Retrofit Android Tutorial

Table of Contents

Why to use Retrofit rather than Volley or AsyncTask.
- Example :
Source code:

In this tutorial, we are going to see Retrofit Android tutorial to get data from server.
In previous post, we have seen android JSON parsing tutorial which was very simple.
If you are not aware about Retrofit, it is android http library used to handle HTTP request.You can treat it as a replacement of AsyncTask in previous tutorial.

Why to use Retrofit rather than Volley or AsyncTask.

It is better than Volley and AsyncTask. It takes care of HTTP call, JSON parsing, efficient network management. Retrofit has all the features which you need to call web services. You will directly get Response which you can use to populate data.

Example :

I have already implemented restful webservices json example. I am going to use same json response for rendering it in custom listview.
You can use below link.
https://cdn.rawgit.com/arpitmandliya/AndroidRestJSONExample/master/countries.json
You will get below Json response from above URL:


[
 {
 "id":1,
 "countryName":"India"
 },
 {
 "id":4,
 "countryName":"China"
 },
 {
 "id":3,
 "countryName":"Nepal"
 },
 {
 "id":2,
 "countryName":"Bhutan"
 }
]

[

{

"id":1,

"countryName":"India"

{

"id":4,

"countryName":"China"

{

"id":3,

"countryName":"Nepal"

{

"id":2,

"countryName":"Bhutan"

}

]

We are getting above JSONArray from rest web service. If you are not familiar with JSON, you can go through Json tutorial. We are going to render above JSON response to android custom listview as below:

Lets code this example now:

Source code:

Download github source code

Step 1 :Creating Project

Create an android application project named “RetrofitAndroidExample”.

Step 2 : Add Retrofit and json gradle dependency

For using Retrofit library, we need to add Retrofit and volley dependency. Your build.gradle (Module : app )will look as below


apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 25
    buildToolsVersion "25.0.0"
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 25
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {
        exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'
    })
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.0.0'
    // retrofit, gson
    compile 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.6.2'
    compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.0.2'
    compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.0.2'
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
}

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {

compileSdkVersion 25

buildToolsVersion "25.0.0"

defaultConfig {

applicationId "com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample"

minSdkVersion 15

targetSdkVersion 25

versionCode 1

versionName "1.0"

testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"

}

buildTypes {

release {

minifyEnabled false

proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'

}

dependencies {

compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])

androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {

exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'

})

compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.0.0'

// retrofit, gson

compile 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.6.2'

compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.0.2'

compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.0.2'

testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'

}

Step 3 : Creating Layout

Change res ->layout -> activity_main.xml as below:


<?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:id="@+id/activity_main"
 android:layout_width="match_parent"
 android:layout_height="match_parent"
 android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
 android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
 android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
 android:paddingTop="10dp"
 tools:context="com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample.MainActivity">

 <Button
 android:layout_width="match_parent"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:text="Fetching countries data"
 android:id="@+id/btnSubmit"
 />

 <ListView
 android:id="@+id/android:list"
 android:layout_width="match_parent"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:layout_below="@id/btnSubmit"
 />
</RelativeLayout>

<?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:id="@+id/activity_main"

android:layout_width="match_parent"

android:layout_height="match_parent"

android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"

android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"

android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"

android:paddingTop="10dp"

tools:context="com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample.MainActivity">

<Button

android:layout_width="match_parent"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:text="Fetching countries data"

android:id="@+id/btnSubmit"

<ListView

android:id="@+id/android:list"

android:layout_width="match_parent"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_below="@id/btnSubmit"

</RelativeLayout>

We have one button and listview. When you click the button, we are going to populate data in listview by calling restful web services and render it on the listview.

Step 4: Creating layout for Row

As We have declared ListView widget in activity_main.xml. Now we need to provide layout for individual row.

