Question

I have been banging my head against this one for two days on and off.

I tried to use getfilter.filter() but it didn’t work. so I created this code to search a list. it works but when I delete some letters the list gets stuck at the last result and never updates.

eg list: hello, hi, han, solo

when i type ‘h’ then hello, hi, and han show up.

when i add an ‘e’ so thats its ‘he’ only hello shows

when i delete the e, han and hi do not come up again.

private TextWatcher filterTextWatcher = new TextWatcher() {
     final ArrayList<String> finalItems = mItems;
    @Override
    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
    }

    @Override
    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count,
            int after) {
    }



    @Override
    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before,
            int count) {
        ArrayList<String> searchedItems = retainsSearched(mItems, s.toString());
        adapter.clear();
        for (int i = 0; i < searchedItems.size(); i++) {
            adapter.add(searchedItems.get(i));
        }
        adapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

};

public  ArrayList<String> retainsSearched(ArrayList<String> mItems2, String term) {
    ArrayList<String> stations = new ArrayList<String>();
    for (int i = 0; i < mItems2.size(); i++) {
        if (mItems2.get(i).toLowerCase().startsWith(term.toLowerCase())) {
            stations.add(mItems2.get(i));
        }
    }
    return stations;
}

Answer 1

when i type ‘h’ then hello, hi, and han show up. when i add an ‘e’ so
thats its ‘he’ only hello shows when i delete the e, han and hi do not
come up again.

That is most likely happening because the mItems list that you use in the TextWatcher is the list that is backing your adapter so by modifying it(when filtering and clearing/re adding items in the adapter) you always reduce the number of items available in the adapter, the items that you “see” each time you filter the list.

Instead try to make a copy of your initial items(mItems list) in the adapter and always do the filtering by testing the items in that copy(but don’t modify it, just add the matched items to the adapter).

Again, you should use the getFilter() method.

Edit:

ArrayList<String> searchedItems = retainsSearched(s.toString()); 
// ...

public  ArrayList<String> retainsSearched(ArrayList<String term) {
    ArrayList<String> stations = new ArrayList<String>();
    for (int i = 0; i < copyList.size(); i++) {
        if (copyList.get(i).toLowerCase().startsWith(term.toLowerCase())) {
            stations.add(copyList.get(i));
        }
    }
}