How to Extract Data from JSON Array in Android using Retrofit Library?

08 Dec, 2021
In the previous article on JSON Parsing in Android using Retrofit Library, we have seen how we can get the data from JSON Object in our android app and display that JSON Object in our app. In this article, we will take a look at How to extract data from JSON Array and display that in our app.  
Note: To extract Data from JSON Array in Android using Volley Library please refer to How to Extract Data from JSON Array in Android using Volley Library?
JSON Array: JSON Array is a set or called a collection of data that holds multiple JSON Objects with similar sort of data. JSON Array can be easily identified with “[” braces opening and “]” braces closing. A JSON array is having multiple JSON objects which are having similar data. And each JSON object is having data stored in the form of key and value pair.  
We will be building a simple application in which we will be displaying a list of CardView in which we will display some courses which are available on Geeks for Geeks. A sample video is given below to get an idea about what we are going to do in this article. Note that we are going to implement this project using the Java language.  
Below is our JSON array from which we will be displaying the data in our Android App.  
[
   {
      "courseName":"Fork CPP",
      "courseimg":"https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/img-practice/banner/fork-cpp-thumbnail.png",
      "courseMode":"Online Batch",
      "courseTracks":"6 Tracks"
   },
   {
      "courseName":"Linux & Shell Scripting Foundation",
      "courseimg":"https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/img-practice/banner/linux-shell-scripting-thumbnail.png",
      "courseMode":"Online Batch",
      "courseTracks":"8 Tracks"
   },
   {
      "courseName":"11 Weeks Workshop on Data Structures and Algorithms",
      "courseimg":"https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/img-practice/banner/Workshop-DSA-thumbnail.png",
      "courseMode":"Online Batch",
      "courseTracks":"47 Tracks"
   },
   {
      "courseName":"Data Structures and Algorithms",
      "courseimg":"https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/img-practice/banner/dsa-self-paced-thumbnail.png",
      "courseMode":"Online Batch",
      "courseTracks":"24 Tracks"
   }
]
Step 1: Create a New Project
To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. Note that select Java as the programming language.
Step 2: Add the below dependency in your build.gradle file
Below is the dependency for Volley which we will be using to get the data from API. For adding this dependency navigate to the app > Gradle Scripts > build.gradle(app) and add the below dependency in the dependencies section. We have used the Picasso dependency for image loading from the URL.    
// below dependency for using retrofit.
implementation ‘com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.9.0’
implementation ‘com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.5.0’
// below dependency for using picasso image loading library
implementation ‘com.squareup.picasso:picasso:2.71828’
After adding this dependency sync your project and now move towards the AndroidManifest.xml part.  
Step 3: Adding permissions to the internet in the AndroidManifest.xml file
Navigate to the app > AndroidManifest.xml and add the below code to it. 
XML
<!--permissions for INTERNET--><uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
Step 4: Working with the activity_main.xml file
Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file. 
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"    android:layout_gravity="center"    android:gravity="center"    android:orientation="vertical"    tools:context=".MainActivity">     <!--progress bar for loading indicator-->    <ProgressBar        android:id="@+id/idPBLoading"        android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:layout_centerInParent="true" />         <!--creating a recycler view for displaying        our list of courses-->    <androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView        android:id="@+id/idRVCourse"        android:layout_width="match_parent"        android:layout_height="match_parent" />     </RelativeLayout>
 Step 5: Creating a modal class for storing our data
Navigate to the app > java > your app’s package name > Right-click on it > New > Java class and name it as RecyclerData and add the below code to it. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.
Java
public class RecyclerData {    // string variables for our data    // make sure that the variable name    // must be similar to that of key value    // which we are getting from our json file.    private String courseName;    private String courseimg;    private String courseMode;    private String courseTracks;     public String getCourseName() {        return courseName;    }     public void setCourseName(String courseName) {        this.courseName = courseName;    }     public String getCourseimg() {        return courseimg;    }     public void setCourseimg(String courseimg) {        this.courseimg = courseimg;    }     public String getCourseMode() {        return courseMode;    }     public void setCourseMode(String courseMode) {        this.courseMode = courseMode;    }     public String getCourseTracks() {        return courseTracks;    }     public void setCourseTracks(String courseTracks) {        this.courseTracks = courseTracks;    }     public RecyclerData(String courseName, String courseimg, String courseMode, String courseTracks) {        this.courseName = courseName;        this.courseimg = courseimg;        this.courseMode = courseMode;        this.courseTracks = courseTracks;    }}
 Step 6: Creating a layout file for each item of our RecyclerView
Navigate to the app > res > layout > Right-click on it > New > layout resource file and give the file name as card_layout and add the below code to it. 
