Is it possible to use something other than a listview as sliding drawer in drawerlayout

This will work if you move both the android:id="@+id/left_drawer" (or create a new id) and set the gravity.

The id move (or new one) is so the reference is correct so you call closeDrawer() on it and not the child views.

But most importantly, the DrawerLayout requires that element to have a android:layout_gravity set on it, as you mentioned.

Finally, you need to call close closeDrawer() on the base view, the one with the required gravity.

Example:

<android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/drawer_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@android:color/white">

    <FrameLayout
        android:id="@+id/content_frame"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />

    <LinearLayout 
        android:id="@+id/left_drawer"
        android:layout_width="320dp"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_gravity="start"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <ImageView 
            android:id="@+id/ivwLogo"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:src="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16738595/@drawable/video_icon" />

        <ListView 
            android:id="@+id/left_drawer_child"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:choiceMode="singleChoice"
            android:divider="@android:color/transparent"
            android:dividerHeight="0dp"
            android:background="@android:color/white" />

    </LinearLayout>
</android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout>

In code:

DrawerLayout mDrawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout)
LinearLayout mDrawerLinear = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.left_drawer);
ListView mDrawerListChild = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.left_drawer_child);

...

mDrawer.closeDrawer(mDrawerLinear);

(This is basically what @Karakuri posted, but with a more complete explanation and example.)