Can you set "tab order" in XML Layout?

Question

I've got users with tablets that have a tab key on their soft keyboard. I am using a table view and have 3 EditText Fields in one row with EditText fields below the current row.

When the user hits tab it takes them to the next field below, not the next field to the right.

Is there a way in the layout to set the tab order or is it only done programatically?

If it can only be done in Java, how exactly is it done?

Thanks for the tip on NextFocusRight but it didn' seem to work (or I did something wrong)

Here is the code I used. I have to add the imeoptions to get the "next" button to show up in my emulator. Do you see anything wrong with the way I did this?

<EditText 
    android:id="@+id/bikeHHT"
    android:layout_width="50dip"
    android:layout_height="40dip"
    android:textSize="14px"
    android:maxLength="2"
    android:nextFocusLeft="@+id/bikeMMT"
    android:imeOptions="actionNext"
    android:layout_column="1"/>

<EditText 
    android:id="@+id/bikeMMT"
    android:layout_width="50dip"
    android:layout_height="40dip"
    android:textSize="14px"
    android:nextFocusRight="@+id/bikeSST"
    android:imeOptions="actionNext"
    android:maxLength="2"/>

Answer 1

Replace android:nextFocusLeft by android:nextFocusDown. The "next" soft button or the TAB key is looking for the next "down" focus and not left or right.

Answer 2

I also notice that in your reference:

android:nextFocusRight="@+id/bikeSST"

The "+" character is required if you have not yet defined that id, if perhaps the element you reference is lower in the .xml file.

Otherwise you if it's already defined above (or included) then you can omit the "+" char:

android:nextFocusRight="@id/bikeSST"

An advantage of not using the "+" when you are referencing an ID that should already exist, is that the IDE and Lint checks can detect an error case: That you are referring to an ID that in fact does not exist.

If you include the "+", then you are creating it if doesn't exist and this check cannot be performed.

Answer 3

For me android:nextFocusUp, android:nextFocusRight, android:nextFocusDown and android:nextFocusLeft were not working, but android:nextFocusForward did work.

See Supporting Keyboard Navigation, Handle Tab Navigation.