Diacritics/international characters in AutoCompleteTextView

Question

I have a (array) list

Car
Something
Šibica
Čavao
Cavao

Is there a way to \"force\" AutoCompleteTextView so if user type in letter \"c\"

Answer 1

svenkapudija's answer is good...I used it and modified slightly just to ensure that the diacritics filter would work for other than first word

                        final String[] words = valText.split(" ");
                        for (String word : words) {
                            if (word.startsWith(prefixString)||toNoPalatals(word).startsWith(prefixStringNoPalatals)) {
                                newValues.add(value);
                                break;
                            }
                        }
                    }

Also, this is for people from Czech Republic ;-)

    original = original.replace("Ě", "E");
    original = original.replace("Š", "S");
    original = original.replace("Č", "C");
    original = original.replace("Ř", "R");
    original = original.replace("Ž", "Z");
    original = original.replace("Ý", "Y");
    original = original.replace("Á", "A");
    original = original.replace("Í", "I");
    original = original.replace("É", "E");
    original = original.replace("Ú", "U");
    original = original.replace("Ů", "U");
    original = original.replace("Ď", "D");
    original = original.replace("Ť", "T");
    original = original.replace("Ň", "N");

    original = original.replace("ě", "e");
    original = original.replace("š", "s");
    original = original.replace("č", "c");
    original = original.replace("ř", "r");
    original = original.replace("ž", "z");
    original = original.replace("ý", "y");
    original = original.replace("á", "a");
    original = original.replace("í", "i");
    original = original.replace("é", "e");
    original = original.replace("ú", "u");
    original = original.replace("ů", "u");
    original = original.replace("ď", "d");
    original = original.replace("ť", "t");
    original = original.replace("ň", "n");

Answer 2

@svenkapudija 's excellent answer can be generalized to most Latin script languages using java.text.Normalizer. In the filter code, replace:

                    String valueTextNoPalatals = toNoPalatals(valueText);
                    String prefixStringNoPalatals = toNoPalatals(prefixString);

with:

                String valueTextNoPalatals = Normalizer
                        .normalize(valueText, Normalizer.Form.NFD)
                        .replaceAll("[^\\p{ASCII}]", "")
                        .toLowerCase();

                String prefixStringNoPalatals = Normalizer
                        .normalize(prefixString, Normalizer.Form.NFD)
                        .replaceAll("[^\\p{ASCII}]", "")
                        .toLowerCase();

Answer 3

Use this class as an ArrayAdapter (in this case it's for HR but it can be for any character).

/*
 * Copyright (C) 2006 The Android Open Source Project
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

/*
 * Changes for Croatian language done by Stevica Kuharski, IT4U
 * Web: http://www.it4u.com.hr/en
 * E-mail: kstevica@gmail.com 
 */

import android.content.Context;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.Filter;
import android.widget.Filterable;
import android.widget.TextView;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.Collections;

/**
 * A ListAdapter that manages a ListView backed by an array of arbitrary
 * objects.  By default this class expects that the provided resource id references
 * a single TextView.  If you want to use a more complex layout, use the constructors that
 * also takes a field id.  That field id should reference a TextView in the larger layout
 * resource.
 *
 * However the TextView is referenced, it will be filled with the toString() of each object in
 * the array. You can add lists or arrays of custom objects. Override the toString() method
 * of your objects to determine what text will be displayed for the item in the list.
 *
 * To use something other than TextViews for the array display, for instance, ImageViews,
 * or to have some of data besides toString() results fill the views,
 * override {@link #getView(int, View, ViewGroup)} to return the type of view you want.
 */
public class HRArrayAdapter<T> extends BaseAdapter implements Filterable {
    /**
     * Contains the list of objects that represent the data of this ArrayAdapter.
     * The content of this list is referred to as "the array" in the documentation.
     */
    private List<T> mObjects;

    /**
     * Lock used to modify the content of {@link #mObjects}. Any write operation
     * performed on the array should be synchronized on this lock. This lock is also
     * used by the filter (see {@link #getFilter()} to make a synchronized copy of
     * the original array of data.
     */
    private final Object mLock = new Object();

    /**
     * The resource indicating what views to inflate to display the content of this
     * array adapter.
     */
    private int mResource;

    /**
     * The resource indicating what views to inflate to display the content of this
     * array adapter in a drop down widget.
     */
    private int mDropDownResource;

