In this article, we will learn how to create android MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically in Kotlin. We will go through various steps that explains how to create MultiAutoCompleteTextView and add it in kotlin file, use different attributes to customise it etc. in any android application. For example, how to set text in MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically, how to set id of MultiAutoCompleteTextView, how to capitalise text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView dynamically etc. We will get answer to all such questions in this post.

Learn to use Different Attributes of MultiAutoCompleteTextView in XML File to Customize it.

Output

Tutorialwing Android Dynamic MultiAutoCompleteTextView Output

Getting Started

We can define android MultiAutoCompleteTextView widget as below –

MultiAutoCompleteTextView is an editable textView, extending AutoCompleteTextView, that can show completion suggestions for the substring of the text where the user is typing instead of necessarily for the entire thing.

Now, how do we use MultiAutoCompleteTextView in android application ?

Before we move ahead, we need to setup for viewBinding to access MultiAutoCompleteTextView in Kotlin file without using findViewById() method.

Setup ViewBinding

Add viewBinding true in app/build.gradle file.

 
 android { 
 	// OTHER CODE... 
 	buildFeatures { 
 		viewBinding true 
 	} 
 } 
 

Now, set content in activity using view binding.
Open MainActivity.kt file and write below code in it.

 
 class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() { 
 	
 	private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding 
 	
 	override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { 
 		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) 
 		binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater) 
 		val view = binding.root 
 		setContentView(view) 
 	} 
 } 
 

Now, we can access view in Kotlin file without using findViewById() method.

Since we have a new project, we will modify the xml and class file to use MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically in kotlin. Please follow the steps below.

2. Modify Values Folder

Open res/values/strings.xml file. Add below code into it.

<resources>
    <string name="app_name">DynamicMultiAutoCompleteTextView</string>
    <string name="hint">Please enter something...</string>
    <string name="entered_text">Entered text:</string>
    <string name="submit">Submit</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>

Other values folders have not been changed. So, we are not going to mention it here.

3. Modify Layout Folder

Open res/layout/activity_main.xml file. 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">

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/rootContainer"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical">

    </LinearLayout>

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnSubmit"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/submit"/>

</LinearLayout>

Note that LinearLayout has id rootContainer. In Kotlin file, we will create MultiAutoCompleteTextView Dynamically and add it into this LinearLayout having id rootContainer.

4. Create Android MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically in Kotlin

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

package com.tutorialwing.dynamicmultiautocompletetextview

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle
import android.view.View
import android.view.ViewGroup
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter
import android.widget.LinearLayout
import android.widget.MultiAutoCompleteTextView
import android.widget.Toast
import com.tutorialwing.dynamicmultiautocompletetextview.databinding.ActivityMainBinding

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

	private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding

	override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
		binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
		val view = binding.root
		setContentView(view)

		setupMultiAutoCompleteTextView()
	}

	private fun setupMultiAutoCompleteTextView() {
		// Create MultiAutoCompleteTextView Dynamically
		val multiAutoCompleteTextView = MultiAutoCompleteTextView(this)
		val layoutParams = LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
			ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
			ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
		)
		multiAutoCompleteTextView.layoutParams = layoutParams
		layoutParams.setMargins(30, 30, 30, 30)
		multiAutoCompleteTextView.setHint(R.string.hint)
		multiAutoCompleteTextView.threshold = 1
		multiAutoCompleteTextView.setTokenizer(MultiAutoCompleteTextView.CommaTokenizer())

		// Get the string array
		val countries = resources.getStringArray(R.array.countries_array)
		// Create the adapter and set it to the MultiAutoCompleteTextView
		val adapter = ArrayAdapter(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, countries)
		multiAutoCompleteTextView.setAdapter(adapter)

		binding.btnSubmit.setOnClickListener {
			val text = getString(R.string.entered_text) + " " + multiAutoCompleteTextView.text
			Toast.makeText(this@MainActivity, text, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
		}
		// Add MultiAutoCompleteTextView to LinearLayout
		binding.rootContainer.addView(multiAutoCompleteTextView)
	}
}

