Android EditText Hint

Question

I have set a hint for an EditText, currently the hint visibility is gone. When a user starts typing, I want to remove the hint text, when the cursor is visible in the EditText, not at the time when a user starts to type. How can I do that?

<EditText 
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:background="@drawable/edittextbg"
android:layout_marginLeft="4dp"
android:layout_marginTop="7dp"
android:gravity="left"
android:id="@+id/Photo_Comments" 
android:layout_width="150dip" 
android:maxLines="1"
android:hint="Write Caption"
android:maxLength="50"
android:singleLine="true"
android:maxWidth="100dip"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

score 61 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 28 '15 at 13:58

61

You can use the concept of selector. onFocus removes the hint.

android:hint="Email"

So when TextView has focus, or has user input (i.e. not empty) the hint will not display.

edited Apr 28 '15 at 13:58

Ullas

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answered Dec 07 '10 at 06:55

Sunit Kumar Gupta

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1

This looks much appropriate option than mine! – Aman Alam Dec 07 '10 at 06:57
3

Unfortunately, it is incorrect. elements can only be used for drawables and colors; not strings. – devunwired Mar 03 '11 at 19:47
BUT has to be set from xml or resource id – Mike6679 Nov 01 '11 at 19:47
3

Can you possibly expand on this, I can't find the proper documentation for the selector tag and how to do this – Jackie Mar 11 '12 at 15:50

score 32 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 04 '13 at 18:34

32

I don't know whether a direct way of doing this is available or not, but you surely there is a workaround via code: listen for onFocus event of EditText, and as soon it gains focus, set the hint to be nothing with something like editText.setHint(""):

This may not be exactly what you have to do, but it may be something like this-

myEditText.setOnFocusListener(new OnFocusListener(){
  public void onFocus(){
    myEditText.setHint("");
  }
});

edited Nov 04 '13 at 18:34

Beryllium

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answered Dec 07 '10 at 06:56

Aman Alam

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5

This isn't necessary as the default behavior of the Hint on the EditText will disappear when it has focus and not empty. – w-ll Apr 22 '11 at 20:49
2

This is not the best approach, you can just use a selector applied to the textColorHint. Check my answer below. – aglour May 27 '15 at 09:09

score 22 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 07 '14 at 11:48

22

To complete Sunit's answer, you can use a selector, not to the text string but to the textColorHint. You must add this attribute on your editText:

android:textColorHint="@color/text_hint_selector"

And your text_hint_selector should be:

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:state_focused="true" android:color="@android:color/transparent" />
    <item android:color="@color/hint_color" />
</selector>

answered Feb 07 '14 at 11:48

aglour

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why is it @color/xxx and not @drawable/xxx? – behelit May 30 '16 at 08:25
2

@behelit textColorHint receives a color, not a drawable, so the selector must be in the color folder, not the drawable. – aglour May 30 '16 at 08:29

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 17 '16 at 13:47

2

et.setOnFocusChangeListener(new View.OnFocusChangeListener() {
        @Override
        public void onFocusChange(View v, boolean hasFocus) {

            et.setHint(temp +" Characters");
        }
    });

answered Dec 17 '16 at 13:47

David K. Lee

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Hint. a good answer is more than just a dump of code. You should at least provide some bit of explanation if you intend to be A) helpful to others B) gain reputation for your answer – GhostCat Dec 17 '16 at 13:55

Android EditText Hint

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