The screen with the temperature spinner is an edit screen which is filled
at run time with the data the user entered in a previous session. The data
will eventually come from a cursor/sqlite database, but for now as I work
on the ui, I am simulating the app with sample data using string arrays and
simple array adapters. I have some helper methods in a static class that
provided the data in the form of arrays to the app (ie as a  standin for
the db backend until the db is stable). I guess I can wait to solve this
problem when I get to the cursor/sqlite integration phase, and just change
my sample data to hold the index instead of the actual string value.

The heart of my question is if there is another way to search the
arrayadapter for formatted strings.

Thanks,

Mark