Android : Handle back button click when keyboard is open for EditText

Question

When I am writing something in EdiText and pressing the back button, it is hiding the keyboard, which is perfect. But I want to handle this Back Button Click when Keyboard is open for EditText. The reason is I want to clear EditText's text when the back button is pressed when the keyboard is open.

Activity method onBackPressed() is not called when keyboard is open for EditText.

I checked here but didn't help though.

Any help would be appreciated.

Clearing text on back is not the behavior that users expect. You should not do it. Add "clear" button, but do not repurpose "back" for actions that are not "back". — Agent_L, Nov 30 '21 at 09:20
@Agent_L don't focus on UI/UX, if you are aware of handling the back button click when the keyboard is open, let me know! — Kishan Solanki, Nov 30 '21 at 09:22
Why not cuntom View example: add a ImageView with clear image beside the View. — yan sam, Nov 30 '21 at 09:24
@yansam Clear button is already there. Need back button to handle. — Kishan Solanki, Nov 30 '21 at 09:26

GHH · Answer 1 · 2021-11-30T09:38:05.677

You can use custom edittext and implement onKeyPreIme to listen backPressed

public class MyEditText extends androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatEditText {

    private MyEditTextListener listener;

    public interface MyEditTextListener {
        void callback();
    }

    public void setListener(MyEditTextListener listener) {
        this.listener = listener;
    }

    public MyEditText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onKeyPreIme(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {

        listener.callback();
        return true;
    }
}

activity

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        MyEditText myEditText = findViewById(R.id.myEditText);
        myEditText.setListener(new MyEditText.MyEditTextListener() {

            @Override
            public void callback() {
                //handle backPressed event when keyboard have shown
            }
        });
    }

How can this custom edittext used with activity? Like how can I use onKeyPreIme method in the activity/fragment? — Kishan Solanki, Nov 30 '21 at 09:24
2 things. 1. activity's method onBackPressed() not called again ever once you focus on edittext. 2. callback() method called twice — Kishan Solanki, Nov 30 '21 at 11:29

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 01 '21 at 05:12

I did few modifications to @GuanHongHuang's answer and now I am able to do this by these 3 steps:

1. Creating Custom EditText Class to handle Back Press:

public class CustomEditTextWithBackPressEvent extends androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatEditText {

private MyEditTextListener onBackPressListener;

public CustomEditTextWithBackPressEvent(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
    super(context, attrs);
}

public void setOnBackPressListener(MyEditTextListener onBackPressListener) {
    this.onBackPressListener = onBackPressListener;
}

@Override
public boolean onKeyPreIme(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK &&
            event.getAction() == KeyEvent.ACTION_UP) {
        //back button pressed
        if (Objects.requireNonNull(ViewCompat.getRootWindowInsets(getRootView())).isVisible(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime())) {
            //keyboard is open
            onBackPressListener.callback();
        }
        return false;
    }
    return super.dispatchKeyEvent(event);
}

public interface MyEditTextListener {
    void callback();
}

}

2. Replace your normal EditText with this CustomEditTextWithBackPressEvent in XML

<CustomEditTextWithBackPressEvent
    android:id="@+id/etSearch"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:hint="@string/search_hint"
    android:imeOptions="actionSearch"
    android:inputType="text"
    android:maxLines="1" />

3. Handle Back Press:

binding.etSearch.setOnBackPressListener(() -> {
        //handle click
        //your code here
    });

Android : Handle back button click when keyboard is open for EditText

2 Answers2