Staggered GridView in Android with Example

StaggeredGridLayout is a LayoutManager in the android studio similar to GridView, but in StaggeredGridLayout each grid has its own height and width.

Difference Between GridView and Staggered GridView 

StaggeredGridlayout

1. The children are in a staggered grid format.
2. It supports horizontal and  vertical layout
3. Example: Pinterest, a wallpaper app, a status app, etc

GridView

1. The children’s in a rectangular grid format
2. It also supports horizontal and  vertical layout
3. Example: Flipkart, Amazon, wallpaper app, etc

Example

A sample GIF is given below to get an idea about what we are going to do in this article. We are going to implement this project using both Java and Kotlin Programming Language for Android.

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project in Android Studio

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. The code for that has been given in both Java and Kotlin Programming Language for Android.

Step 2: Adding Dependency to the build.gradle File

 Go to Module build.gradle file and add this dependency and click on Sync Now button.

implementation 'androidx.recyclerview:recyclerview:1.1.0'

Step 3: Working with the XML Files

Next, go to the activity_main.xml file, which represents the UI of the project. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail. Add a RecyclerView as shown below. 

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <!-- Recycler view -->
    <androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView
        android:id="@+id/recycleViewStagged"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />
</RelativeLayout>

Now we create a new layout resource file (recyclerview_row.xml)

Inside it, we add a simple ImageView and set it  android:scaleType=”fitXY” complete code of recyclerview_row.xml is shown below

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_margin="8dp">

    <!-- simple image view -->
    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/imgView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:scaleType="fitXY"
        android:src="@drawable/k1" />
</RelativeLayout>

Step 4: Working with the Java/Kotlin Files

Go to the MainActivity File and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity File. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail. First, we create a RecyclerViewAdapter class and extend it to RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerViewAdapter.ViewHolder>  and implements its methods as shown below. Below is the code for the RecyclerViewAdapter file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

Java

import android.content.Context;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class RecyclerViewAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerViewAdapter.ViewHolder> {

    // ArrayList
    ArrayList<Integer> Image;
    Context context;

    // constructor
    public RecyclerViewAdapter(Context context, ArrayList<Integer> Image) {
        super();
        this.context = context;
        this.Image = Image;
    }

    @Override
    public ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup viewGroup, int i) {
        View v = LayoutInflater.from(viewGroup.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.recyclerview_row, viewGroup, false);
        return new ViewHolder(v);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(ViewHolder viewHolder, int i) {
        // setting image resource
        viewHolder.imgview.setImageResource(Image.get(i));
    }

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

    public static class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        public ImageView imgview;
        public ViewHolder(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            // getting ImageView reference
            imgview = (ImageView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.imgView);
        }
    }
}

Kotlin

import android.content.Context
import android.view.LayoutInflater
import android.view.View
import android.view.ViewGroup
import android.widget.ImageView
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView

class RecyclerViewAdapter(var context: Context, private var Image: ArrayList<Int>) :

    RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerViewAdapter.ViewHolder>() {
    override fun onCreateViewHolder(viewGroup: ViewGroup, i: Int): ViewHolder {
        val v: View = LayoutInflater.from(viewGroup.context).inflate(R.layout.recyclerview_row, viewGroup, false)
        return ViewHolder(v)
    }

    override fun onBindViewHolder(viewHolder: ViewHolder, i: Int) {
        // setting image resource
        viewHolder.imgview.setImageResource(Image[i])
    }

    override fun getItemCount(): Int {
        return Image.size
    }

    class ViewHolder(itemView: View) : RecyclerView.ViewHolder(itemView) {
        var imgview: ImageView
        init {
            // getting ImageView reference
            imgview = itemView.findViewById<View>(R.id.imgView) as ImageView
        }
    }
}

Now Open the MainActivity File there within the Class

First of all, create the object of the RecyclerViewAdapter, RecyclerView class, and an ArrayList  to store ids of images

// creating recyclerviewadapter object
RecyclerViewAdapter recyclerViewAdapter;

// creating arrayList
ArrayList<Integer> ImageList;

// creating recycler view object
RecyclerView recyclerView;

Now inside the onCreate() method, link those objects with their respective IDs that are given in the activity_main.xml file.

 // adding values to arrayList
 ImageList = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(
            R.drawable.k1, R.drawable.k2, R.drawable.k3,
            R.drawable.k4, R.drawable.k5, R.drawable.k6,
            R.drawable.k7, R.drawable.k8, R.drawable.k9)
 );
 recyclerView = findViewById(R.id.recycleViewStagged);

Now inside onCreate() method, we create a  RecyclerView.LayoutManager (Learn more about StaggeredGridLayoutManager) and set it to RecyclerView 

// setting recyclerView layoutManager
RecyclerView.LayoutManager layoutManager = new StaggeredGridLayoutManager(2, StaggeredGridLayoutManager.VERTICAL);
recyclerView.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);

Now we initialize and setAdapter()

recyclerViewAdapter = new RecyclerViewAdapter(this, ImageList);
// setting recycle view adapter
recyclerView.setAdapter(recyclerViewAdapter);

Below is the complete code for the MainActivity file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

Java

import android.os.Bundle;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView;
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.StaggeredGridLayoutManager;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    // creating recyclerviewadapter object
    RecyclerViewAdapter recyclerViewAdapter;

    // creating arrayList
    ArrayList<Integer> ImageList;

    // creating recycler view object
    RecyclerView recyclerView;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        // adding values to arrayList
        ImageList = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(
                R.drawable.k1, R.drawable.k2, R.drawable.k3,
                R.drawable.k4, R.drawable.k5, R.drawable.k6,
                R.drawable.k7, R.drawable.k8, R.drawable.k9)
        );

        recyclerView = findViewById(R.id.recycleViewStagged);

        // setting recyclerView layoutManager
        RecyclerView.LayoutManager layoutManager = new StaggeredGridLayoutManager(2, StaggeredGridLayoutManager.VERTICAL);
        recyclerView.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);
        recyclerViewAdapter = new RecyclerViewAdapter(this, ImageList);

        // setting recycle view adapter
        recyclerView.setAdapter(recyclerViewAdapter);
    }
}

Kotlin

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.StaggeredGridLayoutManager
import java.util.*

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    // creating recyclerviewadapter object
    private lateinit var recyclerViewAdapter: RecyclerViewAdapter
    // creating arrayList
    private lateinit var ImageList: ArrayList<Int>
    // creating recycler view object
    private lateinit var recyclerView: RecyclerView

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        // adding values to arrayList
        ImageList = ArrayList(mutableListOf<Int>(
                R.drawable.k1, R.drawable.k2, R.drawable.k3,
                R.drawable.k4, R.drawable.k5, R.drawable.k6,
                R.drawable.k7, R.drawable.k8, R.drawable.k9
            )
        )
        recyclerView = findViewById(R.id.recycleViewStagged)

        // setting recyclerView layoutManager
        val layoutManager: RecyclerView.LayoutManager = StaggeredGridLayoutManager(2, StaggeredGridLayoutManager.VERTICAL)
        recyclerView.layoutManager = layoutManager
        recyclerViewAdapter = RecyclerViewAdapter(this, ImageList)

        // setting recycle view adapter
        recyclerView.adapter = recyclerViewAdapter
    }
}

Output: