Android SearchView with Example

Difficulty Level : Hard
Last Updated : 18 Feb, 2021

Search View widget is used to provide a search interface to user so that the user can enter his search query and submit a request to search provider and get a list of query suggestions or results.

Class Syntax:

public class SearchView
extends LinearLayout
implements CollapsibleActionView

Class Hierarchy:

java.lang.Object
  ↳  android.view.View
    ↳  android.view.ViewGroup
      ↳  android.widget.LinearLayout
        ↳  android.widget.SearchView

Example to demonstrate SearchView:
In this article you will create a basic search application with search view and list view. User will type search query in search view which is present in action bar. Here are explained steps:

Step 1: activity_main.xml

It consist of Relative Layout with ListView in it from which data is to be search. Here is complete code for activity_main.xml:

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--Relative Layout-->
  
<RelativeLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:id="@+id/relativelayout">
  
    <!--List View from which data is to be searched-->
    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/listView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        />
  
</RelativeLayout>

Step 2: menu.xml

Create menu.xml and add search view as menu item to Action Bar with title as “Search” this file. Here is complete code for menu.xml file.

menu.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
  
<menu 
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"  
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">   
  
    <!--Search view widget as item in menu-->
    <item  
        android:id="@+id/search_bar"  
        android:title="Search" 
        app:actionViewClass="android.widget.SearchView" 
        app:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"  
    />  
</menu>  

Step 3:MainActivity.java
Next step is to set up the code for main activity. In this java file items are added to List View manually and setOnQueryTextListener is attached to Search View. onQueryTextSubmit() method is overriden in which List View get filter according to the search query entered by the user.Here is complete code for MainActivity.java:

MainActivity.java

package com.geeksforgeeks.searchviewwidget;
  
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuInflater;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.SearchView;
import java.util.ArrayList;
  
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
  
    // List View object
    ListView listView;
  
    // Define array adapter for ListView
    ArrayAdapter<String> adapter;
  
    // Define array List for List View data
    ArrayList<String> mylist;
  
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
  
        // initialise ListView with id
        listView = findViewById(R.id.listView);
  
        // Add items to Array List
        mylist = new ArrayList<>();
        mylist.add("C");
        mylist.add("C++");
        mylist.add("C#");
        mylist.add("Java");
        mylist.add("Advanced java");
        mylist.add("Interview prep with c++");
        mylist.add("Interview prep with java");
        mylist.add("data structures with c");
        mylist.add("data structures with java");
  
        // Set adapter to ListView
        adapter
            = new ArrayAdapter<String>(
                this,
                android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,
                mylist);
        listView.setAdapter(adapter);
    }
  
    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
    {
        // Inflate menu with items using MenuInflator
        MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
  
        // Initialise menu item search bar
        // with id and take its object
        MenuItem searchViewItem
            = menu.findItem(R.id.search_bar);
        SearchView searchView
            = MenuItemCompat
                  .getActionView(searchViewItem);
  
        // attach setOnQueryTextListener
        // to search view defined above
        searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(
            new SearchView.OnQueryTextListener() {
  
                // Override onQueryTextSubmit method
                // which is call
                // when submitquery is searched
  
                @Override
                public boolean onQueryTextSubmit(String query)
                {
                    // If the list contains the search query
                    // than filter the adapter
                    // using the filter method
                    // with the query as its argument
                    if (list.contains(query)) {
                        adapter.getFilter().filter(query);
                    }
                    else {
                        // Search query not found in List View
                        Toast
                            .makeText(MainActivity.this,
                                      "Not found",
                                      Toast.LENGTH_LONG)
                            .show();
                    }
                    return false;
                }
  
                // This method is overridden to filter
                // the adapter according to a search query
                // when the user is typing search
                @Override
                public boolean onQueryTextChange(String newText)
                {
                    adapter.getFilter().filter(newText);
                    return false;
                }
            });
  
        return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
    }
}