CS401

AutoCompleteTextView View

--see (Books/Android/Source Code/BasicViews3)

AutoCompleteTextView is like EditText but, addes the feature of autocompletion (adding a list of completion suggestions automatically while user types)

Create instance of AutoCompleteTextView:

in below example the instance created using XML declaration and then grab handle to it in code called textView

AutoCompleteTextView textView = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewByID(R.id.txtCountries);  //id parameter of xml is R.id.txtCountries

Create ArrayAdapter for Auto Completion: create an instance of ArrayAdapter using a String Array containing some Strings (in this example they are hardcoded but, you could read from file, database)
```
ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, android.R.layout.simpe_dropdown_items_1line, presidents);
 	          
```

Set the adapter for teh AutoCompleteTextView to the ArrayAdapter of string

myAutoCompleteTextView.setAdapter(adapter);

EXAMPLE
- Note: setup so will not do autocomplete until user types 3 characters.

main.xml ( activities defined GUI in xml) autocomplete in action

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 	        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 	        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
 	        android:orientation="vertical" >

<TextView
 	        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 	        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 	        android:text="Name of President" />

<AutoCompleteTextView android:id="@+id/txtCountries"
 	        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 	        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

</LinearLayout>

BasicViews3Activity.java

package net.learn2develop.BasicViews3;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.AutoCompleteTextView;

public class BasicViews3Activity extends Activity {
   String[] presidents = {   "Dwight D. Eisenhower",   "John F. Kennedy",   "Lyndon B. Johnson",
      "Richard Nixon",   "Gerald Ford",   "Jimmy Carter",   "Ronald Reagan",   "George H. W. Bush",
      "Bill Clinton",   "George W. Bush",   "Barack Obama" 	        };

  /** Called when the activity is first created. */
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 	            super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
 	            setContentView(R.layout.main);
   
                 //setup ArrayAdapter  
                 ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, presidents);



                 //grab handle to XML specified AutoCompleteTextView

                 AutoCompleteTextView textView = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.txtCountries);

                //user must type in 3 characters before autocomplete operation can start
                 textView.setThreshold(3);

                 //this setsup the ArrayAdapter to be used in AutoCompleteTextView
                 textView.setAdapter(adapter);
    }
}