Android EditText

In this tutorial, we will learn about android EditText. We're also going to go through various attributes used to customize it.

EditText can be defined as below –

"An Android EditText widget is user interface that are used to take input from user and modify the text."

While defining EditText widget, we can also specify android:inputType attribute. Based on the value given in this attribute, the keyboard type also displayed changes in acceptable characters and edit text appearance. For Example, If you set inputType to numberPassword.

Different attributes that are used to customise the EditText are listed below. However, you can check android official documentation for EditText to see the complete list of it’s attributes. Here, we are listing the commonly used attributes.

TextView and View inherit attributes in EditText. Some of the popular attributes are –

S. No.	XML Attributes	Description
1	android:id	This is unique id of the EditText to uniquely identify the EditText.
2	android:height	Sets height of the EditText.
3	android:width	Sets width of the EditText.
4	android:text	Sets the text of the EditText
5	android:textAllCaps	Use this attribute to show the text in capital letters.
6	android:textColor	Sets color of the text.
7	android:textSize	Sets size of the text.
8	android:textStyle	Sets style of the text. For example, bold, italic etc.
9	android:typeface	Sets typeface of the text. For example, normal, sans, serif, monospace.
10	android:hint	Hint to be shown when there is no text in the EditText.
11	android:inputType	This is used to define what are the types of data that can be entered by the user for this View. For example, Phone, Password, Number, Date, Time etc. Characters acceptable through keyboard will also change accordingly.
12	android:inputMethod	It sets, it specifies that edittext should use specified input method.
13	android:lines	If you want to set height of the View by number of lines, you can do it using this attribute. For example, android:lines=”2”, it means height of View will be 2 lines.
14	android:gravity	Sets gravity of the text. For example, center, horizontal_center, vertical_center etc.
15	android:elevation	Sets elevation to this view.
16	android:maxHeight	Sets maximum height of the View.
17	android:minHeight	Sets minimum height of the View.
18	android:maxLength	Sets maximum character length that can be entered in the View.
19	android:maxLines	Sets maximum lines this View can have.
20	android:minLines	Sets minimum lines this View can have.
21	android:maxWidth	Sets maximum width this View can have.
22	android:minWidth	Sets minimum width this View can have.
23	android:numeric	If sets, it specifies that EditText has numeric input method.
24	android:password	Use this attribute if you want to show the entered text as password dots. For example, If you enter ABCD, it will be shown as ****.
25	android:phoneNumber	If set, specifies that this EditText has a phone number input method.
26	android:background	Sets background to this View.
27	android:backgroundTint	Sets tint to the background.
28	android:clickable	Set true when you want to make this View clickable. Otherwise, set false.
29	android:drawableBottom	Sets drawable to bottom of the EditText.
30	android:drawableEnd	Sets drawable to end of the EditText.
31	android:drawableLeft	Sets drawable to left of the text.
32	android:drawablePadding	Sets padding to drawable.
33	android:drawableRight	Sets drawable to right of the EditText.
34	android:drawableStart	Sets drawable to start of the EditText.
35	android:drawableTop	Sets drawable to top of the EditText.

In next, you will learn how to use android EditText widget in any android application. First we're going to create an android application, then we're going to use this widget.

To create a new android application, follow the steps below. If you have already created it, please ignore the steps.

S. No.	Steps
1	Open Android Studio.
2	Go to File => New => New Project. Write application name as EditText. Then, click next button.
3	Select minimum SDK you need. However, we have selected 14 as minimum SDK. Then, click next button.
4	Then, select Empty Activity => click next => click finish.
5	If you have followed above process correctly, you will get a newly created project successfully. However, you can also visit tutorial to Create a New Project to know steps in detail.

Since we have a new project now, to use EditText widget, we will modify xml and java. Please follow the steps below –

Open res/values/strings.xml file. Then, add below code into it.

<resources> 
<string name="app_name">EditText</string>  
<string name="hint_enter_something">Enter Something...</string>
</resources>

Open res/layout/activity_main.xml file. Add below code into it.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" 
android:layout_width="match_parent" 
android:layout_height="match_parent" 
tools:context=".MainActivity"> 

<EditText 
android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent" 
android:ems="10" 
android:hint="@string/hint_enter_something" 
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent" 
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent" 
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" 
android:inputType="text"/> 

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

We have added EditText in xml file.

Now, we will see MainActivity java file. Right now we don't make any changes. We just see it How our Java file look.

Open src/main/java/com.ukacademe.edittext/MainActivity.java file. Then, add below code into it

package com.ukacademe.edittext;

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }
}

Since AndroidManifest.xml file is important file in any android application, we are also going to mention it here.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.ukacademe.edittext">
<application
android:allowBackup="true" 
android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher" 
android:label="@string/app_name" 
android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round" 
android:supportsRtl="true" 
android:theme="@style/AppTheme"> 
<activity 
android:name=".MainActivity"> 
<intent-filter> 
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" /> 

<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" /> 
</intent-filter> 
</activity> 
</application> 
</manifest>

Now run the application you will get output as shown below.

UK Academe-EditText-Output

Different attributes of Android EditText

Modify Values folder

EditText in xml File

EditText in Java File

AndroidManifest.xml file

Output

Course Topic