Custom list item to ListView android

I have been playing with the list activity tutorial here:

http://developer.android.com/resources/tutorials/views/hello-listview.html

which tells you to start off extending List activity.

by public class Main extends ListActivity {

Which is based on inflating a textview only layout.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:padding="10dp"
    android:textSize="16sp" >
</TextView>

If I want to customize the layout more by adding images,and an extra linear layout above the list adapter etc- is it possible using this method- if so how do I do it?

It is possible by using a SimpleAdapter.

Here is an example :

    // Create the item mapping
    String[] from = new String[] { "title", "description" };
    int[] to = new int[] { R.id.title, R.id.description };

Now "title" is mapped to R.id.title, and "description" to R.id.description (defined in the XML below).

    // Add some rows
    List<HashMap<String, Object>> fillMaps = new ArrayList<HashMap<String, Object>>();

    HashMap<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
    map.put("title", "First title"); // This will be shown in R.id.title
    map.put("description", "description 1"); // And this in R.id.description
    fillMaps.add(map);

    map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
    map.put("title", "Second title");
    map.put("description", "description 2");
    fillMaps.add(map);

    SimpleAdapter adapter = new SimpleAdapter(this, fillMaps, R.layout.row, from, to);
    setListAdapter(adapter);

This is the corresponding XML layout, here named row.xml :

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical">
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/title"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/description"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceSmall" />
</LinearLayout>

I used two TextViews but it works the same with any kind of view.