How to text filter an Android ListView backed by a

Question

I have a ListView that is backed by a SimpleCursorAdapter.

I'd like to be able to filter the list like you would a contacts list, just by typing, and I came across the textFilterEnabled()

Problem is, I couldn't see how to get it to work with a SimpleCursorAdapter.

Is this even possible?
If so, how is it done?

Answer 1

The setTextFilterEnabled() method doesn't automatically implement filtering, as it doesn't know what in your Cursor the text should be filtered against.

This android-developers thread has more details.

Actually, there was a good question asked the other day, which actually is very similar to your question; though it originally was asking how to handle filtering when there is no physical keyboard on a device:

• How to dynamically update a ListView on Android

Answer 2

For a SimpleCursorAdapter cursor, you only need to use the setFilterQueryProvider, to run another query for your cursor, based on the constraint:

m_Adapter.setFilterQueryProvider(new FilterQueryProvider() {

  public Cursor runQuery(CharSequence constraint) {
    Log.d(LOG_TAG, "runQuery constraint:"+constraint);
    //uri, projection, and sortOrder might be the same as previous
    //but you might want a new selection, based on your filter content (constraint)
    Cursor cur = managedQuery(uri, projection, selection, selectionArgs, sortOrder);
    return cur; //now your adapter will have the new filtered content
  }

});

When a constraint is added (eg. by using a TextView) the adapter must be filtered:

public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
  Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Filter:"+s);
  if (m_slvAdapter!=null) {
    m_Adapter.getFilter().filter(s);
  }
}

Hope this helps. I will try to write a complete article , with source code the next few days.

Answer 3

i found this article helpful http://androidcookbook.oreilly.com/Recipe.seam;jsessionid=CE37400B3E545937B70BE2E9F94E78BB?recipeId=404

basically, you setTextFilterEnabled(true) on your listview, and you use setStringConversionColumn() and setFilterQueryProvider() on your SimpleCursorAdapter.