Hello Readers! In this post, we are going to learn about android MultiAutoCompleteTextView. We will also go through different attributes of android MultiAutocompleteTextView.

Output

Tutorialwing Android Multi AutoCompletetextview Output

Getting Started

MultiAutoCompleteTextview can be defined as below –

Android MultiAutoCompleteTextview is an extension of the AutoCompleteTextview that can show suggestions as a list in the dropdown while the user is typing in it. As the name suggests, we can select multiple suggestions from the dropdown. The selected suggestion will be appended to the text already entered in the MultiAutoCompleteTextview.

But, in the AutoCompleteTextView, scenario was little bit different. In AutoCompleteTextview, the selected suggestion replaces the whole text in the view.

Attributes of Android MultiAutoCompleteTextview Widget

Some of the popular attributes of MultiAutoCompleteTextview are –

Some of the popular attributes of MultiAutoCompleteTextView inherited from TextView are –

Some of the popular attributes of MultiAutoCompleteTextview inherited from View are –

Example of Android MultiAutoCompleteTextview Widget

At first, we will create an android application. Then, we will use MultiAutoCompleteTextview widget into this application.

1. Creating New Project

Follow the steps below to create new project. Please ignore the steps if you have already created a new application.

Now, we will modify xml and java file to use MultiAutoCompleteTextview widget in it.

2. Modify Values folder

Open res/values/strings.xml file. Then, add below code into it.

<resources>
	<string name="app_name">MultiAutoCompleteTextView</string>

	<string-array name="countries_array">
		<item>India</item>
		<item>Albania</item>
		<item>Algeria</item>
		<item>American Samoa</item>
		<item>Andorra</item>
		<item>Angola</item>
		<item>Anguilla</item>
		<item>Antarctica</item>
	</string-array>

</resources>

Note that we have defined an array in strings.xml file. This array will be used to show suggestions as list in the dropdown of the widget.

3. Use MultiAutoCompleteTextView Widget in xml file

Open res/layout/activity_main.xml file. Then, add below code into it.

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

	<MultiAutoCompleteTextView
		android:id="@+id/multiAutoCompleteTextView"
		android:layout_width="match_parent"
		android:layout_height="wrap_content"
		android:hint="Please enter something..."
		android:layout_margin="20dp"/>

	<Button
		android:id="@+id/button"
		android:layout_width="wrap_content"
		android:layout_height="wrap_content"
		android:text="Submit"/>

</LinearLayout>

In activity_main.xml file, we have used MultiAutoCompleteTextView and Button widgets. Now, we will access this widget in java file to perform some action on it.

4. Access MultiAutoCompleteTextView Widget in java file

Open src/main/java/com.tutorialwing.multiautocompletetextview/MainActivity.java file. Then, add below code into it.

package com.tutorialwing.multiautocompletetextview;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.MultiAutoCompleteTextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

	@Override
	protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
		setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

		final MultiAutoCompleteTextView multiAutoCompleteTextView = findViewById(R.id.multiAutoCompleteTextView);
		// Get the string array
		String[] countries = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.countries_array);
		// Create the adapter and set it to the MultiAutoCompleteTextView
		ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<>(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, countries);
		multiAutoCompleteTextView.setAdapter(adapter);

		multiAutoCompleteTextView.setThreshold(1);
		multiAutoCompleteTextView.setTokenizer(new MultiAutoCompleteTextView.CommaTokenizer());

		Button button = findViewById(R.id.button);
		if (button != null) {
			button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
				@Override
				public void onClick(View v) {
					String text = "Entered text:" + " " + multiAutoCompleteTextView.getText();
					Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, text, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
				}
			});
		}
	}
}

In MainActivity.java file, we have accessed MultiAutoCompleteTextView. Then, we have set an adapter that contains list of countries. Data in the adapter is shown as a list in the dropdown of multiAutocompleteTextview while user is typing in the view. Also, we have provided MultiAutoCompleteTextView.Tokenizer to distinguish between different text entered by the user. You must provide MultiAutoCompleteTextView.Tokenizer in this view. setThresold method is responsible to set character count after which suggestions will be shown to the user while user is typing in the view.

At last, we set click listener on the button that displays entered text in the MultiAutoCompleteTextview widget.

Since AndroidManifest.xml file is very important in any android application, we are also going to see the content inside this file.

AndroidManifest.xml

Code inside src/main/AndroidManifest.xml file is as below –

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest package="com.tutorialwing.multiautocompletetextview"
		  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

	<application
		android:allowBackup="true"
		android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
		android:label="@string/app_name"
		android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
		android:supportsRtl="true"
		android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
		<activity android:name=".MainActivity">
			<intent-filter>
				<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>

				<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
			</intent-filter>
		</activity>
	</application>

</manifest>

When you run the application, you will get output as shown above.

That’s end of tutorial on Android MultiAutoCompleteTextview widget.