Validating TextView in Android

Question

I am making a reminder app in which the user needs to set date and time from date and time pickers. So I did the following:

private TextView mDateDisplay;
private TextView mTimeDisplay;
...

// Set reminder button
setButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.set_reminder_button);
setButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

@Override
public void onClick(View view) {
    if (!validate()) {
        onSetDateTimeFailed();
        return;
       }
       // creating new product in background thread
        db.addReminder(id, mEditMessageText.getText().toString(), mDateDisplay.getText().toString(), mTimeDisplay.getText().toString());
        finish();
    }
});
...

//    Validation
public boolean validate() {
    boolean valid = true;

    String date = mDateDisplay.getText().toString();
    String time = mTimeDisplay.getText().toString();

    if (date.isEmpty() ) {
        mDateDisplay.setError("Set date");
        valid = false;
    } else {
        mDateDisplay.setError(null);
    }

    if (time.isEmpty()) {
        mTimeDisplay.setError("Set time");
        valid = false;
    } else {
        mTimeDisplay.setError(null);
    }

    return valid;
}

public void onSetDateTimeFailed() {
    Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Setting date and time failed", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

    setButton.setEnabled(true);
}

I get is the error symbols on the textviews (!), but the only toast message I get is the "Setting date and time failed" and not the "Set date" or "Set time".

The other thing I wanted to do is add a reminder message to date and time:

private EditText mEditMessageText;
...
//    Validation
public boolean validate() {
    boolean valid = true;

    String message = mEditMessageText.getText().toString();

    if (message.isEmpty() || time.length() < 1 || time.length() > 140) {
        mEditMessageText.setError("Enter between 1 and 140 characters");
        valid = false;
    } else {
        mEditMessageText.setError(null);
    }

But now I also get the "Enter between 1 and 140 characters" message when there is error in any validated field. For example, if I entered the needed number of letters in editText filed and did not select date or time I get this error message "Enter between 1 and 140 characters" and the error symbol (!) in editText as well.

Can you try to catch exceptions in validation? Might be an error you don't see — user6547359, Jul 08 '16 at 09:33
@Html Tosin Tried it but I get the same result. No toast messages for "Set Date" or "Set Time" is shown, and "Enter between 1 and 140 characters" is always shown if any TextView field is empty, even if the message field itself is not empty and meets the criteria. — Banana, Jul 08 '16 at 09:43
I guess, yes. The method takes a parameter type `CharSequence` which is any String, StringBuffer, StringBuilder etc. — Vucko, Jul 08 '16 at 09:50
I think the problem is in the other part of your code. Please show where you're calling `validate()` and `onSetDateTimeFailed()` — Vucko, Jul 08 '16 at 10:01
@Vucko I added it in my first code block (// Set reminder button) — Banana, Jul 08 '16 at 10:11
I think I've found a very similar question [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13508270/android-seterrorerror-not-working-in-textview) check and see if it works. Setting the Error on the textview is somewhat different. — Vucko, Jul 08 '16 at 10:15
@Vucko I tried adding the following: style="@android:style/Widget.EditText" to textviews in xml, and it worked (without adding a toast message), but I still get the "Enter between 1 and 140 characters" and (!) symbol if there is any empty field (either date or time field). — Banana, Jul 08 '16 at 21:10
@Vucko It shows the Toast message in messageEditText even if I entered the required number of letters. It should not show (!) or the error msg if the messageEditText field is not empty. And when I add date and time the error message then dissapears from messageEditText — Banana, Jul 08 '16 at 21:20
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/116839/discussion-between-vucko-and-kemo). — Vucko, Jul 08 '16 at 21:23

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 08 '16 at 10:19

Try this:

public boolean validate() {
        String date = mDateDisplay.getText().toString();
        String time = mTimeDisplay.getText().toString();
        String message = mEditMessageText.getText().toString();

        if (date.isEmpty()) {
            Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Set date", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return false;
        } else if (time.isEmpty()) {
            Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Set time", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return false;
        } else if (message.isEmpty() || time.length() < 1 || time.length() > 140) {
            Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Enter between 1 and 140 characters", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return false;
        } else {
            return true;
        }
    }

I tried it and it shows messages by showing the first toast message, if I fix it it will show the second... but it does not show the (!) symbol. — Banana, Jul 08 '16 at 20:20

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

1

Referring to this question helped solve setting the errors on the TextViews.

As for the other part, it was replacing time.length() with message.length().

Just moved my most helpful comments to the answer section.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

Community

1
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answered Jul 08 '16 at 21:58

Vucko

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

0

@Vucko got the answer to first part of my question - Why does it always show "Enter between 1 and 140 characters", by paying more attention to my code then I did. It was a syntax error. Instead of message.length() I wrote time.length().

For the second part of my question - how to show the messages for TextViews I found a solution on a link Vucko posted - Android setError("error") not working in Textview by adding

    style="@android:style/Widget.EditText"

or

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

to my xml file.

TY Vucko

edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

Community

1
1

answered Jul 08 '16 at 21:38

Banana

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No problem bro. I would have liked to get some credit like accepted answer :D Can I write my own answer combining these two parts? I seek to be rewarded, it was quite a ride to find all the errors :) – Vucko Jul 08 '16 at 21:56
@Vucko Sure thing :) Thanks again – Banana Jul 08 '16 at 22:43

Validating TextView in Android

3 Answers3