I have a custom list adapter:

class ResultsListAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<RecordItem> {

in the overridden 'getView' method I do a print to check what position is and whether it is a convertView or not:

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        System.out.println("getView " + position + " " + convertView);

The output of this (when the list is first displayed, no user input as yet)

04-11 16:24:05.860: INFO/System.out(681): getView 0 null  
04-11 16:24:29.020: INFO/System.out(681): getView 1 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43d415d8  
04-11 16:25:48.070: INFO/System.out(681): getView 2 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43d415d8  
04-11 16:25:49.110: INFO/System.out(681): getView 3 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43d415d8  
04-11 16:25:49.710: INFO/System.out(681): getView 0 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43d415d8  
04-11 16:25:50.251: INFO/System.out(681): getView 1 null  
04-11 16:26:01.300: INFO/System.out(681): getView 2 null  
04-11 16:26:02.020: INFO/System.out(681): getView 3 null  
04-11 16:28:28.091: INFO/System.out(681): getView 0 null  
04-11 16:37:46.180: INFO/System.out(681): getView 1 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43cff8f0  
04-11 16:37:47.091: INFO/System.out(681): getView 2 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43cff8f0  
04-11 16:37:47.730: INFO/System.out(681): getView 3 android.widget.RelativeLayout@43cff8f0  

AFAIK, though I couldn't find it stated explicitly, getView() is only called for visible rows. Since my app starts with four visible rows at least the position numbers cycling from 0-3 makes sense. But the rest is a mess:

• Why is getview called for each row four times?
• Where are these convertViews coming from when I haven't scrolled yet?

I did a bit of reseach, and without getting a good answer, I did notice that people were associating this issue with layout issues. So in case, here's the layout that contains the list:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <TextView android:id="@+id/pageDetails"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <ListView android:id="@+id/list"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:drawSelectorOnTop="false" />

</LinearLayout>

and the layout of each individual row:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="108dp"    
android:padding="4dp">

<ImageView
    android:id="@+id/thumb"        
    android:layout_width="120dp"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"        
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
    android:layout_marginRight="8dp"        
    android:src="@drawable/loading" />

<TextView  
    android:id="@+id/price"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="18dp"         
    android:layout_toRightOf="@id/thumb"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"       
    android:singleLine="true" />

<TextView  
    android:id="@+id/date"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="18dp"         
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true" 
    android:paddingRight="4dp"       
    android:singleLine="true" />

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/title"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:textSize="17dp" 
    android:layout_toRightOf="@id/thumb"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:paddingRight="4dp"   
    android:layout_alignWithParentIfMissing="true"
    android:gravity="center" />

Thank you for your time