Android: softkeyboard not showing up

Question

I have 2 EditTexts in the MainActivity Layout. If i run the application normally the 1st EditText gets focused but the softkeyboard is not openned.

but when i used this:

public class TestingActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        EditText et1 = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.editText1);
        EditText et2 = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.editText2);

        et2.requestFocus();
        InputMethodManager mInputMethodManager = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
        mInputMethodManager.showSoftInput(et2, InputMethodManager.SHOW_IMPLICIT);
    }
}

expecting the 2nd EditText will get focus and softkeyboard will be openned.

I only get focus, but the softkeyboard is openned only when i click on the EditText.

Thank You

Answer 1

Try specifying the android:windowSoftInputMode attribute in your AndroidManifest.xml file for your activity.

For example:

<activity android:name=".TestingActivity" android:windowSoftInputMode="stateVisible|adjustResize" />

You probably don't need any of the code that uses InputMethodManager in your Activity.

Answer 2

I notice that one reason for the keyboard not showing up is selecting an inputtype not supported by the specific Android device. For instance InputType.TYPE_NUMBER_VARIATION_NORMAL will not work on my Asus Transformer (no keyboard shows up), while InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER will work just fine.