Develop Reference

EditText setSelection clearing text then re-entering

I have been having issues with some odd behaviours from the EditText .setSelection that I am hoping you can all help with!
The app I am working on has a search field and there is the need to have it behave very similar to a browser search bar. For example, if the user types "fo", we would want the EditText to autocomplete to "foobar" with the autocompleted "obar" text highlighted so it can be easily replaced by the user incase the autocomplete does not match what the user was intending to type.
To accomplish this, I have an EditText field with a TextWatcher setup to try to autocomplete the text afterTextChanged. The following is my code:
editText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {
int lastCount = 0;
#Override
public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence charSequence, int i, int i1, int i2) {
}
#Override
public void onTextChanged(CharSequence charSequence, int start, int before, int count) {
}
#Override
public void afterTextChanged(Editable editable) {
editText.removeTextChangedListener(this);
String searchString = editable.toString();
if (editable.length() > lastCount) {
lastCount = editable.length();
int oldLength = searchString.length();
String autoFillResult = completeAutofill(searchString);
if (!autoFillResult.equals("")) {
searchString = autoFillResult;
editable.clear();
editable.append(autoFillResult);
editText.setSelection(oldLength, autoFillResult.length());
}
} else lastCount = editable.length();
editText.addTextChangedListener(this);
}
});
My issue is as follows. Using the previous "Foobar" case:
The user types "F", the EditText autofills "oobar" and highlights it.
Then the user types the first "o"
The EditText field is momentarily cleared (i.e. afterTextChanged receives an Editable with the empty string)
The EditText correctly autofills to user supplied "Fo" followed by autocompleted "obar" which is highlighted.
The issue is the EditText is being cleared then repopulated when the user types the next character, which creates a noticeable disturbance in the EditText field. Interestingly, I have singled out the editText.setSelection(oldLength, autoFillResult.length()); as the culprit (i.e. commenting out the line gets rid of the issue, but obviously its the wrong functionality).
After completing some Google research and my own debugging I am still unsure why this is happening. The issue does not appear excessively common as I could not find it on Google and I could not figure out the reason for this issue in my own experimentation.
Thank you in advance!

the if condition should possibly be:
autoFillResult != null && !autoFillResult.equals("")
while you might be looking for (or attempting to recreate) an AutoCompleteTextView.

Try removing editable.clear();

android - EditText length filter not working as it should

First I have to say I have read similar questions and answers here on SO and this question is basically a duplicate of this question and many others but the answers given to those questions doesn't work like the way i want it.
The problem:
Setting length filter on my EditText programmatically like this:
editText.setFilters(new InputFilter[]{new LengthFilter(10)} );
The only thing it does is hide the text that go over the limit in the EditText. It still shows the long (unlimited) text in suggestion box and i have to delete (backspace) for each letter that go over before being able to delete what is shown in the EditText.
Suggested Solutions:
Setting InputType to textFilter.
Programmatically I did this:
editText.setInputType( InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_FILTER );
It hides suggestions but the unlimited text is still present and i still have to use backspace to delete letters that shouldn't be present.
Setting InputType to textNoSuggestions|textVisiblePassword.
Programmatically I did this (had to add TYPE_CLASS_TEXT too otherwise it wouldn't work):
editText.setInputType( InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_NO_SUGGESTIONS | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_VISIBLE_PASSWORD );
This one does work but the problem is it stops "gesture typing" and it changes the font to monospace.
Better Solutions?
As you can see these two methods don't actually work without additional problems. Is there any other way of doing this that I missed. Should I just use a TextWatcher if I want to keep gesture typing and suggestions?

