Refreshing visible ExpandableListView items has some extra steps and concerns. A quick glance at ExpandableListView’s source shows that relatively few inherited methods are overridden. Instead, ExpandableListConnector does the heavy lifting for ExpandableListView’s extra functionality.

If you’re like me, you’ve encountered situations where calling notifyDataSetChanged() on your adapter doesn’t seem to do anything. Certainly, something is happening, but that doesn’t seem to always cause your ListView or ExpandableListView to redraw on screen to reflect changes to your underlying dataset. Once again, trusty StackOverflow reveals that there’s some controversy surrounding this issue.

If you’re working with Android, chances are you’ve run in to issues with ListView, ExpandableListView or their parent, AbsListView. I’m not ashamed to admit spending more than a couple evenings staring angrily at misbehaving lists and adapters. It’s almost a right of passage for new Android devs.