Multiline EditText with Done SoftInput Action Labe

Question

Is there a way to have a Multi-Line EditText present and use the IME Action Label "Done" on Android 2.3?

In Android 2.2 this is not a problem, the enter button shows the IME Action Label "Done" (android:imeActionLabel="actionDone"), and dismisses Soft Input when clicked.

When configuring an EditText for multi-line, Android 2.3 removes the ability to show the "Done" action for the Soft Input keyboard.

I have managed to alter the behaviour of the Soft Input enter button by using a KeyListener, however the enter button still looks like an enter key.

---

Here is the declaration of the EditText

<EditText
        android:id="@+id/Comment"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
        android:layout_marginBottom="0dp"
        android:lines="3"
        android:maxLines="3"
        android:minLines="3"
        android:maxLength="60"
        android:scrollHorizontally="false"
        android:hint="hint"
        android:gravity="top|left"
        android:textColor="#888"
        android:textSize="14dp"
        />
<!-- android:inputType="text" will kill the multiline on 2.3! -->
<!-- android:imeOptions="actionDone" switches to a "t9" like soft input -->

When I check the inputType value after loading setting the content view in the activity, it shows up as:

inputType = 0x20001

Which is:

• class = TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_NORMAL
• flags = InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_MULTI_LINE

Answer 1

Use these attribute in your XML.

android:inputType="textImeMultiLine"

android:imeOptions="actionDone"

Answer 2

Well, after re-reading the TextView and EditorInfo docs, it has become clear that the platform is going to force IME_FLAG_NO_ENTER_ACTION for multi-line text views.

Note that TextView will automatically set this flag for you on multi-line text views.

My solution is to subclass EditText and adjust the IME options after letting the platform configure them:

@Override
public InputConnection onCreateInputConnection(EditorInfo outAttrs) {
    InputConnection connection = super.onCreateInputConnection(outAttrs);
    int imeActions = outAttrs.imeOptions&EditorInfo.IME_MASK_ACTION;
    if ((imeActions&EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE) != 0) {
        // clear the existing action
        outAttrs.imeOptions ^= imeActions;
        // set the DONE action
        outAttrs.imeOptions |= EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE;
    }
    if ((outAttrs.imeOptions&EditorInfo.IME_FLAG_NO_ENTER_ACTION) != 0) {
        outAttrs.imeOptions &= ~EditorInfo.IME_FLAG_NO_ENTER_ACTION;
    }
    return connection;
}

In the above, I'm forcing IME_ACTION_DONE too, even though that can be achieved through tedious layout configuration.

Answer 3

An alternative solution to subclassing the EditText class is to configure your EditText instance with this:

editText.setHorizontallyScrolling(false);
editText.setMaxLines(Integer.MAX_VALUE);

At least, this works for me on Android 4.0. It configures the EditText instance so that the user edits a single-line string that is displayed with soft-wrapping on multiple lines, even if an IME action is set.

Answer 4

Following previous answer

public class MultiLineText extends EditText {

    public MultiLineText(Context context) {
        super(context);
    }

    public MultiLineText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);

    }

    public MultiLineText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);

    }

    @Override
    public InputConnection onCreateInputConnection(EditorInfo outAttrs) {
        InputConnection connection = super.onCreateInputConnection(outAttrs);
        int imeActions = outAttrs.imeOptions&EditorInfo.IME_MASK_ACTION;
        if ((imeActions&EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE) != 0) {
            // clear the existing action
            outAttrs.imeOptions ^= imeActions;
            // set the DONE action
            outAttrs.imeOptions |= EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE;
        }
        if ((outAttrs.imeOptions&EditorInfo.IME_FLAG_NO_ENTER_ACTION) != 0) {
            outAttrs.imeOptions &= ~EditorInfo.IME_FLAG_NO_ENTER_ACTION;
        }
        return connection;
    }
}

Use this like

<myapp.commun.MultiLineText
  android:id="@+id/textNotes"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:minHeight="100dp"
  android:layout_width="wrap_content"
  android:hint="Notes"
  android:textSize="20sp"
  android:padding="7dp"
  android:maxLines="4"/> 

Answer 5

Apparently the answer to the original question is Yes but I believe the Android team are trying to make developers think a little bit about how they use the multi-line EditText. They want the enter key to add newlines and probably expect that you provide a button or another input means to raise the event that you are done editing.

I have the same issue and my obvious solution was simply to add a done button and let the enter button add the newlines.

Answer 6

Ohhorob's answer is basically correct, but his code is really really redundant! It is basically equivalent to this much simpler version (full code for lazy readers):

package com.example.views;

import android.content.Context;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.inputmethod.EditorInfo;
import android.view.inputmethod.InputConnection;
import android.widget.EditText;

// An EditText that lets you use actions ("Done", "Go", etc.) on multi-line edits.
public class ActionEditText extends EditText
{
    public ActionEditText(Context context)
    {
        super(context);
    }

    public ActionEditText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs)
    {
        super(context, attrs);
    }

    public ActionEditText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle)
    {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
    }

    @Override
    public InputConnection onCreateInputConnection(EditorInfo outAttrs)
    {
        InputConnection conn = super.onCreateInputConnection(outAttrs);
        outAttrs.imeOptions &= ~EditorInfo.IME_FLAG_NO_ENTER_ACTION;
        return conn;
    }
}

Note that some inputType options such as textShortMessage make this not work! I suggest you start with inputType="text". Here is how you could use it in your XML.

<com.example.views.ActionEditText
    android:id=...
    android:layout_stuff=...
    android:imeOptions="actionDone"
    android:inputType="textAutoCorrect|textCapSentences|textMultiLine"
    android:maxLines="3" />