Is there a way to launch voice input on the softkeyboard programatically?

Question

The idea is to take a user voice input on the press of a button and pass it to the search inside the app. Because of device limitations we are using the SearchViewCompat instead of the useful SearchView. I have been able to grab the voice output using this link, but there is not a simple way to pass the text to the search bar this way.
The search view itself shows as a view (so no setText()), but if I can just say "use mic key on keyboard" or something as soon as the searchbar comes up, I think it might work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, SGB.

Answer 1

No, it's not possible. At least, there is no simple way to launch voice input without using RecognitionListener or manually clicking the voice input button on soft keyboard.

As far as I know, this post explains how to integrate voice into an IME which actually uses this library: google-voice-typing-integration. It might inspire you a bit.