SearchView in one activity, results in another one

Question

My use case is the following: in activity A, I have an action bar with a collapsible SearchView. When the user gives her query and presses the 'search' button, I would like to show activity B with the results. I'm failing to do so, here is my code:

searchable.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<searchable xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
            android:hint="@string/action_search_hint"
            android:label="@string/app_name"/>

Activity A:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);

    SearchManager searchManager = (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);
    SearchView searchView = (SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.action_search).getActionView();
    searchView.setSearchableInfo(searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));

    return true;
}

AndroidManifest for Activity A and B:

    <activity
        android:name=".ActivityA">

        <intent-filter>

            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>

        </intent-filter>

    </activity>

    <activity android:name=".ActivityB">

        <intent-filter>

            <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH"/>

        </intent-filter>

        <meta-data
            android:name="android.app.searchable"
            android:resource="@xml/searchable"/>

    </activity>

Howerver, no matter what I try, getSearchableInfo in A always returns null.

I have the feeling I'm not understanding something. The only way I can make getSearchableInfo() return not null is when I put the SEARCH intent filter and the searchable meta-data into activity A in the manifest. But then, when I press the 'search' button, another instance of activity A is started again on top of the current one, which definitely is not what I want. I guess I could add singleTop to A and handle the SEARCH action in onNewIntent and start B, but I generally don't want A to be singleTop, I want the default. Or do I?

I tried adding this to A in the manifest (as suggested in some other threads):

    <meta-data
        android:name="android.app.default_searchable"
        android:value=".ActivityB" >
    </meta-data>

What am I doing wrong?

EDIT: I replaced the 'getComponentName()' line in A with the following:

searchView.setSearchableInfo(searchManager.getSearchableInfo(new ComponentName(this, ActivityB.class)));

and it seems to work the way I want! Am I doing something wrong here, or is this the correct way? I'm a bit uncertain because it is not mentioned anywhere!

Answer 1

According to Android documentations, SearchManager.getSearchableInfo(componentName) takes one argument, which is:

componentName: The activity to get searchable information for

In your case you need ActivityB, so constructing a ComponentName that points to ActivityB is the correct way

new ComponentName(this, ActivityB.class)