    /**
     * If the inflated resource is not a TextView, {@link #mFieldId} is used to find
     * a TextView inside the inflated views hierarchy. This field must contain the
     * identifier that matches the one defined in the resource file.
     */
    private int mFieldId = 0;

    /**
     * Indicates whether or not {@link #notifyDataSetChanged()} must be called whenever
     * {@link #mObjects} is modified.
     */
    private boolean mNotifyOnChange = true;

    private Context mContext;    

    private ArrayList<T> mOriginalValues;
    private HRArrayFilter mFilter;

    private LayoutInflater mInflater;

    /**
     * Constructor
     *
     * @param context The current context.
     * @param textViewResourceId The resource ID for a layout file containing a TextView to use when
     *                 instantiating views.
     */
    public HRArrayAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId) {
        init(context, textViewResourceId, 0, new ArrayList<T>());
    }

    /**
     * Constructor
     *
     * @param context The current context.
     * @param resource The resource ID for a layout file containing a layout to use when
     *                 instantiating views.
     * @param textViewResourceId The id of the TextView within the layout resource to be populated
     */
    public HRArrayAdapter(Context context, int resource, int textViewResourceId) {
        init(context, resource, textViewResourceId, new ArrayList<T>());
    }

    /**
     * Constructor
     *
     * @param context The current context.
     * @param textViewResourceId The resource ID for a layout file containing a TextView to use when
     *                 instantiating views.
     * @param objects The objects to represent in the ListView.
     */
    public HRArrayAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId, T[] objects) {
        init(context, textViewResourceId, 0, Arrays.asList(objects));
    }

    /**
     * Constructor
     *
     * @param context The current context.
     * @param resource The resource ID for a layout file containing a layout to use when
     *                 instantiating views.
     * @param textViewResourceId The id of the TextView within the layout resource to be populated
     * @param objects The objects to represent in the ListView.
     */
    public HRArrayAdapter(Context context, int resource, int textViewResourceId, T[] objects) {
        init(context, resource, textViewResourceId, Arrays.asList(objects));
    }

    /**
     * Constructor
     *
     * @param context The current context.
     * @param textViewResourceId The resource ID for a layout file containing a TextView to use when
     *                 instantiating views.
     * @param objects The objects to represent in the ListView.
     */
    public HRArrayAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId, List<T> objects) {
        init(context, textViewResourceId, 0, objects);
    }

    /**
     * Constructor
     *
     * @param context The current context.
     * @param resource The resource ID for a layout file containing a layout to use when
     *                 instantiating views.
     * @param textViewResourceId The id of the TextView within the layout resource to be populated
     * @param objects The objects to represent in the ListView.
     */
    public HRArrayAdapter(Context context, int resource, int textViewResourceId, List<T> objects) {
        init(context, resource, textViewResourceId, objects);
    }

    /**
     * Adds the specified object at the end of the array.
     *
     * @param object The object to add at the end of the array.
     */
    public void add(T object) {
        if (mOriginalValues != null) {
            synchronized (mLock) {
                mOriginalValues.add(object);
                if (mNotifyOnChange) notifyDataSetChanged();
            }
        } else {
            mObjects.add(object);
            if (mNotifyOnChange) notifyDataSetChanged();
        }
    }

    /**
     * Inserts the specified object at the specified index in the array.
     *
     * @param object The object to insert into the array.
     * @param index The index at which the object must be inserted.
     */
    public void insert(T object, int index) {
        if (mOriginalValues != null) {
            synchronized (mLock) {
                mOriginalValues.add(index, object);
                if (mNotifyOnChange) notifyDataSetChanged();
            }
        } else {
            mObjects.add(index, object);
            if (mNotifyOnChange) notifyDataSetChanged();
        }
    }

    /**
     * Removes the specified object from the array.
     *
     * @param object The object to remove.
     */
    public void remove(T object) {
        if (mOriginalValues != null) {
            synchronized (mLock) {
                mOriginalValues.remove(object);
            }
        } else {
            mObjects.remove(object);
        }
        if (mNotifyOnChange) notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    /**
     * Remove all elements from the list.
     */
    public void clear() {
        if (mOriginalValues != null) {
            synchronized (mLock) {
                mOriginalValues.clear();
            }
        } else {
            mObjects.clear();
        }
        if (mNotifyOnChange) notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    /**
     * Sorts the content of this adapter using the specified comparator.
     *
     * @param comparator The comparator used to sort the objects contained
     *        in this adapter.
     */
    public void sort(Comparator<? super T> comparator) {
        Collections.sort(mObjects, comparator);
        if (mNotifyOnChange) notifyDataSetChanged();        
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
    public void notifyDataSetChanged() {
        super.notifyDataSetChanged();
        mNotifyOnChange = true;
    }

