SimpleAdapter

The corresponding SimpleAdapter maps an element from list of objects to this view.

SimpleAdapter(
Context context,
List<? extends Map<String, ?>> data,
int resource,
String[] from,
int[] to)

SimpleAdapter notes = new SimpleAdapter(
this,
list,
R.layout.main_item_two_line_row,
new String[] { "line1","line2" },
new int[] { R.id.text1, R.id.text2 } );

Now this is not a trivial line of code. What it says is:

• "list" is a reference to an object implementing the List interface. Each element in this list is an object implementing the Map interface. In our implementation example, the list is ArrayList and the elements in this list are HashMaps.
• The layout describing one row in the main list is defined in layout/main_item_two_line_row.xml file.
• In each individual HashMap, there are two key-value pairs. The keys are "line1" and "line2", the corresponding values are arbitrary objects whose toString() method yields the value displayed in the list row. In our case, the values are Strings.
• Values stored with key "line1" will be displayed in the TextView whose id is "text1". Similarly, "line2" Map key is associated with "text2" TextView.

http://mylifewithandroid.blogspot.com/2008/03/my-first-meeting-with-simpleadapter.html