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

Tutorialwing Android Dynamic MultiAutoCompleteTextView Output

Now, Let’s check how to use different attributes of MultiAutoCompleteTextView to customize it dynamically –

Set Id of MultiAutoCompleteTextView

Follow steps below to set id of MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically –

• Create ids.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code into it –

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>
      <item type="id" name="multiAutoCompleteTextView_ID" />
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set id of MultiAutoCompleteTextView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  multiAutoCompleteTextView.id = R.id.multiAutoCompleteTextView_ID  // MultiAutoCompleteTextView
  

  Here, we have set id of MultiAutoCompleteTextView using property access syntax – multiAutoCompleteTextView.id

Learn to Set ID of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Width and Height of MultiAutoCompleteTextView

We use layoutParams to set width and height of any View programmatically. In this article, we have added MultiAutoCompleteTextView in LinearLayout. So, we will define LayoutParams as below –

multiAutoCompleteTextView.layoutParams = LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
	ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
	ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
)

Here, we have set width and height as WRAP_CONTENT. Some of possible values for width and height are –

• WRAP_CONTENT: Sets value of width or height depending on text inside it.
• MATCH_PARENT: Sets value of width of height depending on width or height of parent layout . i.e. width or height of MultiAutoCompleteTextView will be same as width or height of parent layout.
• Fixed Value: Sets width or height as per value provided.

Learn to Set Width or Height of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Padding of MultiAutoCompleteTextView

Follow steps below to set padding of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Dynamically –

• If there is no dimens.xml file, create dimens.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code in it –

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>
      <dimen name="text_padding">16dp</dimen>
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set padding of MultiAutoCompleteTextView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  val padding = resources.getDimension(R.dimen.text_padding).toInt()
  multiAutoCompleteTextView.setPadding(padding, padding, padding, padding)
  

  Here, we have accessed dimension defined in dimens.xml using getDimension() method. Then, set padding of MultiAutoCompleteTextView using setPadding() method.

Learn to Set Padding of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Margin of MultiAutoCompleteTextView

Follow steps below to set margin of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Dynamically –

• If there is no dimens.xml file, create dimens.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code in it –

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>
      <dimen name="text_margin">16dp</dimen>
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set margin of MultiAutoCompleteTextView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  val margin = resources.getDimension(R.dimen.text_margin).toInt()
  val layoutParams = LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
  	ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
  	ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
  )
  layoutParams.setMargins(margin, margin, margin, margin)
  multiAutoCompleteTextView.layoutParams = layoutParams
  

  Here, we have accessed dimension defined in dimens.xml using getDimension() method. Then, we have defined layoutParams, set margin to layoutParams. After that, set layoutParams to MultiAutoCompleteTextView.

Learn to Set Margin of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Background of MultiAutoCompleteTextView

Follow steps below to set background of MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically –

• If there is no colors.xml file, create colors.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code in it –

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>
      <color name="purple_200">#FFBB86FC</color>
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set background of MultiAutoCompleteTextView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  val color = ContextCompat.getColor(this, R.color.purple_200)
  multiAutoCompleteTextView.setBackgroundColor(color)
  

  Here, we used setBackgroundColor() method to set background color in multiAutoCompleteTextView.

Learn to Set Background of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Visibility of MultiAutoCompleteTextView

We can set visibility of MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically as –

multiAutoCompleteTextView.visibility = View.VISIBLE

Here, we have set visibility of MultiAutoCompleteTextView using multiAutoCompleteTextView.visibility attribute. Visibility can be of three types – gone, visible and invisible.
Learn to Set Visibility of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView

Follow steps below to set text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically –

• If there is no strings.xml file, create strings.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code in it –

  <resources>
      <string name="click_on_me">Click on me</string>
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  multiAutoCompleteTextView.text = getString(R.string.click_on_me)
  

  Here, we used multiAutoCompleteTextView.text to set text in multiAutoCompleteTextView.

