Using Android AutoCompleteTextView with ArrayAdapter<Objects> instead of ArrayAdapter<Strings>

android, android-adapter, android-view, autocomplete

Solution

Two ways:

Override `toString()` in `Student` class and make it return `name`. You can get the object that was selected with the following code:

 public static class Student {

    private String name;

        public Student(String name) {
            this.name = name;
        }

        @Override
        public String toString() {
            return name;
        }

    }

AutoCompleteTextView tv = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.autoCompleteTextView1);
final ArrayList<Student> list = new ArrayList<MainActivity.Student>();
list.add(new Student("Viru"));
list.add(new Student("Gauti"));
ArrayAdapter<Student> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<MainActivity.Student>(
        this, android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, list);
tv.setAdapter(adapter);

tv.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {

    @Override
    public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> arg0, View arg1, int arg2,
            long arg3) {
        Student selected = (Student) arg0.getAdapter().getItem(arg2);
        Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,
                "Clicked " + arg2 + " name: " + selected.name,
                Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
});

Implement a custom adapter (by extending `BaseAdapter` class or `ArrayAdapter<Student>` class) Check this tutorial : http://www.ezzylearning.com/tutorial.aspx?tid=1763429

Problem

I wanted to use AutoCompleteTextView in my android application.I know how to use it with simple array of Strings, but I wanted AutoCompleteTextView to use list of Objects to perform completion.My code for this is following: ACTIVITY CODE ``` public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.search); initialize(); ArrayAdapter<Student> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<Student>(this, R.layout.dropdown_list_item, GetAllStudentsList()); searchBox.setAdapter(adapter); searchBox.setThreshold(THRESHOLD_VALUE); searchBox.setTextColor(Color.BLACK); } searchBox.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() { @Override public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int position, long arg3) { //Here i will grab the Student object that user selected from drop-down } }); public ArrayList<Movies> GetAllStudentsList() { //This method returns a ArrayList of <Student> type objects } ``` Student class Object has information regarding a student which is `ID,NAME,ADDRESS,MARKS`. I know AutoCompleteTextView needs an array of String type object to perform search operation.In my case I want AutoCompleteTextView to use my ArrayList to perform completion on the basis of Student object field NAME.I dont know how should I specify AutoCompleteTextView to use NAME field of Student object.Please help me providing any Link or a small example. Thanks

Original source