Android EditText setError() doesn't work as expected

Question

I am having a problem with setError() on EditText. When an activity is opened, it checks if certain fields are empty and sets error message on them if true. However, the exclamation mark icon is only displayed in case I write some text in field and then delete it. If I lose focus on that field, the icon will disappear again. Both fields Naam and Telefonnumer have this validation.

I use Android 2.2.2 SDK and the application is run on Nexus 7 with latest updates.

I have Util class:

public class Util {

    private static String TAG = "Util Class";

    public static boolean editTextIsEmpty(EditText edittext) {
        if (edittext.getText().toString().trim().length() < 1)
            return true;
        else
            return false;
    }

    public void editTextListener(final EditText editText) {
        editText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {

            @Override
            public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            }

            @Override
            public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
                if (editTextIsEmpty(editText) && editText.isEnabled())
                    editText.setError("Nodig");
                else
                    editText.setError(null);
            }

            @Override
            public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
                if (editTextIsEmpty(editText) && editText.isEnabled())
                    editText.setError("Nodig");
                else
                    editText.setError(null);
            }
        });
    }
}

and then I have method validateInput() in my activity:

public class DeliveryActivity extends BaseActivity {

    private ImageButton btnSetDate;

    private Button btnToSummary;
    private Button btnSearchAddress;

    private EditText txtPostcode;
    private EditText txtHouseNumber;
    private EditText txtHouseNumberSuffix;
    private EditText txtStreet;
    private EditText txtCity;
    private EditText txtDeliveryDate;
    private EditText txtName;
    private EditText txtPhone;
    private EditText txtEmail;
    private EditText txtRemark;

    private TextView lblExtraDeliveryInfo;

    private Spinner spinnerDelivery;
    private Spinner spinnerDeliveryPeriod;
    private Spinner spinnerContact;
    private Spinner spinnerDeliveryAddress;
    private Spinner spinnerExtraDeliveryInfo;

    private RelativeLayout rlDeliveryAddressDetails;

    private DevRestHelper additionalDeliveryInfo;
    private DevRestHelper searchClientAddress;

    private Util util = new Util();

    private int year;
    private int month;
    private int day;

    public static final int DIALOG_DATEPICKER = 0;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_delivery);

        initControls();

        validateInput();
    }

    private void initControls() {
        btnSetDate = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_btnCalendar);

        btnToSummary = (Button) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_btnSummary);
        btnSearchAddress = (Button) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_btnSearchAddress);

        spinnerDelivery = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_spinnerDeliveryMethod);
        spinnerDeliveryPeriod = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_spinnerDeliveryPeriod);
        spinnerContact = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_spinnerContactperson);
        spinnerDeliveryAddress = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_spinnerDeliveryAddress);
        spinnerExtraDeliveryInfo = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_spinnerExtraDeliveryInformation);

        txtPostcode = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtPostcode);
        txtHouseNumber = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtHousenumber);
        txtHouseNumberSuffix = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtHousenumberSuffix);
        txtStreet = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtStreet);
        txtCity = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtCity);
        txtDeliveryDate = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtDeliveryDate);
        txtName = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtName);
        txtPhone = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtPhone);
        txtEmail = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtEmail);
        txtRemark = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_txtRemark);

        lblExtraDeliveryInfo = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_lblExtraDetailInformation);

        rlDeliveryAddressDetails = (RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.activity_delivery_rlDeliveryAddressDetails);
    }

    private void validateInput() {
        util.editTextListener(txtPostcode);
        util.editTextListener(txtHouseNumber);
        util.editTextListener(txtDeliveryDate);
    }
}

Let me just say that code work on BlueStacks emulator.

Answer 1

There is a known bug with setError on Jelly Bean_MR1 (4.2 and 4.2.1). I am however assuming that the Nexus 7 you are testing with is running one of those versions of Android. See here: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=40417

The error will be shown while you have focus on that EditText field, but when you lose focus, the error icon is not visible to notify the user of the problem.

Answer 2

Before you set Error on any view or edit text, just call the

yourEditText.requestFocus();
yourEditText.setError("Your Error Message");

then set Error. it will solve your problem. Atleast mine did.

Answer 3

try this

new TextWatcher() {

    @Override
    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
        if (editTextIsEmpty(editText) && editText.isEnabled())
            editText.setError("Nodig");
        else
            editText.setError(null);
    }

    @Override
    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
        // nothing here
    }

    @Override
    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
        // nothing here
    }

}

Answer 4

You can use following code:

May it will be helpful to you:

mPopupInlineErrorBackgroundId = getResourceId(mPopupInlineErrorBackgroundId,
                    com.android.internal.R.styleable.Theme_errorMessageBackground);
mView.setBackgroundResource(mPopupInlineErrorBackgroundId);

However, you can set a Spanned and a custom error icon using the overloaded setError(CharSequence, Drawable).

You can easily create a Spanned from HTML using fromHtml().

For Example:

yourEditText.setError(Html.fromHtml("<font color='blue'>this is the error</font>"));

Answer 5

This is the only you need to get expected setError behaviour on the TextView

android:focusable="true"
android:clickable="true"
android:focusableInTouchMode="true"