Android AutocompleteTextView with HashMap

AutocompleteTextView is a widget in Android that provides suggestions while we are typing search keywords or entering information. AutocompleteTextView with HashMap is a powerful combination, allowing us to perform quick searches without writing complex search algorithms.

How AutocompleteTextView works in Android

AutocompleteTextView is a combination of EditText and ListView controls. When we type in the AutocompleteTextView, it displays a drop-down menu of suggested items. The suggestions are based on the text we have typed so far. We can choose any item from the drop-down list to autofill the text in the AutocompleteTextView.

Using AutocompleteTextView with HashMap

Using AutocompleteTextView with the HashMap requires creating a HashMap of the data items we want to show in the AutocompleteTextView. We can create a HashMap using the key-value pair, where the key will be the search keyword, and the value will be the data item.

The following code snippet will help you understand how to create a HashMap:

HashMap<String, String> data = new HashMap<>();
data.put("Android", "Android tutorial");
data.put("Java", "Java tutorial");
data.put("Kotlin", "Kotlin tutorial");

After creating the HashMap, we need to set the ArrayAdapter to the AutocompleteTextView, which will be used to display the suggested items. We can use the following code to set the ArrayAdapter for our AutocompleteTextView:

ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<>(
    this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,
    new ArrayList<>(data.keySet())
);
AutoCompleteTextView textView = findViewById(R.id.autocomplete_textview);
textView.setAdapter(adapter);

In the above code, we have passed the context of our current activity, the layout for the suggested items, and the list of keys of our HashMap as the parameters of the ArrayAdapter.

Finally, we have set the adapter to our AutocompleteTextView using the setAdapter() method.

Conclusion

In conclusion, AutocompleteTextView with HashMap can make our search functionality easy and efficient. We can create a HashMap of our data items and use the ArrayAdapter to display the suggested items.

By using AutocompleteTextView with the HashMap, we can provide our users with a search facility that is simple, fast, and user-friendly.