Android Textwatcher with AutoComplete Search

Last updated Oct 23, 2021

In this Android example we will create a simple Textwatcher example. This Textwatcher will display the auto suggestions for the search text entered inside EditText . Read previous example about count the Text enter inside Edittext with Textwatcher.

Let's get started

Step 1: Create Android application inside Android studio

Step 2: Design UI

Let's add below code inside xml file with EditText and TextView widgets.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/my_edittext"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
        android:hint="Type here to search Android widgets with auto suggession"
        android:inputType="text"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/myWidgets"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:textColor="#07BA0F"
        android:padding="5dp"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/my_edittext" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Step 3: Create TextWatcher instance and add it to EditText widget.

We know that TextWatcher is an interface which consist of 3 abstract methods

afterTextChanged(Editable s)
beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after)
onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count)

new TextWatcher(){
    @Override
    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start,
                                  int count, int after) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start,
                              int before, int count) {
    }

    @Override
    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
    }
}

Step 4:

Now implement our logic to show the suggession on typing in EditText

String x = "";

if (s.toString().length() == 0) {
    for(int i = 0; i < androidwidgets.length; i++){

            x = x + androidwidgets[i]
                    + System.getProperty("line.separator");

    }
    myWidgets.setText(x);
    return;
};

for(int i = 0; i < androidwidgets.length; i++){
    if (androidwidgets[i].toUpperCase()
            .contains(s.toString().toUpperCase())){
        x = x + androidwidgets[i]
                + System.getProperty("line.separator");
    }
}

myWidgets.setText(x);

Now our complete activity code will be like below

package com.rrtutors.androidgame;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.text.Editable;
import android.text.TextWatcher;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.TextView;

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    ArrayList<String>listfruits;
    EditText myEditText;
    TextView myWidgets;
    String[] androidwidgets = {"TextView", "Button", "EditText", "DatePicker",
            "TimePicker", "Alert Dialog", "SurfaceView","VideoView","ViewGroup", };
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        listfruits=new ArrayList<>();
        myWidgets = findViewById(R.id.myWidgets);
        myEditText = findViewById(R.id.my_edittext);


        myEditText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher(){
            @Override
            public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start,
                                          int count, int after) {
            }

            @Override
            public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start,
                                      int before, int count) {
            }

            @Override
            public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
                String x = "";

                if (s.toString().length() == 0) {
                    for(int i = 0; i < androidwidgets.length; i++){

                            x = x + androidwidgets[i]
                                    + System.getProperty("line.separator");

                    }
                    myWidgets.setText(x);
                    return;
                };

                for(int i = 0; i < androidwidgets.length; i++){
                    if (androidwidgets[i].toUpperCase()
                            .contains(s.toString().toUpperCase())){
                        x = x + androidwidgets[i]
                                + System.getProperty("line.separator");
                    }
                }

                myWidgets.setText(x);
            }
        });
    }
}

Step 5: Run the application

Android Auto Suggesion Search with Textwatcher

Conclusion: In this Android Textwatcher example we covered Auto Suggestion feature while search with TextWatcher.

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