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DONN FELKER

Lessons Learned From the Software Industry

Android Validation with EditText

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Here’s a quick tip to spice up your Android applications. A lot of people perform Android input validation when a button is pressed and display the validation message in a dialog as shown below.

Validation via Alert Dialog

However, there’s a much easier (and elegant way) to do this by using the built in setError construct of the EditText class in Android (note, I’m only talking about EditText in this instance). Using this method, you will get built in support for the EditText **validation control. By using the **setError method you will receive validation as shown below in the Qonqr Android app (Currently in development for release in Q1 of 2012).

Qonqr Create Account Validation Example

To get these free validation controls you simply need to perform validation on the EditText at any time during the runtime execution of your app. This could be after a button is pressed, via a Text Changed Listener or via any other method. Once you determine that your input is invalid simply call the setError method on the EditText instance as shown below.

EditText firstName = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.first_name);
if( firstName.getText().toString().length() == 0 )
firstName.setError( "First name is required!" );

… and BINGO, you now have a free icon show up in the right hand side of the EditText as well as a popup validation message that shows up. As soon as the user starts typing in the EditText, the validation icon and message will disappear. 🙂 Enjoy!

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  6. Andy says

    I’ve got a quick question about your EditText’s are they the standard Android ones with no changes? They look much better. What value did you use for the height?

    Thanks in advance

  7. Ravindra Bhavsar says

    Hello sir Android is new for for i just try Your code to apply validation  to EditText  in my database application but it not work .when i press button without filling EditText the android emulator shows “Force Quit dialog box”.i dont understand wats going wrong plz help

  8. Klepon Boy14 says

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  23. Ravindra Bhavsar says

    Do u have complete Source code of above demo.if yes the please  forward me.

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  31. Andrea Baccega says

    I wrote a class that extends EditText which supports natively some validation methods and is actually very flexible. 

    You can check it out here: https://github.com/vekexasia/android-form-edittext 

    Hope you enjoy it 🙂

  48. asmaa mohamed magd helali says

    it works with me separately with one text field but when i use it with another one it doesn`t work what can i do?

    else if(emailValid()==0&&phoneValid()==0){
    text.setError(“Error Email”);
    phone.setError(“Error Phone”);
    }

  52. priyansh says

    can u tel me button in the above tutorial image…how can i create button like that..

  54. Artem Mihelson says

    Hi. I tried to use EditText.setError(“Error”) for EditText that placed within a PopupWindow. I wonder if you know if setError works for EditText in PopupWindow. Because I tried create project from scratch and setError works perfectly within single layout, but app crashes if I use setError on EditText in PopupWindow. Appreciate your answer.

  56. Eliete says

    Hello, I really appreciate your tutorial. It’s very clear and succinct. Could you please help me on another situation using Error messages? I’m using an error message in the follow situation: if I click on button and there isn’t an iformation setted at editText show the error message, so I can’t pass to another fragment, but when I click this button and show the error message and I change the fragment throught drawer item, the error message stay at the new fragment. Do you know how to solve the problem or indicates another tutorial for me please?

  57. ThemuRR says

    Hey Donn,

    Cheers for showing us this, it’s very handy! Is there any chance you can point me in the right direction when it comes to designing a layout like the one you have shown? I’m finding it very difficult to get a handle on them!

  58. Christian says

    i’m trying to put this on my code but didn’t work, once i click on my save button to save that on a SQLite DB it doesn’t works… could you help me please?

  59. Shoaib Murtaza says

    String enteredUserName = userName.getText().toString();
    String enteredPassword = userPassword.getText().toString();

    if( enteredUserName != ” ” && enteredPassword != ” ” ) {
    createNewAccount();
    }

    this if not working, why?????

  61. Kishore Tangudu says

    for name it is not working properly.. without entering data into any field of the form., if you submit, then its stopping application. The error msg is like this “Applicaiton stopped unfortunately” . help me out. [email protected]

  62. Jon Smith says

    That is awesome! This was the answer I was looking for! Thanks for a great example of built in validation control, it has made my field level validation look great and work great with one simple code change!

  67. Martin Sloup says

    Beware on screen rotation because the error disappear after it. You have to store error message (EditText.getError()) when onSaveInstanceState is called and call setError again after the layout is created. When you use it in AlertDialog with custom view, it’s a little bit tricky to call setError after rotation, because layout is created when dialog is shown. You have to register listener in AlertDialog.setOnShowListener(…) and call it here.

  68. Asif Iqbal says

    Sir how can i also bind my mark text field not more than 100 ? please help

    best regards 🙂

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