EditText not showing a keyboard [closed]

Question

I have a FragmentActivity which loads a RelativeLayout with a ListView above an EditText and a Button. I cannot seem to get the keyboard to show up in any method. When I touch it or set focus to it, nothing happens. When I automatically request focus, nothing happens. How do I get the keyboard to show up? Isn't this supposed to be automatic? I'd like to simulate GTALK's chat input.

activity_contact_chat.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:id="@+id/contact_detail_container" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:descendantFocusability="blocksDescendants" android:orientation="horizontal" >      <Button         android:id="@+id/details_record_button"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"         android:layout_alignParentRight="true"         android:layout_alignTop="@+id/chat_message_input"         android:text="Send" />     <EditText        android:id="@+id/chat_message_input"        android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"        android:layout_toLeftOf="@+id/details_record_button"        android:ems="10"        android:gravity="top|left"        android:hint="@string/message_hint"        android:lines="1"        android:maxLines="10"        android:paddingRight="10dp"        android:paddingTop="10dp"        android:scrollbars="vertical" >      </EditText>      <ListView         android:id="@+id/messages_list"         android:layout_width="match_parent"         android:layout_height="match_parent"         android:layout_above="@+id/chat_message_input"         android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"         android:layout_alignParentTop="true"         android:background="#000000" >      </ListView>  </RelativeLayout> 

ContactChatFragment:

import android.database.Cursor; import android.net.Uri; import android.os.Bundle; import android.support.v4.app.Fragment; import android.support.v4.app.LoaderManager; import android.support.v4.content.CursorLoader; import android.support.v4.content.Loader; import android.view.LayoutInflater; import android.view.View; import android.view.View.OnClickListener; import android.view.ViewGroup; import android.widget.Button; import android.widget.EditText; import android.widget.ListView; import android.widget.TextView; import android.widget.Toast;  public class ContactChatFragment extends Fragment implements LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks<Cursor>{      ListView messageList;     Long contact_id;     String contact_UUID, contact_name;      private static final int CONTACT_CHAT_LOADER = 0x11;     MessageListAdapter adapter;      private static final String STATE_ACTIVATED_POSITION = "activated_position";     private int mActivatedPosition = ListView.INVALID_POSITION;      public static final String EXTRA_CONTACTID = "item_id";     String contact_rowID;     @Override     public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstances) {         super.onCreate(savedInstances);          if (getArguments().containsKey(EXTRA_CONTACTID)) {             contact_rowID = getArguments().getString(EXTRA_CONTACTID);             //Let's get the contact             String projection[] = { DBHelper.CONTACTS_ROWID, DBHelper.CONTACTS_UUID, DBHelper.CONTACTS_NAME, DBHelper.CONTACTS_PUBLIC_KEY };             Cursor contactCursor = getActivity().getContentResolver().query(Uri.withAppendedPath(ContactProvider.CONTENT_URI, String.valueOf(contact_rowID)),projection, null, null, null);             if (contactCursor.moveToFirst()) {                 contact_id = contactCursor.getLong(contactCursor.getColumnIndex(DBHelper.CONTACTS_ROWID));                 contact_UUID = contactCursor.getString(contactCursor.getColumnIndex(DBHelper.CONTACTS_UUID));                 contact_name = contactCursor.getString(contactCursor.getColumnIndex(DBHelper.CONTACTS_NAME));             }         }          adapter = new MessageListAdapter(getActivity(), null, 0);     }      @Override     public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {         View rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.activity_contact_chat, container, false);         messageList = (ListView) rootView.findViewById(R.id.messages_list);          messageList.setAdapter(adapter);         getLoaderManager().initLoader(CONTACT_CHAT_LOADER, null, this);          /*         TextView empty = new TextView(getActivity());         empty = (TextView) messageList.getEmptyView();         empty.setText(R.string.chat_no_messages);         empty.setVisibility(View.GONE);         ((ViewGroup) messageList.getParent()).addView(empty);                messageList.setEmptyView(empty);         */          EditText message_input_text = (EditText) rootView.findViewById(R.id.chat_message_input);         message_input_text.clearFocus();          Button message_input_button = (Button) rootView.findViewById(R.id.details_record_button);         message_input_button.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {             public void onClick(View v) {                 Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hi!",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();             }         });          return rootView;     }      @Override     public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {         super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);         if (mActivatedPosition != ListView.INVALID_POSITION) {             // Serialize and persist the activated item position.             outState.putInt(STATE_ACTIVATED_POSITION, mActivatedPosition);         }     }      @Override     public Loader<Cursor> onCreateLoader(int id, Bundle args) {         String[] projection = {DBHelper.MESSAGES_ROWID, DBHelper.MESSAGES_CONTENT, DBHelper.MESSAGES_CONTENT_LOCATION, DBHelper.MESSAGES_LOCATION, DBHelper.MESSAGES_READ_DATE, DBHelper.MESSAGES_UUID_FROM, DBHelper.MESSAGES_UUID_TO};         CursorLoader cursorLoader = new CursorLoader(getActivity(), MessageProvider.CONTENT_URI, projection, null, null, null);         return cursorLoader;     }     @Override     public void onLoadFinished(Loader<Cursor> loader, Cursor cursor) {         adapter.swapCursor(cursor);     }     @Override     public void onLoaderReset(Loader<Cursor> loader) {         adapter.swapCursor(null);     }  } 

Answer 1

Just remove

android:descendantFocusability="blocksDescendants"  

in main RelativeLayout. You will get the focus in the Edittext.BlockDescendants will prevent the child layouts from getting focus. Check http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/ViewGroup.html#attr_android:descendantFocusability

Answer 2

You can use either of the methods to show the soft keyboard when the Activity gets focus,

You can add folowing code to the EditText in the Layout xml,

android:focusable="true" android:focusableInTouchMode="true" 

Also, you can set it in the code as,

getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_VISIBLE); 

or,

 InputMethodManager im = (InputMethodManager)getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);  im.showSoftInput(edittext, 0);