    /**
     * Control whether methods that change the list ({@link #add},
     * {@link #insert}, {@link #remove}, {@link #clear}) automatically call
     * {@link #notifyDataSetChanged}.  If set to false, caller must
     * manually call notifyDataSetChanged() to have the changes
     * reflected in the attached view.
     *
     * The default is true, and calling notifyDataSetChanged()
     * resets the flag to true.
     *
     * @param notifyOnChange if true, modifications to the list will
     *                       automatically call {@link
     *                       #notifyDataSetChanged}
     */
    public void setNotifyOnChange(boolean notifyOnChange) {
        mNotifyOnChange = notifyOnChange;
    }

    private void init(Context context, int resource, int textViewResourceId, List<T> objects) {
        mContext = context;
        mInflater = (LayoutInflater)context.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
        mResource = mDropDownResource = resource;
        mObjects = objects;
        mFieldId = textViewResourceId;
    }

    /**
     * Returns the context associated with this array adapter. The context is used
     * to create views from the resource passed to the constructor.
     *
     * @return The Context associated with this adapter.
     */
    public Context getContext() {
        return mContext;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public int getCount() {
        return mObjects.size();
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public T getItem(int position) {
        return mObjects.get(position);
    }

    /**
     * Returns the position of the specified item in the array.
     *
     * @param item The item to retrieve the position of.
     *
     * @return The position of the specified item.
     */
    public int getPosition(T item) {
        return mObjects.indexOf(item);
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public long getItemId(int position) {
        return position;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        return createViewFromResource(position, convertView, parent, mResource);
    }

    private View createViewFromResource(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent,
            int resource) {
        View view;
        TextView text;

        if (convertView == null) {
            view = mInflater.inflate(resource, parent, false);
        } else {
            view = convertView;
        }

        try {
            if (mFieldId == 0) {
                //  If no custom field is assigned, assume the whole resource is a TextView
                text = (TextView) view;
            } else {
                //  Otherwise, find the TextView field within the layout
                text = (TextView) view.findViewById(mFieldId);
            }
        } catch (ClassCastException e) {
            Log.e("ArrayAdapter", "You must supply a resource ID for a TextView");
            throw new IllegalStateException(
                    "ArrayAdapter requires the resource ID to be a TextView", e);
        }

        text.setText(getItem(position).toString());

        return view;
    }

    /**
     * <p>Sets the layout resource to create the drop down views.</p>
     *
     * @param resource the layout resource defining the drop down views
     * @see #getDropDownView(int, android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup)
     */
    public void setDropDownViewResource(int resource) {
        this.mDropDownResource = resource;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
    public View getDropDownView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        return createViewFromResource(position, convertView, parent, mDropDownResource);
    }

    /**
     * Creates a new ArrayAdapter from external resources. The content of the array is
     * obtained through {@link android.content.res.Resources#getTextArray(int)}.
     *
     * @param context The application's environment.
     * @param textArrayResId The identifier of the array to use as the data source.
     * @param textViewResId The identifier of the layout used to create views.
     *
     * @return An ArrayAdapter<CharSequence>.
     */
    public static HRArrayAdapter<CharSequence> createFromResource(Context context,
            int textArrayResId, int textViewResId) {
        CharSequence[] strings = context.getResources().getTextArray(textArrayResId);
        return new HRArrayAdapter<CharSequence>(context, textViewResId, strings);
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public HRArrayFilter getFilter() {
        if (mFilter == null) {
            mFilter = new HRArrayFilter();
        }
        return mFilter;
    }

    /**
     * <p>An array filter constrains the content of the array adapter with
     * a prefix. Each item that does not start with the supplied prefix
     * is removed from the list.</p>
     */
    private class HRArrayFilter extends Filter {
        @Override
        protected FilterResults performFiltering(CharSequence prefix) {
            FilterResults results = new FilterResults();

            if (mOriginalValues == null) {
                synchronized (mLock) {
                    mOriginalValues = new ArrayList<T>(mObjects);
                }
            }

            if (prefix == null || prefix.length() == 0) {
                synchronized (mLock) {
                    ArrayList<T> list = new ArrayList<T>(mOriginalValues);
                    results.values = list;
                    results.count = list.size();
                }
            } else {
                String prefixString = prefix.toString().toLowerCase();