Learn to Set Text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Color of Text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView

Follow steps below to set color of text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically in Kotlin –

• If there is no colors.xml file, create colors.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code in it –

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>
      <color name="black">#FF000000</color>
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set color of text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  val textColor = ContextCompat.getColor(this, R.color.black)
  multiAutoCompleteTextView.setTextColor(textColor)
  

  Here, we used setTextColor() method to set color of MultiAutoCompleteTextView of multiAutoCompleteTextView.

Learn to Set Color of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Gravity of MultiAutoCompleteTextView

We can set gravity of text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically in Kotlin as –

multiAutoCompleteTextView.gravity = Gravity.CENTER

Here, we have set gravity of MultiAutoCompleteTextView as center. So, all the text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView will be center aligned.
We can also apply multiple gravity values as –

multiAutoCompleteTextView.gravity = Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL or Gravity.BOTTOM

Here, we have applied multiple gravity values, in Kotlin, to MultiAutoCompleteTextView. In above case, text will be aligned as horizontally centered to bottom.
Learn to Set Margin of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Text in Uppercase or Lowercase

Follow steps below to set text in uppercase or lowercase programmatically as –

• Set Text in Uppercase

  We use multiAutoCompleteTextView.isAllCaps attributes to set text in uppercase or normal. If it is true, text will be set in uppercase.

  multiAutoCompleteTextView.text = "Hello Tutorialwing"
  multiAutoCompleteTextView.isAllCaps = true
  

  In Above case, “Hello Tutorialwing” will be set in Uppercase to MultiAutoCompleteTextView. So, text will be “HELLO TUTORIALWING”.

• By default, isAllCaps is false. So, whatever is written, text will be set as it is. For example,

  multiAutoCompleteTextView.text = "Hello Tutorialwing"
  multiAutoCompleteTextView.isAllCaps = false. // By default it is false. Written here for example.
  

  Above code will set text, “Hello Tutorialwing”, to MultiAutoCompleteTextView without changing it to Uppercase.

  Actually, if isAllCaps is false, text is set as it is. It neither changes to uppercase nor lowercase.

  How do we set text in lowercase?

  Answer –

  • In xml file – write all the text in lowercase.
  • In kotlin file – take text as string. Then, convert it in lowercase. Then, set it to multiAutoCompleteTextView.

Learn to Set Text in Uppercase or Lowercase Using XML Attribute

Set Size of Text in MultiAutoCompleteTextView

Follow steps below to set size of MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically using multiAutoCompleteTextView.textSize attribute –

• Open res/values/dimens.xml file. Then, add below font-size in it –

  <dimen name="text_size">16sp</dimen>
  

• Now, using multiAutoCompleteTextView.textSize attribute, we can set size of text dynamically as –

  multiAutoCompleteTextView.textSize = resources.getDimension(R.dimen.text_margin)
  

Learn to Set Size of Text in MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Style (Bold/italic) of Text in MultiAutoCompleteTextView

We can set textStyle of MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically as –

multiAutoCompleteTextView.typeface = Typeface.DEFAULT_BOLD;

In above case, we have set textStyle as bold. So, text of MultiAutoCompleteTextView will be displayed as bold letters.

If we want to preserve previous textStyle too, we can do it as –

multiAutoCompleteTextView.setTypeface(multiAutoCompleteTextView.typeface, Typeface.BOLD);

Learn to Set Typeface of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

Set Letter Spacing of Text in MultiAutoCompleteTextView

Follow steps below to set letter spacing of MultiAutoCompleteTextView programmatically –

• Open res/values/dimens.xml file. Then, add below dimension in it –

  <dimen name="text_letter_spacing">1dp</dimen>
  

• We use multiAutoCompleteTextView.letterSpacing attribute to set letter spacing of MultiAutoCompleteTextView as below –

  multiAutoCompleteTextView.letterSpacing = resources.getDimension(R.dimen.text_letter_spacing)
  

Learn to Set Letter Spacing of MultiAutoCompleteTextView Using XML Attribute

That’s end of tutorial on MultiAutoCompleteTextView Programmatically in Kotlin With Example.