Text watcher in Android

Question

I have a program where i have an editText . I want to implement TextWatcher to reflect the changes in the total edittext. I want to show the alert dialog when editbox reach the max character limit 10. When i implement Text watcher it works but it show two alert box when it reach 10 character. here is my code

private TextWatcher mTextEditorWatcher = new TextWatcher() {
    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count,
            int after) {
    }

    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before,
            int count) {
        // This sets a textview to the current length
        // mTextView.setText(String.valueOf(s.length()));

    }

    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
        if (s.length() == 10) {
            messageBody.setImeOptions(EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE);
            AlertDialog.Builder alert = new AlertDialog.Builder(
                    SendSms.this);

            alert.setMessage("You Cross the limit of 10 Words !");
            alert.setPositiveButton("OK",
                    new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,
                                int whichButton) {

                        }
                    });

            alert.show();

        }

    }
};

Answer 1

This is common behavior of this method. You need to handle using flag.

Use this code

   private TextWatcher mTextEditorWatcher = new TextWatcher() {
        boolean flag = false; 

    @Override
    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
    }

    @Override
    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count,
            int after) {
    }

    @Override
    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
        if (s.length() == 10) {
            if (!flag) {
                messageBody.setImeOptions(EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE);
                AlertDialog.Builder alert = new AlertDialog.Builder(
                        SendSms.this);

                alert.setMessage("You Cross the limit of 10 Words !");
                alert.setPositiveButton("OK",
                        new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                            public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,
                                    int whichButton) {

                            }
                        });

                alert.show();
            }
            flag = true; 
        } else {
            flag = false; 
        }

    }
});

---

Other references

TextWatcher events are being fired multiple times

Events of TextWatcher are being called twice

---

Better is to use setError. Read how to use it.

Answer 2

 AlertDialog.Builder alertDialogBuilder = new AlertDialog.Builder(
             SendSms.this);
     AlertDialog alertDialog ;

 private TextWatcher mTextEditorWatcher = new TextWatcher() {
        public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count,
                int after) {
        }

        public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before,
                int count) {
            // This sets a textview to the current length
            // mTextView.setText(String.valueOf(s.length()));

      if (s.length() >= 10) {
                messageBody.setImeOptions(EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE);
                        alertDialogBuilder.setMessage("You Cross the limit of 10 Words !");
         alertDialogBuilder.setPositiveButton("OK",
                 new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                     public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,
                             int whichButton) {

                     }
                 });

         alertDialog = alertDialogBuilder.create();
         if(alertDialog != null  && !alertDialog.isShowing()){
             alertDialog.show();
         }



            }
    else
    {
       mTextView.setText(String.valueOf(s.length()));
    }



        }

        public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {


        }
    };

I have editted the code . Globally declare alert Dialog and check whether alertDialog is already shown and then display the alert

Answer 3

Try this..

have you tried in onTextChanged

private TextWatcher mTextEditorWatcher = new TextWatcher() {
    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count,
            int after) {
    }

    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before,
            int count) {
        // This sets a textview to the current length
        // mTextView.setText(String.valueOf(s.length()));


        if (s.length() == 10) {
            messageBody.setImeOptions(EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE);
            AlertDialog.Builder alert = new AlertDialog.Builder(
                    SendSms.this);

            alert.setMessage("You Cross the limit of 10 Words !");
            alert.setPositiveButton("OK",
                    new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,
                                int whichButton) {

                        }
                    });

            alert.show();

        }

    }

    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {

    }
};

Answer 4

Simply make the alert instance global it will work fine.

    private AlertDialog.Builder alert ;

in your onCreate

    alert = new AlertDialog.Builder(
                 RegisterActivity.this);

in your afterTextChanged

    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
        if (s.length() == 10) {
            //messageBody.setImeOptions(EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE);
            alert.setMessage("You Cross the limit of 10 Words !");
            alert.setPositiveButton("OK",
                    new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,
                                int whichButton) {

                        }
                    });

            alert.show();

        }

    }

Answer 5

Hi I did such work for phone number, when it reaches 5 digits, it automatically put space. You can utilize my code. Please check below code.

public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before,
                int count) {
            if (s.length() == 5 && start == 4) {
                txtNumber.removeTextChangedListener(this);
                txtNumber.append(" ");
                txtNumber.addTextChangedListener(this);
            }
            if (s.length() == 6 && start == 5) {
                txtNumber.removeTextChangedListener(this);
                String newtext = s.toString().substring(0, s.length() - 1)
                        + " " + s.charAt(s.length() - 1);
                txtNumber.setText("");
                txtNumber.append(newtext);
                txtNumber.addTextChangedListener(this);
            }
        }

Let me know if you need more help

Answer 6

Try Following Code :

Global Instance :

private AlertDialog.Builder alert;

TextWatcher :

private TextWatcher mTextEditorWatcher = new TextWatcher() {

    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
    }

    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
        if (s.length() >= 10) {
            messageBody.setImeOptions(EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE);
            // alert = new AlertDialog.Builder(MainActivity.this);
            // alert.setMessage("You Cross the limit of 10 Words !");
            // alert.setPositiveButton("OK", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
            // public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int whichButton) {
            // }
            // });
            // alert.show();

            // Else you should use the following one to show error message
            messageBody.setError("You Cross the limit of 10 Words !");

        } else {
            messageBody.setError(null);
        }

    }

    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
    }
};