                ArrayList<T> values = mOriginalValues;
                final int count = values.size();

                final ArrayList<T> newValues = new ArrayList<T>(count);
                final ArrayList<String> noPalatals = new ArrayList<String>();

                for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
                    final T value = values.get(i);
                    final String valueText = value.toString().toLowerCase();
                    String valueTextNoPalatals = toNoPalatals(valueText);
                    String prefixStringNoPalatals = toNoPalatals(prefixString);

                    //Log.d( "DATA NORMAL", valueText + ", " + prefixString );
                    //Log.d( "DATA NO PALATALS", valueTextNoPalatals + ", " + prefixStringNoPalatals );

                    // First match against the whole, non-splitted value
                    if (valueText.startsWith(prefixString) || valueTextNoPalatals.startsWith(prefixStringNoPalatals)) {
                        newValues.add(value);
                    } else {
                        final String[] words = valueText.split(" ");
                        final int wordCount = words.length;

                        for (int k = 0; k < wordCount; k++) {
                            if (words[k].startsWith(prefixString)) {
                                newValues.add(value);
                                break;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }

                results.values = newValues;
                results.count = newValues.size();
            }

            return results;
        }

        @Override
        protected void publishResults(CharSequence constraint, FilterResults results) {
            //noinspection unchecked
            mObjects = (List<T>) results.values;
            if (results.count > 0) {
                notifyDataSetChanged();
            } else {
                notifyDataSetInvalidated();
            }
        }

        private String toNoPalatals( String original )
        {
            original = original.replace("Č", "C");
            original = original.replace("Ć", "C");
            original = original.replace("Š ", "S");
            original = original.replace("Đ", "D");
            original = original.replace("Ž", "Z");

            original = original.replace("č", "c");
            original = original.replace("ć", "c");
            original = original.replace("š", "s");
            original = original.replace("đ", "d");
            original = original.replace("ž", "z");

            return original;
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

for people from poland ;):

        original = original.replace("Ą", "A");
        original = original.replace("Ć", "C");
        original = original.replace("Ę", "E");
        original = original.replace("Ł", "L");
        original = original.replace("Ń", "N");
        original = original.replace("Ó", "O");
        original = original.replace("Ś ", "S");
        original = original.replace("Ź", "Z");
        original = original.replace("Ż", "Z");

        original = original.replace("ą", "a");
        original = original.replace("ć", "c");
        original = original.replace("ę", "e");
        original = original.replace("ł", "l");
        original = original.replace("ń", "n");
        original = original.replace("ó", "o");
        original = original.replace("ś", "s");
        original = original.replace("ź", "z");
        original = original.replace("ż", "z");
        original = original.replace("ž", "z");

Answer 5

When you're comparing your strings to the users input, you might want to use a Collator...

http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/api/java/text/Collator.html

...call getInstance(), set an appropriate strength, and use the compare or equals methods to find what matches the user input.

Answer 6

To make people's lives easier, here's what you need to add to the correct answer by @svenkapudija for French accented character compatibility. This was made via excel in less than 40 seconds

original = original.replace("À ", "A");
original = original.replace("à ", "a");
original = original.replace(" ", "A");
original = original.replace("â ", "a");
original = original.replace("Æ", "AE");
original = original.replace("æ", "ae");
original = original.replace("Ç", "C");
original = original.replace("ç", "c");
original = original.replace("È ", "E");
original = original.replace("è", "e");
original = original.replace("É ", "E");
original = original.replace("é", "e");
original = original.replace("Ê ", "E");
original = original.replace("ê ", "e");
original = original.replace("Ë ", "E");
original = original.replace("ë ", "e");
original = original.replace("Π", "I");
original = original.replace("î ", "i");
original = original.replace("Ï ", "I");
original = original.replace("ï ", "i");
original = original.replace("Ô", "O");
original = original.replace("ô", "o");
original = original.replace("Œ", "OE");
original = original.replace("œ", "oe");
original = original.replace("Ù", "U");
original = original.replace("ù", "u");
original = original.replace("Û", "U");
original = original.replace("û", "u");
original = original.replace("Ü", "U");
original = original.replace("ü", "u");