android - EditText typing is slow

Question

I've got an EditText that is SLOW to respond when typing. The lag is annoying enough to cause me to find a solution. I did some research and found an SO thread EditText lagging when typing text and it suggests to move the code to it's own thread. I did that but I'm still experiencing the lag.

EDIT

After seeing the comments below (thanks dreamtale), I know the new thread isn't necessary. But putting the code back in the onTextChanged or afterTextChanged event still causes the slow response. I've modified the code to reflect the latest changes:

xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     
    android:layout_width="match_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_weight="1" >

    <LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" 
        android:layout_width="match_parent" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="5dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="2dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="2dp" > 
        <include 
            android:layout_width="match_parent" 
            android:layout_height="match_parent" 
            layout="@layout/right_layout_header" />             
    </LinearLayout>

<ScrollView 
   android:layout_width="match_parent" 
   android:layout_height="0dp" 
   android:layout_weight="1"
   android:layout_marginRight="5dp"
   android:layout_marginBottom="5dp">

    <TableLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:shrinkColumns="1"
        android:drawable="@drawable/light_bg" >

        <TableRow
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:shrinkColumns="1">
                <TextView
                    android:id="@+id/tvSummaryBold"
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:textStyle="bold"
                    android:gravity="left"
                    android:text="@string/Summary"
                    style="@style/IssueDetailsLabelTextView" />
        </TableRow>
        <TableRow
            android:layout_width="200dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:shrinkColumns="1">

            <EditText
                    android:id="@+id/txtSummary" 
                    android:layout_width="match_parent" 
                    android:layout_height="match_parent" 
                    android:hint="@string/SummaryDefaultText" 
                    android:maxLength="255"
                    android:singleLine="true"
                    android:layout_weight="1"

                />
        </TableRow>
        <TableRow>
                <TextView 
                    android:id="@+id/tvCharactersRemaining"
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:textColor="@color/Gray"
                    android:paddingLeft="5dp"
                    />
        </TableRow>
    </TableLayout>
  </ScrollView>
</LinearLayout>

Here's the code for the fragment:

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    try
    {
        vView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.submit_issue, container, false);

        //Setup initial "characters remaining" text.
        mCharsRemaining = (TextView)vView.findViewById(R.id.tvCharactersRemaining);
        mCharsRemaining.setText(String.valueOf(iMaxChars) + ' ' + getString(R.string.CharsRemaining));

        //Event for counting the characters remaining.
        mSummaryEditText.addTextChangedListener(TextEditorWatcher);

        new LoadPOCsTask().execute();   
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        Errors.LogError(e);
    }
    return vView;           
}

The TextEditorWatcher event:

private final TextWatcher TextEditorWatcher = new TextWatcher() { 
    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) { 

    } 

    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) { 

        int iMaxCharsRemaining = (iMaxChars - s.length());
        mCharsRemaining.setText("Static Text "); //Intentionally put static text to see if problem still occurs, and yes it does.
    } 

    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) { 
    } 
}; 

I can't figure out why it's still lagging when typing. If I remove the addTextChangeListener event, then it works fine. Ideas?

Answer 1

I was having a similar issue using EditText inside a ListView, that was fixed by changing the EditText width to 0dp using weighted widths to match/fill the parent.

I don't know for sure why this was occurring, however I believe it is because when the width of the EditText is set to wrap content it will adjust/redraw itself so that everything fits, and the ListView will also attempt to redraw itself so everything fits. So by making the EditText have a fixed width, this redraw is no longer required.

Answer 2

I found that switching off the predictive text helped.

android:inputType="text|textNoSuggestions"

Answer 3

Edit AndroidManifest:

My old code

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" android:targetSdkVersion="21" />

My new code

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" />

I just removed the targetSdkVersion and the lag gone away...

Answer 4

I struggled for a while, I started removing attributes in the xml, finally got the answer. In my case, I removed these lines:

        android:ellipsize="end"
        android:textAllCaps="true"

Answer 5

When you typing text, the onTextChanged is called again and again, so you are starting an new thread (EditTextWatcherTask) again and again. It will consume many resource of the system.

As well thread is for the task that need many time to finish it, so in your situation, you don't need a thread, remove the task, just put the computation code in the onTextChanged.