Android AutoCompleteTextView with Custom Adapter filtering not working

Question

I've the Custom CustomerAdapter

public class CustomerAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<Customer> {
    private final String MY_DEBUG_TAG = "CustomerAdapter";
    private ArrayList<Customer> items;
    private int viewResourceId;

    public CustomerAdapter(Context context, int viewResourceId, ArrayList<Customer> items) {
        super(context, viewResourceId, items);
        this.items = items;
        this.viewResourceId = viewResourceId;
    }

    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        View v = convertView;
        if (v == null) {
            LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getContext().getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
            v = vi.inflate(viewResourceId, null);
        }
        Customer customer = items.get(position);
        if (customer != null) {
            TextView customerNameLabel = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.customerNameLabel);
            if (customerNameLabel != null) {
                customerNameLabel.setText(String.valueOf(customer.getName()));
            }
        }
        return v;
    }
}

and customer_auto layout

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/customerNameLabel"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:padding="10dp" android:textSize="16sp" 
    android:textColor="#000">
</TextView>

and on my public void onCreate

AutoCompleteTextView customerAutoComplete = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.autocomplete_customer);
CustomerAdapter customerAdapter = new CustomerAdapter(this, R.layout.customer_auto, customerList);
customerAutoComplete.setAdapter(customerAdapter);

and Customer.java

public class Customer implements Parcelable {

    private int id;
    private String name = "";

    public Customer() {
        // TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
    }

    /**
     * This will be used only by the MyCreator
     * 
     * @param source
     */
    public Customer(Parcel source) {
        /*
         * Reconstruct from the Parcel
         */
        id = source.readInt();
        name = source.readString();
    }

    public void setId(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getId() {
        return this.id;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return this.name;
    }

    @Override
    public int describeContents() {
        return 0;
    }

    @Override
    public void writeToParcel(Parcel dest, int flags) {
        dest.writeInt(id);
        dest.writeString(name);
    }

    public static final Parcelable.Creator CREATOR = new Parcelable.Creator() {

        @Override
        public Customer createFromParcel(Parcel source) {
            return new Customer(source);
        }

        @Override
        public Customer[] newArray(int size) {
            return new Customer[size];
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        }

    };

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return this.name;
    }

}

But the auto suggest box does not filter correctly. for eg; if i type an in the test box customers starting with br are showing up!

Answer 1

I have to over-ride the getFilter() method of the Adapter

Here is the code which worked for me, thanks to sacoskun

public class CustomerAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<Customer> {
    private final String MY_DEBUG_TAG = "CustomerAdapter";
    private ArrayList<Customer> items;
    private ArrayList<Customer> itemsAll;
    private ArrayList<Customer> suggestions;
    private int viewResourceId;

    public CustomerAdapter(Context context, int viewResourceId, ArrayList<Customer> items) {
        super(context, viewResourceId, items);
        this.items = items;
        this.itemsAll = (ArrayList<Customer>) items.clone();
        this.suggestions = new ArrayList<Customer>();
        this.viewResourceId = viewResourceId;
    }

    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        View v = convertView;
        if (v == null) {
            LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getContext().getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
            v = vi.inflate(viewResourceId, null);
        }
        Customer customer = items.get(position);
        if (customer != null) {
            TextView customerNameLabel = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.customerNameLabel);
            if (customerNameLabel != null) {
//              Log.i(MY_DEBUG_TAG, "getView Customer Name:"+customer.getName());
                customerNameLabel.setText(customer.getName());
            }
        }
        return v;
    }

    @Override
    public Filter getFilter() {
        return nameFilter;
    }

    Filter nameFilter = new Filter() {
        @Override
        public String convertResultToString(Object resultValue) {
            String str = ((Customer)(resultValue)).getName(); 
            return str;
        }
        @Override
        protected FilterResults performFiltering(CharSequence constraint) {
            if(constraint != null) {
                suggestions.clear();
                for (Customer customer : itemsAll) {
                    if(customer.getName().toLowerCase().startsWith(constraint.toString().toLowerCase())){
                        suggestions.add(customer);
                    }
                }
                FilterResults filterResults = new FilterResults();
                filterResults.values = suggestions;
                filterResults.count = suggestions.size();
                return filterResults;
            } else {
                return new FilterResults();
            }
        }
        @Override
        protected void publishResults(CharSequence constraint, FilterResults results) {
            ArrayList<Customer> filteredList = (ArrayList<Customer>) results.values;
            if(results != null && results.count > 0) {
                clear();
                for (Customer c : filteredList) {
                    add(c);
                }
                notifyDataSetChanged();
            }
        }
    };

}

Answer 2

This is my solution. I feel like it's a bit cleaner (doesn't use 3 separate, confusing ArrayLists) than the accepted one, and has more options. It should work even if the user types backspace, because it doesn't remove the original entries from mCustomers (unlike the accepted answer):

public class CustomerAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<Customer> {
    private LayoutInflater layoutInflater;
    List<Customer> mCustomers;

    private Filter mFilter = new Filter() {
        @Override
        public String convertResultToString(Object resultValue) {
            return ((Customer)resultValue).getName();
        }

        @Override
        protected FilterResults performFiltering(CharSequence constraint) {
            FilterResults results = new FilterResults();

            if (constraint != null) {
                ArrayList<Customer> suggestions = new ArrayList<Customer>();
                for (Customer customer : mCustomers) {
                    // Note: change the "contains" to "startsWith" if you only want starting matches
                    if (customer.getName().toLowerCase().contains(constraint.toString().toLowerCase())) {
                        suggestions.add(customer);
                    }
                }

                results.values = suggestions;
                results.count = suggestions.size();
            }

            return results;
        }

        @Override
        protected void publishResults(CharSequence constraint, FilterResults results) {
            clear();
            if (results != null && results.count > 0) {
                // we have filtered results
                addAll((ArrayList<Customer>) results.values);
            } else {
                // no filter, add entire original list back in
                addAll(mCustomers);
            }
            notifyDataSetChanged();
        }
    };

    public CustomerAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId, List<Customer> customers) {
        super(context, textViewResourceId, customers);
        // copy all the customers into a master list
        mCustomers = new ArrayList<Customer>(customers.size());
        mCustomers.addAll(customers);
        layoutInflater = (LayoutInflater) getContext().getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        View view = convertView;

        if (view == null) {
            view = layoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.customerNameLabel, null);
        }

        Customer customer = getItem(position);

        TextView name = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.customerNameLabel);
        name.setText(customer.getName());

        return view;
    }

    @Override
    public Filter getFilter() {
        return mFilter;
    }
}

Answer 3

Instead of overriding getFilter() method in adapter, simply we can override the toString() of the userDefined object (Customer). In toString() just return the field based on what you need to filter. It worked for me.

In my example I'm filtering based on names:

public class Customer{
    private int id;
    private String name;

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return this.name;
    }
}