How to fill AutoCompleteTextView in Android with an API call?

Question

I want to try to get a list of food items from an API and update the AutoCompleteTextView based on this.

I've tried following the answer here but to no avail: https://stackoverflow.com/a/36799955/7429535

This is my code so far:

//Outside onCreate
List<String> apiFoods = new ArrayList<>();

//In onCreate
 AutoCompleteTextView autocomplete = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.foodActv);
 final ArrayAdapter<String> autoAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<>(this, android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, apiFoods);
 autocomplete.setAdapter(autoAdapter);

 autocomplete.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {
     @Override
     public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {

     }

     @Override
     public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
         //retrieve data s
     }

     @Override
     public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
         retrieveData(s);
         autoAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
         Log.d("TAG", "foodsApi is " + apiFoods);
     }
});

//Below onCreate
private void retrieveData(Editable s)
{
    String text = s.toString();
    if(text.contains(" "))
    {
        text.replace(" ", "%20");
    }
    String url = "https://api.edamam.com/api/food-database/parser?ingr="+text+"&app_id=8ff4be18&app_key=f2bf020e6d3cf1a9989c2a2163fb720f";
    new AsyncHttpClient().get(url, new AsyncHttpResponseHandler() {
        @Override
        public void onSuccess(int statusCode, Header[] headers, byte[] responseBody)
        {
            try
            {
                JSONObject foodNames=new JSONObject(new String(responseBody));
                JSONArray jArray = foodNames.getJSONArray("hints");
                for(int i = 0; i < jArray.length(); i++)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        JSONObject hintItem = jArray.getJSONObject(i);
                        JSONObject foodItem = hintItem.getJSONObject("food");
                        String foodLabel = foodItem.getString("label");
                        apiFoods.add(foodLabel);
                    }
                    catch(JSONException e)
                    {

                    }
                }
            } catch (JSONException e)
            {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void onFailure(int statusCode, Header[] headers, byte[] responseBody, Throwable error) {
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "API call failed", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
    });
}

You can see an example API response here: https://api.edamam.com/api/food-database/parser?ingr=red&app_id=8ff4be18&app_key=f2bf020e6d3cf1a9989c2a2163fb720f

Currently, this code IS inputting the correct food names into the apiFoods ArrayList but it is not showing me the options to select in app.

Does this answer your question? [AutoCompleteTextView not showing suggestion](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13456448/autocompletetextview-not-showing-suggestion) — Rajen Raiyarela, Apr 12 '20 at 12:47
@RajenRaiyarela I'm afraid that didn't help. I tried putting after the .setAdapater but notice I also have the notifyDataSetChanged(); in the afterTextChanged override method. — Daniel Lawton, Apr 12 '20 at 12:50
That `AsyncHttpClient` operation that you're doing in `retrieveData()` is asynchronous. Your code does not pause and wait there for the response, but continues immediately to return from that method, and then onto the `autoAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged()` call, at which point, `onSuccess()` has not run yet, so your `apiFoods` hasn't been updated. You'll need to do that `autoAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged()` call at the end of `onSuccess()`. — Mike M., Apr 12 '20 at 12:53
@DanielLawton Your notifyDataSetChanged() should come inside onSuccess method after your for loop wherein you values to apiFoods. — Rajen Raiyarela, Apr 12 '20 at 12:53
@MikeM. I've changed my retrieve data method to take an ```ArrayAdapter``` and pass in my autoAdapter in the method call ```retrieveData(s, autoAdapter);``` I placed the ```autoAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged()``` at the end of the ```onSuccess()``` method but sadly nothing has changed. — Daniel Lawton, Apr 12 '20 at 13:00
Oh, right, `AutoCompleteTextView`. It's been a while since I've used that, but I have a feeling that the constant updates of the dataset are fighting against its own built-in filtering. I'd have to look into that later, though, if I get a chance. — Mike M., Apr 12 '20 at 13:54

yaddly · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-09T19:44:51.300

kindly note that you are initializing your adatapter long before you make an api call, so I suggest that when your api returns data inside your public void onSuccess(int statusCode, Header[] headers, byte[] responseBody) function, do reinitialise your adapter as below.

private void retrieveData(final AutoCompleteTextView s)
{
    String text = s.toString();
    if(text.contains(" "))
    {
        text.replace(" ", "%20");
    }
    String url = "https://api.edamam.com/api/food-database/parser?ingr="+text+"&app_id=8ff4be18&app_key=f2bf020e6d3cf1a9989c2a2163fb720f";
    new AsyncHttpClient().get(url, new AsyncHttpResponseHandler() {
        @Override
        public void onSuccess(int statusCode, Header[] headers, byte[] responseBody)
        {
            try
            {
                JSONObject foodNames=new JSONObject(new String(responseBody));
                JSONArray jArray = foodNames.getJSONArray("hints");
                for(int i = 0; i < jArray.length(); i++)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        JSONObject hintItem = jArray.getJSONObject(i);
                        JSONObject foodItem = hintItem.getJSONObject("food");
                        String foodLabel = foodItem.getString("label");
                        apiFoods.add(foodLabel);
                    }
                    catch(JSONException e)
                    {

                    }
                }

                autoAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<>(ActivityName.this, android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, apiFoods);

 s.setAdapter(autoAdapter);

s.setThreshold(1);

        s.setAdapter(adapter);

            } catch (JSONException e)
            {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void onFailure(int statusCode, Header[] headers, byte[] responseBody, Throwable error) {
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "API call failed", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
    });
}

I appreciate the help. I am getting an error though. When trying to do ```s.setAdapter(autoAdapter)``` I get ```Cannot resolve method 'setAdapter(android.widget.ArrayAdapter)``` — Daniel Lawton, Apr 12 '20 at 13:16
I replaced ```autoAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<>(ActivityName.this, android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, apiFoods); s.setAdapter(autoAdapter); s.setThreshold(1);``` with ```AutoCompleteTextView autocomplete = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.foodActv); ArrayAdapter autoAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<>(MainActivity.this, android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, apiFoods); autocomplete.setAdapter(autoAdapter);``` Now I am seeing some predictions, but only when I press backspace after typing something. — Daniel Lawton, Apr 12 '20 at 13:37
Adding ```autocomplete.showDropDown();``` made this work properly after fixes above. Thanks! — Daniel Lawton, Apr 12 '20 at 14:22
@DanielLawton, kindly accept the answer above if it was helpful, I would appreciate an upvote. — yaddly, Apr 12 '20 at 18:58
@DanielLawton you're getting this error `Cannot resolve method 'setAdapter(android.widget.ArrayAdapter)` because you are passing an instance of `Editable` to `retrieveData(final Editable s)` function, simply change to method parameter type to `retrieveData(final AutoCompleteTextView s)` and the above code should work as is. You will also need to make a minor change to your method call from`retrieveData(s);` to `retrieveData(autocomplete);` — yaddly, Apr 12 '20 at 19:50

How to fill AutoCompleteTextView in Android with an API call?

1 Answers1