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><androidx.cardview.widget.CardView    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"    android:layout_width="match_parent"    android:layout_height="wrap_content"    android:layout_margin="8dp"    android:elevation="8dp"    app:cardCornerRadius="8dp">     <LinearLayout        android:layout_width="match_parent"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:orientation="vertical">         <!--image view to display our course image-->        <ImageView            android:id="@+id/idIVCourse"            android:layout_width="match_parent"            android:layout_height="300dp"            android:layout_margin="5dp" />         <!--text view for our course name-->        <TextView            android:id="@+id/idTVCourseName"            android:layout_width="match_parent"            android:layout_height="wrap_content"            android:layout_margin="5dp"            android:padding="5dp"            android:text="Course Name "            android:textColor="@color/black"            android:textSize="18sp"            android:textStyle="bold" />         <LinearLayout            android:layout_width="match_parent"            android:layout_height="wrap_content"            android:layout_margin="5dp"            android:orientation="horizontal"            android:weightSum="2">             <!--text view for our batch name-->            <TextView                android:id="@+id/idTVBatch"                android:layout_width="0dp"                android:layout_height="wrap_content"                android:layout_weight="1"                android:padding="5dp"                android:text="Batch"                android:textColor="@color/black" />             <!--text view to display course tracks-->            <TextView                android:id="@+id/idTVTracks"                android:layout_width="0dp"                android:layout_height="wrap_content"                android:layout_weight="1"                android:padding="5dp"                android:text="Tracks"                android:textColor="@color/black" />        </LinearLayout>         </LinearLayout>     </androidx.cardview.widget.CardView>
 Step 7: Creating an Adapter class for setting data to our RecyclerView item
For creating a new Adapter class navigate to the app > java > your app’s package name > Right-click on it > New > Java class and name it as RecyclerViewAdapter and add the below code to it. 
Java
import android.content.Context;import android.view.LayoutInflater;import android.view.View;import android.view.ViewGroup;import android.widget.ImageView;import android.widget.TextView; import androidx.annotation.NonNull;import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView; import com.squareup.picasso.Picasso; import java.util.ArrayList; public class RecyclerViewAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerViewAdapter.RecyclerViewHolder> {     // creating a variable for our array list and context.    private ArrayList<RecyclerData> courseDataArrayList;    private Context mcontext;     // creating a constructor class.    public RecyclerViewAdapter(ArrayList<RecyclerData> recyclerDataArrayList, Context mcontext) {        this.courseDataArrayList = recyclerDataArrayList;        this.mcontext = mcontext;    }     @NonNull    @Override    public RecyclerViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(@NonNull ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {        // Inflate Layout        View view = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.card_layout, parent, false);        return new RecyclerViewHolder(view);    }     @Override    public void onBindViewHolder(@NonNull RecyclerViewHolder holder, int position) {        // Set the data to textview from our modal class.        RecyclerData modal = courseDataArrayList.get(position);        holder.courseNameTV.setText(modal.getCourseName());        holder.courseTracksTV.setText(modal.getCourseTracks());        holder.courseModeTV.setText(modal.getCourseMode());        Picasso.get().load(modal.getCourseimg()).into(holder.courseIV);    }     @Override    public int getItemCount() {        // this method returns the size of recyclerview        return courseDataArrayList.size();    }     // View Holder Class to handle Recycler View.    public class RecyclerViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {        // creating variables for our views.        private TextView courseNameTV, courseModeTV, courseTracksTV;        private ImageView courseIV;         public RecyclerViewHolder(@NonNull View itemView) {            super(itemView);            // initializing our views with their ids.            courseNameTV = itemView.findViewById(R.id.idTVCourseName);            courseModeTV = itemView.findViewById(R.id.idTVBatch);            courseTracksTV = itemView.findViewById(R.id.idTVTracks);            courseIV = itemView.findViewById(R.id.idIVCourse);        }    }}
 Step 8: Creating an interface class for writing our API calls
Navigate to the app > java > your app’s package name > Right-click on it > New > Java class select it as Interface and name the file as RetrofitAPI and add below code to it. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.
