Using Android AutoCompleteTextView with ArrayAdapter<Objects> instead of ArrayAdapter<Strings>

Question

I wanted to use AutoCompleteTextView in my android application.I know how to use it with simple array of Strings, but I wanted AutoCompleteTextView to use list of Objects to perform completion.My code for this is following:

ACTIVITY CODE

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {         // TODO Auto-generated method stub         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);         setContentView(R.layout.search);          initialize();         ArrayAdapter<Student> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<Student>(this,                 R.layout.dropdown_list_item, GetAllStudentsList());          searchBox.setAdapter(adapter);         searchBox.setThreshold(THRESHOLD_VALUE);         searchBox.setTextColor(Color.BLACK); }  searchBox.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {          @Override         public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view,                 int position, long arg3) {                      //Here i will grab the Student object that user selected from drop-down          }      });  public ArrayList<Movies> GetAllStudentsList() {  //This method returns a ArrayList of <Student> type objects } 

Student class Object has information regarding a student which is ID,NAME,ADDRESS,MARKS.

I know AutoCompleteTextView needs an array of String type object to perform search operation.In my case I want AutoCompleteTextView to use my ArrayList to perform completion on the basis of Student object field NAME.I dont know how should I specify AutoCompleteTextView to use NAME field of Student object.Please help me providing any Link or a small example.

Thanks

Answer 1

Two ways:

1. Override toString() in Student class and make it return name. You can get the object that was selected with the following code:

    public static class Student {      private String name;          public Student(String name) {             this.name = name;         }          @Override         public String toString() {             return name;         }      }  AutoCompleteTextView tv = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.autoCompleteTextView1); final ArrayList<Student> list = new ArrayList<MainActivity.Student>(); list.add(new Student("Viru")); list.add(new Student("Gauti")); ArrayAdapter<Student> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<MainActivity.Student>(         this, android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, list); tv.setAdapter(adapter);  tv.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {      @Override     public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> arg0, View arg1, int arg2,             long arg3) {         Student selected = (Student) arg0.getAdapter().getItem(arg2);         Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,                 "Clicked " + arg2 + " name: " + selected.name,                 Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();     } }); 

2. Implement a custom adapter (by extending BaseAdapter class or ArrayAdapter<Student> class) Check this tutorial : http://www.ezzylearning.com/tutorial.aspx?tid=1763429