo = new Item(2, "Item Two");
        Item itemThree = new Item(3, "Item Three");
        mItemList.add(itemOne);
        mItemList.add(itemTwo);
        mItemList.add(itemThree);
        mAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    @Override
    public void onItemSelected(Item item) {
        Toast.makeText(this, "Selected " +item.getTitle(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }

    @Override
    public void onSwiped(RecyclerView.ViewHolder viewHolder, int direction, int position) {
        if (viewHolder instanceof ItemAdapter.MyViewHolder) {
            String name = mItemList.get(viewHolder.getAdapterPosition()).getTitle();
            final Item deletedItem = mItemList.get(viewHolder.getAdapterPosition());
            final int deletedIndex = viewHolder.getAdapterPosition();
            mAdapter.removeItem(viewHolder.getAdapterPosition());
            Snackbar snackbar = Snackbar
                .make(mCoordinatorLayout, name + " removed from library!", Snackbar.LENGTH_LONG);
            snackbar.setAction("UNDO", new View.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View view) {
                    mAdapter.restoreItem(deletedItem, deletedIndex);
                }
            });
            snackbar.setActionTextColor(Color.YELLOW);
            snackbar.show();
        }
    }
}

In the MainActivity class we setup our adapter and added some items in this method getItems(). Further more we are implementing the RecyclerItemTouchHelper.RecyclerItemTouchHelperListener to catch whenever the user swipes on the item in the list and handling it on the override method onSwiped. It is in this onSwiped method we will write our specific code based on what acction we want it to do, in this case simply delete it when user swipes by calling mAdapter.removeItem(viewHolder.getAdapterPosition()); and also when user selects undo from our snackbar we restore the item back to the initial position/index using mAdapter.restoreItem(deletedItem, deletedIndex);.

It is pretty straight forward and easy to implement. Note: You can change the swipe direction to your prefered direction. I am using LEFT but this can also be changed to swipe from RIGHT by changing this line of code:

ItemTouchHelper.SimpleCallback itemTouchHelperCallback = new RecyclerItemTouchHelper(0, ItemTouchHelper.LEFT, this); TO THIS >>> ItemTouchHelper.SimpleCallback itemTouchHelperCallback = new RecyclerItemTouchHelper(0, ItemTouchHelper.RIGHT, this);

This however will require a design change in the item.xml as currently the delete text and icon are placed on the right.

And that is it, Now you have a working swipeable view just like gmail. Happy Coding!!!

Preview