Go to res -> layout
right click on layout
Click on New -> File.
Create a file named “row_item.xml” and paste below code in row_item.xml.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GridLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:layout_width="match_parent"
 android:layout_height="match_parent" >
 <TextView
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:layout_columnWeight="1"
 android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
 android:textSize="30dp"
 android:textColor="#1E90FF"
 android:id="@+id/textViewId"
 android:layout_row="0"
 android:layout_column="1" />
 <TextView
 android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:layout_columnWeight="1"
 android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
 android:textSize="20dp"
 android:textColor="#4B0082"
 android:id="@+id/textViewCountry"
 android:layout_row="1"
 android:layout_column="1" />
</GridLayout>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<GridLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

android:layout_width="match_parent"

android:layout_height="match_parent" >

<TextView

android:layout_width="wrap_content"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_columnWeight="1"

android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"

android:textSize="30dp"

android:textColor="#1E90FF"

android:id="@+id/textViewId"

android:layout_row="0"

android:layout_column="1" />

<TextView

android:layout_width="wrap_content"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

android:layout_columnWeight="1"

android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"

android:textSize="20dp"

android:textColor="#4B0082"

android:id="@+id/textViewCountry"

android:layout_row="1"

android:layout_column="1" />

</GridLayout>

Step 5 : Creating model object Country :

If you notice, we are getting Json array from restful web service which has 4 items. Each item have two attributes id and countryName. We are going to create country object for each item.


package com.java2blog.androidrestjsonexample;
public class Country{
    int id;
    String countryName;

    public Country(int i, String countryName) {
        super();
        this.id = i;
        this.countryName = countryName;
    }
    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }
    public void setId(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }
    public String getCountryName() {
        return countryName;
    }
    public void setCountryName(String countryName) {
        this.countryName = countryName;
    }
}

package com.java2blog.androidrestjsonexample;

public class Country{

int id;

String countryName;

public Country(int i, String countryName) {

super();

this.id = i;

this.countryName = countryName;

}

public int getId() {

return id;

}

public void setId(int id) {

this.id = id;

}

public String getCountryName() {

return countryName;

}

public void setCountryName(String countryName) {

this.countryName = countryName;

}

Step 6: Creating BaseAdapter for ListView

Before creating MainActivity, we need to create CustomCountryList class for custom ListView row.


package com.java2blog.androidrestjsonexample;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.TextView;

import com.java2blog.androidrestjsonexample.Country;
import com.java2blog.androidrestjsonexample.R;

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class CustomCountryList extends BaseAdapter {

    private Activity context;
    ArrayList countries;

    public CustomCountryList(Activity context, ArrayList countries) {
     //   super(context, R.layout.row_item, countries);
        this.context = context;
        this.countries=countries;

    }

    public static class ViewHolder
    {
        TextView textViewId;
        TextView textViewCountry;
    }
    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        View row=convertView;

        LayoutInflater inflater = context.getLayoutInflater();
        ViewHolder vh;
        if(convertView==null) {
            vh=new ViewHolder();
            row = inflater.inflate(R.layout.row_item, null, true);
            vh.textViewId = (TextView) row.findViewById(R.id.textViewId);
            vh.textViewCountry = (TextView) row.findViewById(R.id.textViewCountry);
            // store the holder with the view.
            row.setTag(vh);
        }
        else {
            vh = (ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
        }

        vh.textViewCountry.setText(countries.get(position).getCountryName());
        vh.textViewId.setText(""+countries.get(position).getId());

        return  row;
    }

    public long getItemId(int position) {
        return position;
    }

    public Object getItem(int position) {
        return position;
    }

    public int getCount() {

        if(countries.size()<=0)
            return 1;
        return countries.size();
    }
}

package com.java2blog.androidrestjsonexample;

import android.app.Activity;

import android.view.LayoutInflater;

import android.view.View;

import android.view.ViewGroup;

import android.widget.BaseAdapter;

import android.widget.TextView;

import com.java2blog.androidrestjsonexample.Country;

import com.java2blog.androidrestjsonexample.R;

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class CustomCountryList extends BaseAdapter {

private Activity context;

ArrayList countries;

public CustomCountryList(Activity context, ArrayList countries) {

// super(context, R.layout.row_item, countries);

this.context = context;

this.countries=countries;

}

public static class ViewHolder

{

TextView textViewId;

TextView textViewCountry;

}

@Override

public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {

View row=convertView;

LayoutInflater inflater = context.getLayoutInflater();

ViewHolder vh;

if(convertView==null) {

vh=new ViewHolder();

row = inflater.inflate(R.layout.row_item, null, true);

vh.textViewId = (TextView) row.findViewById(R.id.textViewId);

vh.textViewCountry = (TextView) row.findViewById(R.id.textViewCountry);

// store the holder with the view.

row.setTag(vh);

}

else {

vh = (ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();

}

vh.textViewCountry.setText(countries.get(position).getCountryName());

vh.textViewId.setText(""+countries.get(position).getId());

return row;

}

public long getItemId(int position) {

return position;

}

public Object getItem(int position) {

return position;

}

public int getCount() {

if(countries.size()<=0)

return 1;

return countries.size();

}

This class is used to populating data for ListVIew. getView method is get called for drawing each row.