I ended up using a TextWatcher instead. I'm not sure if it is the best way to do this but it does work with suggestions and it doesn't turn off gesture typing or change the font style. Here's how I did it (I'm quite new to android so if this needs improvement feel free to let me know).
I added an example in the comments to clarify what is going on.
Make these global variables:
private boolean mWatcherIsBlocked = false;
private String mBeforeChange;
private String mFilteredString;
private int mCursorPosition = 0;
Then create the TextWatcher and add it to your EditText
final int maxLength = 10; // desired length limit
/**
* lets say our EditText is showing "abcdefgh". We select "cdef" from it and
* paste a new text "ijklmnop" in the middle. What we should get according to
* our maxLength is this:
* (1) "ab" (0th up to the letter from before_change_text we were selecting) +
* (2) "ijklmn" (part of the text we pasted minus the number of letters the whole
* after_change_text goes over the 10 letter limit) +
* (3) "gh" (last part of before_change_text that wasn't selected)
*
* so the new text has to be "abijkmngh"
*/
TextWatcher textWatcher = new TextWatcher() {
#Override
public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
// get before_change_text if textWatcher isn't blocked
if (!mWatcherIsBlocked) mBeforeChange = s.toString();
}
#Override
public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
if (!mWatcherIsBlocked){
// get after_change_text if textWatcher isn't blocked
String after = s.toString();
// if after_change_text's length is bigger than the limit
if (after.length() > maxLength) {
// see how much it goes over the limit
int over = after.length() - maxLength;
// add parts (1) and (2) like our example above
String st = mBeforeChange.substring(0, start) + // (1)
after.substring(start, start + count - over); // (2)
// get where the cursor position should be after pasting (
// = after the last letter we could paste = length of (1) + (2) )
mCursorPosition = st.length();
// now add part (3) of our text to the first two
st += mBeforeChange.substring(
mBeforeChange.length() - (maxLength - st.length()),
mBeforeChange.length());
// now assign this new text to a global variable
mFilteredString = st;
} else {
// if after_change_text hasn't gone over the limit assign it
// directly to our global variable
mFilteredString = s.toString();
}
}
}
#Override
public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
// if filtered text is not the same as unfiltered text
// or textWatcher is not blocked
if (!mFilteredString.equals(s.toString()) && !mWatcherIsBlocked) {
// block textWatcher to avoid infinite loops created by setText
// (this might not work as I well as I think!)
mWatcherIsBlocked = true;
// set new text to our EditText
editText.setText(mFilteredString);
// set its cursor position
editText.setSelection(mCursorPosition);
// unblock the textWatcher
mWatcherIsBlocked = false;
}
}
};
// add the TextWatcher to our EditText
editText.addTextChangedListener(textWatcher);

How to set text of a TextView using EditText? [duplicate]

This question already has an answer here:
automatically update my activity to show which was written
(1 answer)
Closed 8 years ago.
Using a text field, how would I set the text of a TextView while constantly updating the text? For example: The user begins to type information into the text field, this changes some text in in the activity they're in, however, the user does not need to manually update the text, instead the text automatically refreshes.
I have tried doing this myself and searched for other dilemmas, yet nothing appears to work. Additionally, I'm working with fragments that could possibly cause the problem. The code is below, partitioned into areas, before onCreateView(), in onCreateView() and after onCreateView().
Before onCreateView():
// Edit Text
EditText exerciseOneTitle;
// String value, contains value of exerciseOneTitle
String value;
// titleOne, what I want to the user to be able to change
TextView titleOne;
During onCreateView():
// Edit text
exerciseOneTitle = (EditText) rootView.findViewById(R.id.exercise_text);
// Get Edit Text value
value = exerciseOneTitle.getText().toString();
// Set title so there is always an initial value
titleOne.setText(R.string.exercise_one);
// Checks if edit text is focused
exerciseOneTitle.setOnFocusChangeListener(new OnFocusChangeListener() {
public void onFocusChange(View v, boolean hasFocus) {
// While edit text is focused, update titleOne via refresh()
while (hasFocus == true) {
refresh();
}
}
});
After onCreateView():
// Get the updated "value" and set it as titleOne text
// Additionaly, will be using it in other situations
public void refresh() {
value = exerciseOneTitle.getText().toString();
titleOne.setText(value);
}
Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks!

You can use TextWatcher.. See the link
According to the docs
onTextChanged() is called to notify you that, within s, the count
characters beginning at start have just replaced old text that had
length before. It is an error to attempt to make changes to s from
this callback.
Try this..
tv = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.charCounts);
textMessage = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.textMessage);
textMessage.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher(){
public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
tv.setText(textMessage.getText().toString());
}
public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after){}
public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count){}
});

Android TextWatcher Replace Underscores While Typing

Intro:
I am currently trying to implement an input method for an EditText for my Crossword Puzzle where the user sees something like "____" in the EditText. The underscores mark missing letters, the first char entered will fill the first underscore.
Of course other cells in the puzzle might be solved already, so the EditText text could be "ST_CKOV_RF_OW". I had all this functionality already in my own input view, a subclass of view with an overridden onDraw(). This worked pretty well, except that the view won't appear on some lower Android versions and the Back key slipped through my input routine and wasn't accessible.
So I thought I'd do it with EditText, implement a TextWatcher and be fine, but I can't get it to work properly. What I have right now is working, I can use the keyboard to enter letters, but again the Backspace isn't working, and of course if the user touches into the EditText the position gets messed up.
public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s,int start,int count, int after){
et.removeTextChangedListener(textWatcher);
int position = text.indexOf("_");
if(position==-1) onAnswerEntered(et.getText().toString().replace("_", "")); //finished
else {
et.setSelection(et.getText().toString().indexOf("_"));
et.addTextChangedListener(textWatcher);
}
}
public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
et.removeTextChangedListener(textWatcher);
try {
String currentKey = s.toString().substring(start, start+1);
Logger.log("Current Key", currentKey);
int position = text.indexOf("_");
Logger.log("Current Position _ ", position+"");
//replace _ with key
String sbefore=text.substring(0, position);
String safter=text.substring(position+1, text.length());
text=sbefore+currentKey+safter;
int positionNext = text.indexOf("_");
Logger.log("Next Position _ ", positionNext+"");
if(positionNext==-1) onAnswerEntered(et.getText().toString().replace("_","")); //finished
else {
et.setText(text);
et.setSelection(et.getText().toString().indexOf("_"));
et.addTextChangedListener(textWatcher);
}
} catch(IndexOutOfBoundsException ioobe) {
ioobe.printStackTrace();
}
}
I also tried to set an OnKeyListener, but it won't work on EditText (I can get backspace event, nothing else)
So maybe I am totally on the wrong track, but please help me and give me a clue to how I can accomplish my goal. Thanks.

