Android Action Bar SearchView as Autocomplete?

Question

I am using a SearchView in the Action Bar. I want to use autocomplete feature on the search view to get results from the database.

Is this possible? Or do I need to

Answer 1

Here's an alternative method using CursorAdapter:

ExampleActivity.java

private Menu menu;

@Override
@TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {

    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.example, menu);

    this.menu = menu;

    if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {

        SearchManager manager = (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);

        SearchView search = (SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.search).getActionView();

        search.setSearchableInfo(manager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));

        search.setOnQueryTextListener(new OnQueryTextListener() { 

            @Override 
            public boolean onQueryTextChange(String query) {

                loadHistory(query);

                return true; 

            } 

        });

    }

    return true;

}

// History
@TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
private void loadHistory(String query) {

    if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {

        Cursor cursor = db.rawQuery("SELECT * FROM items", null); // Example database query

        SearchManager manager = (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);

        final SearchView search = (SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.search).getActionView();

        search.setSearchableInfo(manager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));

        search.setSuggestionsAdapter(new ExampleAdapter(this, cursor, items));

    }

}

Now you need to create an adapter extended from CursorAdapter:

ExampleAdapter.java

public class ExampleAdapter extends CursorAdapter {

    private List items;

    private TextView text;

    public ExampleAdapter(Context context, Cursor cursor, List items) {

        super(context, cursor, false);

        this.items = items;

    }

    @Override
    public void bindView(View view, Context context, Cursor cursor) {

        text.setText(cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndex("text"))); // Example column index

    }

    @Override
    public View newView(Context context, Cursor cursor, ViewGroup parent) {

        LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) context.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);

        View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.item, parent, false);

        text = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.text);

        return view;

    }

}

Please note: when you import CursorAdapter don't import the Android support version, import the standard android.widget.CursorAdapter instead.

The adapter will also require a custom layout:

res/layout/item.xml

You can now customize list items by adding additional text or image views to the layout and populating them with data in the adapter. Now you need a SearchView menu item:

res/menu/example.xml

Then create a searchable configuration:

res/xml/searchable.xml

Finally add this inside the relevant activity tag in the manifest file:

AndroidManifest.xml

Please note: The @string/search string used in the examples should be defined in values/strings.xml, also don't forget to update the reference to com.example for your project.

Here's the original tutorial for reference:

http://tpbapp.com/android-development/android-action-bar-searchview-tutorial