Step 7 : Creating interface for making HTTP call using Retrofit.

We need to create an interface for making HTTP calls.


package com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample;
import java.util.List;

import retrofit2.Call;
import retrofit2.Callback;
import retrofit2.http.GET;

public interface CountryArrayAPI {

    /* @GET url is after Base_URL.
       We are going to get List of country as response.
    */
    @GET("/arpitmandliya/AndroidRestJSONExample/master/countries.json")
    public Call<List> getCountries();
}

package com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample;

import java.util.List;

import retrofit2.Call;

import retrofit2.Callback;

import retrofit2.http.GET;

public interface CountryArrayAPI {

/* @GET url is after Base_URL.

We are going to get List of country as response.

@GET("/arpitmandliya/AndroidRestJSONExample/master/countries.json")

public Call<List> getCountries();

}

We have defined get request in above interface. We do not have to include base url, it is part after base url which we have use. We are going to get List of countries as response here.

Step 8 : Creating MainActivity

Steps for Retrofit call :

Create retrofit instance using base url. Retrofit will implicitly use gson to convert JSON to corresponding object. You need to define gson library explicitly in Retrofit 2.0


Retrofit retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()
                .baseUrl(BASE_URL)
                .addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create())
                .build();

Retrofit retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()

.baseUrl(BASE_URL)

.addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create())

.build();

Create api with retrofit’s create method and call getCountries method.

CountryArrayAPI api = retrofit.create(CountryArrayAPI.class); Call<List> call = api.getCountries();

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CountryArrayAPI api = retrofit.create(CountryArrayAPI.class);
Call<List> call = api.getCountries();
Enqueue the request and onResponse will get called if your call is successful else onFailure will get called.

Change src/main/packageName/MainActivity.java as below:


package com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample;

import android.util.Log;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.ProgressDialog;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.Toast;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import retrofit2.Call;
import retrofit2.Callback;
import retrofit2.Response;
import retrofit2.Retrofit;
import retrofit2.converter.gson.GsonConverterFactory;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private Button btnSubmit;
    String responseText;
    Activity activity;
    ArrayList countries=new ArrayList();
    private ProgressDialog progressDialog;
    ListView listView;

    //Base URL of our web service
    public static final String BASE_URL = "https://cdn.rawgit.com";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        activity = this;
        btnSubmit = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btnSubmit);
        listView = (ListView) findViewById(android.R.id.list);
        btnSubmit.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                countries.clear();

                progressDialog = new ProgressDialog(MainActivity.this);
                progressDialog.setMessage("Fetching countries data");
                progressDialog.setCancelable(false);
                progressDialog.show();
                //Call WebService
                getWebServiceResponseData();
            }
        });
    }

    protected Void getWebServiceResponseData() {

        //Creating Retrofit rest adapter
         Retrofit retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()
                .baseUrl(BASE_URL)
                .addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create())
                .build();

        //Creating an object of our api interface
        CountryArrayAPI api = retrofit.create(CountryArrayAPI.class);
        Call<List> call = api.getCountries();

        call.enqueue(new Callback<List>() {

            @Override
            public void onResponse(Call<List> call, Response<List> response) {

                try {

                    countries= (ArrayList)response.body();

                    if (progressDialog.isShowing())
                        progressDialog.dismiss();
                    // For populating list data
                    CustomCountryList customCountryList = new CustomCountryList(activity, countries);
                    listView.setAdapter(customCountryList);

                    listView.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
                        @Override
                        public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int position, long l) {
                            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),"You Selected "+countries.get(position).getCountryName()+ " as Country",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();        }
                    });
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    Log.d("onResponse", "There is an error");
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }

            }
            @Override
            public void onFailure(Call<List> call, Throwable t) {
                    Log.d("Failure",t.toString());
            }
        });
        return null;
    }
}