I gave up on it and implemented a simple but working kind of hack. I receive input in my (hidden) EditText now, the output goes to the visible TextView, a function in between fills the "_" with the input from the EditText.
Ex.
hint = "A_A_A_A"
edittext input = "BBB"
textview shows "ABABABA"

Permanent hint in EditText

I have a situation where I would like the user to complete a sentence for me. For example, consider a EditText with a hint of "The last time I ". Normally, when a user clicks an EditText, the hint disappears, but I would like it to stay. Additionally, I would like the text to be permanent, so that it cannot be erased... leaving the user with only one option... complete the sentence.
The first part is fairly simple, just use the setText() method of EditText to place the hint. The difficult part is the latter. How can I have text in an EditText that the user cannot erase?

Well couldn't you do it in code? Some algorithim like, if the text is less than 16 characters (length of "The last time I ") then set the text to that. Therefore whenever they clicked it, if they tried to erase it, it would just go back to the default text.
Also, another idea..why don't you just make a TextView thats right edge aligns with the left edge of the EditText box, the user would never know that it was another box. This is acutally the best solution, if you don't want the text ever to be edited, just make it a TextView

Described problem can be solved using android.text.TextWatcher.
public class CompleteSentenceWathcher implements TextWatcher {
private final String initialText;
private int start;
private int after;
private int count;
public CompleteSentenceWathcher(String initialText) {
this.initialText = initialText;
}
#Override
public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
this.start = start;
this.count = count;
this.after = after;
}
#Override
public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
}
#Override
public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
if(start < initialText.length()) {
if(s.toString().startsWith(initialText)) {
return;
}
if(count >= 1 && after == 0) {
if(start+count+1 <= initialText.length()) {
s.replace(start, start+count, initialText.substring(start, start+count+1));
} else {
s.replace(start, start, initialText.substring(start, start+1));
}
} else if(count == 0 && after >= 1) {
s.delete(start, start+after);
}
}
}
}
Create an instance of EditText and add the TextWatcher.
EditText editText = new EditText(this);
editText.setText("I love");
editText.addTextChangedListener(new CompleteSentenceWathcher(editText.getText().toString()));

I've implemented this with an InputFilter, where _PERMANENT_HINT_TEXT is the text at the end of the EditText that I don't want the user to be able to modify. I recommend adding a color span to it, so that it is grayed out to hopefully look like a hint/disabled section of text. This should hopefully improve the UX as they should automatically assume it is unmodifiable, and not just wonder why some part of the EditText (that they usually can completely change) isn't "working". This approach allowed the text to be set after
the InputFilter was set on the EditText, which was a requirement for me since I used this on an EditTextPreference.
To be clear, I needed the permanent text to exist at the end of the EditText, instead of the beginning, but that should be symmetrical to my implementation.
new InputFilter() {
#Override
public CharSequence filter(CharSequence source, int source_start, int source_end,
Spanned destination, int destination_start, int destination_end) {
final int protected_text_start = (TextUtils.isEmpty(destination)? source.length() : destination.length()) - _PERMANENT_HINT_TEXT.length();
// Allows input into unprotected region
if (source_start + destination_start - source_end < protected_text_start)
return null;
// Prevents deletion of protected region
else if (TextUtils.isEmpty(source))
return destination.subSequence(destination_start, destination_end);
// Ignores insertion into protected region
else
return "";
}
}
use EditText.setFilters(new InputFilters[] { /* InputFilter goes here */ }; to add it to the desired EditText.

Just checking for the length wouldn't be adequate... I could type "This is a really long text I put into the box" and it would accept it even though it doesn't begin with "The last time I" string.
Personally, I would probably go for the prevention method suggested of using a TextView over that of a check on the way out. But if you're going to validate it afterwards, you'd actually need to check the beginning of the returned string.