Java
import java.util.ArrayList; import retrofit2.Call;import retrofit2.http.GET; public interface RetrofitAPI {     // as we are making get request so we are displaying    // GET as annotation.    // and inside we are passing last parameter for our url.    @GET("WO6S")         // as we are calling data from array so we are calling    // it with array list and naming that method as getAllCourses();    Call<ArrayList<RecyclerData>> getAllCourses();}
 Step 9: Working with the MainActivity.java file
Go to the MainActivity.java file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.java file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.
Java
import android.os.Bundle;import android.view.View;import android.widget.ProgressBar;import android.widget.Toast; import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;import androidx.recyclerview.widget.LinearLayoutManager;import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView; import java.util.ArrayList; import retrofit2.Call;import retrofit2.Callback;import retrofit2.Response;import retrofit2.Retrofit;import retrofit2.converter.gson.GsonConverterFactory; public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {         // creating a variable for recycler view,    // array list and adapter class.    private RecyclerView courseRV;    private ArrayList<RecyclerData> recyclerDataArrayList;    private RecyclerViewAdapter recyclerViewAdapter;    private ProgressBar progressBar;     @Override    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);                // initializing our variables.        courseRV = findViewById(R.id.idRVCourse);        progressBar = findViewById(R.id.idPBLoading);                // creating new array list.        recyclerDataArrayList = new ArrayList<>();                 // calling a method to        // get all the courses.        getAllCourses();    }     private void getAllCourses() {        // on below line we are creating a retrofit        // builder and passing our base url        Retrofit retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()                .baseUrl("https://jsonkeeper.com/b/")                // on below line we are calling add                // Converter factory as Gson converter factory.                .addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create())                // at last we are building our retrofit builder.                .build();        // below line is to create an instance for our retrofit api class.        RetrofitAPI retrofitAPI = retrofit.create(RetrofitAPI.class);                // on below line we are calling a method to get all the courses from API.        Call<ArrayList<RecyclerData>> call = retrofitAPI.getAllCourses();         // on below line we are calling method to enqueue and calling        // all the data from array list.        call.enqueue(new Callback<ArrayList<RecyclerData>>() {            @Override            public void onResponse(Call<ArrayList<RecyclerData>> call, Response<ArrayList<RecyclerData>> response) {                // inside on response method we are checking                // if the response is success or not.                if (response.isSuccessful()) {                                         // on successful we are hiding our progressbar.                    progressBar.setVisibility(View.GONE);                                        // below line is to add our data from api to our array list.                    recyclerDataArrayList = response.body();                                         // below line we are running a loop to add data to our adapter class.                    for (int i = 0; i < recyclerDataArrayList.size(); i++) {                        recyclerViewAdapter = new RecyclerViewAdapter(recyclerDataArrayList, MainActivity.this);                                                 // below line is to set layout manager for our recycler view.                        LinearLayoutManager manager = new LinearLayoutManager(MainActivity.this);                                                 // setting layout manager for our recycler view.                        courseRV.setLayoutManager(manager);                                                // below line is to set adapter to our recycler view.                        courseRV.setAdapter(recyclerViewAdapter);                    }                }            }             @Override            public void onFailure(Call<ArrayList<RecyclerData>> call, Throwable t) {                // in the method of on failure we are displaying a                // toast message for fail to get data.                Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "Fail to get data", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();            }        });    }}
Now run your app and see the output of the app. 
 
kalrap615
android
Technical Scripter 2020
Android
Java
Technical Scripter
Java
Android
Writing code in comment?
Please use ide.geeksforgeeks.org,
generate link and share the link here.