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package com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample;

import android.util.Log;

import android.app.Activity;

import android.app.ProgressDialog;

import android.os.Bundle;

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;

import android.view.View;

import android.widget.AdapterView;

import android.widget.Button;

import android.widget.ListView;

import android.widget.Toast;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import java.util.List;

import retrofit2.Call;

import retrofit2.Callback;

import retrofit2.Response;

import retrofit2.Retrofit;

import retrofit2.converter.gson.GsonConverterFactory;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

private Button btnSubmit;

String responseText;

Activity activity;

ArrayList countries=new ArrayList();

private ProgressDialog progressDialog;

ListView listView;

//Base URL of our web service

public static final String BASE_URL = "https://cdn.rawgit.com";

@Override

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

activity = this;

btnSubmit = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btnSubmit);

listView = (ListView) findViewById(android.R.id.list);

btnSubmit.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

@Override

public void onClick(View v) {

countries.clear();

progressDialog = new ProgressDialog(MainActivity.this);

progressDialog.setMessage("Fetching countries data");

progressDialog.setCancelable(false);

progressDialog.show();

//Call WebService

getWebServiceResponseData();

}

});

}

protected Void getWebServiceResponseData() {

//Creating Retrofit rest adapter

Retrofit retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()

.baseUrl(BASE_URL)

.addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create())

.build();

//Creating an object of our api interface

CountryArrayAPI api = retrofit.create(CountryArrayAPI.class);

Call<List> call = api.getCountries();

call.enqueue(new Callback<List>() {

@Override

public void onResponse(Call<List> call, Response<List> response) {

try {

countries= (ArrayList)response.body();

if (progressDialog.isShowing())

progressDialog.dismiss();

// For populating list data

CustomCountryList customCountryList = new CustomCountryList(activity, countries);

listView.setAdapter(customCountryList);

listView.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {

@Override

public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int position, long l) {

Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),"You Selected "+countries.get(position).getCountryName()+ " as Country",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); }

});

} catch (Exception e) {

Log.d("onResponse", "There is an error");

e.printStackTrace();

}

@Override

public void onFailure(Call<List> call, Throwable t) {

Log.d("Failure",t.toString());

}

});

return null;

}

Step 8: Add internet permission in AndroidManifest.xml

Copy following code:


<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

Put it in AndroidManifest.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 package="com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample">

 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
 <application
 android:allowBackup="true"
 android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
 android:label="@string/app_name"
 android:supportsRtl="true"
 android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
 <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
 <intent-filter>
 <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

 <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
 </intent-filter>
 </activity>
 </application>

</manifest>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

package="com.java2blog.retrofitandroidexample">

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

<application

android:allowBackup="true"

android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"

android:label="@string/app_name"

android:supportsRtl="true"

android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

<intent-filter>

</intent-filter>

</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Done, we have added internet permission to AndroidManifest.xml. Your application must be able to access internet now.

Step 9 : Running the app

When you run the app, you will get below screen:

When you click on above button, you will get below screen.

We are done with Android Retrofit tutorial. If you are facing any issue, please comment.

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Retrofit Android Tutorial

Why to use Retrofit rather than Volley or AsyncTask.

Example :

Source code:

Step 1 :Creating Project

Step 2 : Add Retrofit and json gradle dependency

Step 3 : Creating Layout

Step 4: Creating layout for Row

Step 5 : Creating model object Country :

Step 6: Creating BaseAdapter for ListView

Step 7 : Creating interface for making HTTP call using Retrofit.

Step 8 : Creating MainActivity

Step 8: Add internet permission in AndroidManifest.xml

Put it in AndroidManifest.xml

Step 9 : Running the app

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Why to use Retrofit rather than Volley or AsyncTask.

Example :

Source code:

Step 1 :Creating Project

Step 2 : Add Retrofit and json gradle dependency

Step 3 : Creating Layout

Step 4: Creating layout for Row

Step 5 : Creating model object Country :

Step 6: Creating BaseAdapter for ListView

Step 7 : Creating interface for making HTTP call using Retrofit.

Step 8 : Creating MainActivity

Step 8: Add internet permission in AndroidManifest.xml

Put it in AndroidManifest.xml

Step 9 : Running the app

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