how to get the text of a edit text when after pressing a key

Question

I want to search a ListView when user types a text in a EditText. after pressing a key I need to get the typed part of text to begin the search. so is there any method I can use?? simple help is highly appreciated.

Answer 1

If you're using an ArrayAdapter to populate your ListView, then do it like this:

   edittext.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) {

            yourAdapter.getFilter().filter(s);
    }

    @Override
    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {

    }
});

Add a TextWatch to your EditText and user the filter in your adapter to show the results that match. To highlight the matched result , you may want to use SpannableString for "prettyfying" it.

From ArrayAdapter.getFilter():

Returns a filter that can be used to constrain data with a filtering pattern.

This method is usually implemented by Adapter classes.

Answer 2

you can implement TextWatcher in your activity that a look at:

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/text/TextWatcher.html

Answer 3

Let's say you have a view xml

<EditText
  android:id="@+id/search"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:inputType="text"
  android:imeOptions="actionSend" />

Your code in the controller will be

  final EditText searchField = (ListView)result.findViewById(R.id.search);;
  searchField.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) {
          //do search is the method where you will delegate the search process.
          doSearch(searchField.getText().toString());
      }
  });

Answer 4

You have to set a TextWatcher to your edittext

edittext.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 newText = s.toString();
        }
    });