101

I'm using an EditText inside a TextInputLayout, but after upgrading the support library to 23.2.0, I get this warning in the logcat, What's the difference between a regular EditText and a TextInputEditText? I can't seem to find any documentation for it.

Silvia H
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  • i have upgraded my support library to 23.2.1 but still **TextInputEditText cannot be resolved in my code** . how did you Resolve it? – Edijae Crusar Apr 09 '16 at 13:59

5 Answers5

113

I was wondering this too, Daniel Wilson gathered the documentation, but to the untrained eye it doesn't mean much. Here's what it's all about: "extract mode" is referring to the type of view that's shown when the space is too small, for example landscape on a phone. I'm using Galaxy S4 with Google Keyboard as input method editor (IME).

Landscape UI without visible IME

Based on the focus (on Description) you can see TextInputLayout in action pushing the hint outside the editor. Nothing special here, this is what TextInputLayout is supposed to do.

Landscape UI without visible IME

Landscape UI editing empty Name field

Editing the Name you can see that the IME doesn't give you a hint of what you're editing.

Landscape UI editing empty Name field

Landscape UI editing empty Description field

Editing the Description you can see that the IME gives you a hint of what you're editing.

Landscape UI editing empty Description field

Layout XMLs

The difference between the two fields is their type EditText VS TextInputEditText. The important thing here is that TextInputLayout has the android:hint and not the wrapped EditText, this is the case when TextInputEditText's few lines of Java code makes a big difference.

Name field

<android.support.design.widget.TextInputLayout
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:hint="Item Name"
    >
    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/name"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        />
</android.support.design.widget.TextInputLayout>

Description field

<android.support.design.widget.TextInputLayout
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:hint="Item Description"
    >
    <android.support.design.widget.TextInputEditText
        android:id="@+id/description"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:inputType="textMultiLine"
        android:minLines="4"
        android:scrollbars="vertical"
        />
</android.support.design.widget.TextInputLayout>
Willi Mentzel
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TWiStErRob
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    i have upgraded my support library to 23.2.1 but still **TextInputEditText cannot be resolved in my code .** how did you Resolve it? – Edijae Crusar Apr 09 '16 at 14:04
  • Do you have the design library as well? This is not in support. – TWiStErRob Apr 09 '16 at 14:30
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    Quick note: according to the docs, the `android:hint` property is supposed to go in `TextInputEditText` instead of `TextInputLayout`. – DriesOeyen Apr 26 '16 at 12:53
  • @DriesOeyen It works both ways, I think it's more clear on the outer layout, because on the UI it's the `TextInputLayout` that renders the hint and not the `*EditText`. If you check the code of `TextInputLayout.setEditText` you can see that it actually "steals" the hint and then clears it. That's why we need to use `TextInputEditText` which "steals" it back to be displayed in IME. *Interesting design...* – TWiStErRob Apr 26 '16 at 17:19
  • Same problem as @gikarasojokinene – Damien Locque May 12 '16 at 09:34
  • @luxsypher Same response... that class is in package `android.support.design.widget` as you can see in XML, to use it you need [Design Support Library](http://developer.android.com/tools/support-library/features.html#design), it's not in [v7 appcompat](http://developer.android.com/tools/support-library/features.html#v7). If this is not the issue I suggest creating a new question on SO. – TWiStErRob May 12 '16 at 10:10
  • @TWiStErRob am using `com.android.support:design:23.2.1` but still TextInputEditText could not be resolved. i ended up dropping it and using the other way which is **putting EditText in a TextInputLayout** – Edijae Crusar May 13 '16 at 05:46
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    @luxsypher i ended up dropping it and using the other way which is **putting EditText in a TextInputLayout** – Edijae Crusar May 13 '16 at 05:48
  • @luxsypher checkout my answer below – Edijae Crusar May 13 '16 at 05:55
  • @gikarasojokinene I ended up doing the same, going back to a EditText and I ignore the warning – Damien Locque May 13 '16 at 08:07
  • If I `type caste` the `TextInputEditText` to `EditText ` which are the cases where it can create problem ? TIA – jeet.chanchawat Nov 09 '16 at 05:22
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    @jeet.chanchawat it's an upcast, so it's safe. You should always use the most general type that provides you the functionality (=API) needed. Using `TextInputEditText` is an implementation detail of the UI. – TWiStErRob Nov 09 '16 at 10:08
35

There is no documentation for it, but the class is a regular EditText with a single extra feature:

Using this class allows us to display a hint in the IME when in 'extract' mode.

Specifically it sets the EditorInfo.hintText. You'll notice in the TextInputLayout class you can specify the hint and it's appearance rather than as part of the child EditText widget.

If you need to do that, you should use a TextInputEditText so it pays attention to the hint info you specified in the TextInputLayout.

Daniel Wilson
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4

They are essentially the same thing, but I think the TextInputEditText has more features and possibly attributes. I changed to the TextInputEditText and everything worked and looked as it did before with the standard EditText.

Nick Mowen
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1

The only difference is that when your device is in landscape mode, TextInputEditText will show the hint, EditText won't.

Sam Chen
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-2

I had this problem and just deleted this line in my xml file:

android: fitsSystemWindows = "true"

and the error disappeared.

ChrisF
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