Android Edit Text Example

EditText is a Widget of user interface (UI) used to retrieve and modify text data from a user in an Android app. EditText is a subclass of TextView that inherit all the property of TextView. Nowadays, EditText is represented with the PlainText element in UI, which displays an empty text field while designing the app. EditText (or PlainText) is used in the app whenever you need input from the user side and proceed with its text (or value) in your app.

EditText (or PlainText) is not only used to get plain text in your application, but even you can use it to get values such as email, number, password, etc. To get the value of each type in EditText, you must specify its input type in its inputType attribute. For example, to input plain text, set the inputType attribute to "text", and to input only numeric values, set the inputType attribute to "number".

Syntax of EditText

<Layout>
	...
	...
	<EditText
		android: someAttribute1 = "value of attribute1"
		android: someAttribute2 = "value of attribute2"
		...
		...
		android: someAttributeN = "value of attributeN"
	</EditText>
	...
	...
</Layout>

Here the "Layout" could be any layout like "RelativeLayout", "LinearLayout", "GridLayout", etc., and the attributes can be any from the below-mentioned table:

XML Attributes of EditText

Attributes	Description
android:id	It is used to uniquely identify the element
android:width	It is used to set the width of EditText in pixels
android:hight	It is used to set the height of EditText in pixels
android:text	It is used to set the text value inside the EditText
android:inputType	It is used to mention what type of value should pass in EditText, like plain text, email, password, etc
android:hint	It is used to highlight what should be input when text is empty
android:gravity	gravity is used to align the text like left, right, center, top
android:textSize	It is used to specify the size of the text
android:textStyle	It is used to set the text style like bold, italic, bold italic, etc.
android:textColor	It is used to set the color of the text
android:background	It is used to set the background of your EditText
android:backgroundTint	It is used to set tint to the background of your element
android:maxWidth	It is used to set the maximum width of View in pixel
android:minWidth	It is used to set the minimum width of View in pixel
android:drawableStart	It is used to set the drawable to be drawn to the start of View
android:drawableEnd	It is used to set the drawable to be drawn to the end of View
android:drawableBottom	It is used to set the drawable to be drawn to the bottom of View
android:drawableLeft	It is used to set the drawable to be drawn to the left of View
android:drawableRight	It is used to set the drawable to be drawn to the right of View
android:drawablePadding	It is used to set the drawable to be drawn from the set padding of View

Example of using EditText

Look at this demonstration of how you can use the EditText widget in your user interface:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"  
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"  
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"  
    android:layout_width = "match_parent"  
    android:layout_height = "match_parent"  
    tools:context = "example.javatpoint.com.edittext.MainActivity">  
      <EditText  
        android:id = "@+id/editText"  
        android:layout_width = "wrap_content"  
        android:layout_height = "wrap_content"   
        android:inputType = "text" />  
  
</RelativeLayout>  

How you retrieve value from EditText in Java Class

Following is the code to retrieve the value from EditText in your Java class.

EditText edittext = findViewById(R.id.editText);  
String value=edittext.getText().toString();  

Android EditText Example

Now, let's create an example of Android EditText in which we will pass or input some values in the EditText user interface, get their value, and display their respective values in a Toast message.

Drag and drop two EditText widgets and one Button widget element on the "activity_main.xml" file (user interface) layout to do this. Look at the auto-generated XML code. If you wish to edit and modify, do accordingly.

activity_main.xml

<?XML version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"  
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"  
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"  
    android:layout_width="match_parent"  
    android:layout_height="match_parent"  
    tools:context="example.javatpoint.com.edittextexample.MainActivity">  
  
    <EditText  
        android:id="@+id/editText1"  
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"  
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"  
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"  
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"  
        android:layout_marginTop="61dp"  
        android:ems="10"  
        android:inputType="text"  
        android:hint=?enter text?
        tools:layout_editor_absoluteX="84dp"  
        tools:layout_editor_absoluteY="53dp" />  
  
    <EditText  
        android:id="@+id/editText2"  
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"  
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"  
        android:layout_below="@+id/editText1"  
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"  
        android:layout_marginTop="32dp"  
        android:ems="10"  
        android:inputType="password"  
        android:hint="enter password"
        tools:layout_editor_absoluteX="84dp"  
        tools:layout_editor_absoluteY="127dp" />  
  
    <Button  
        android:id="@+id/button"  
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"  
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"  
        android:layout_below="@+id/editText2"  
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"  
        android:layout_marginTop="109dp"  
        android:text="Show Value"  
        tools:layout_editor_absoluteX="148dp"  
        tools:layout_editor_absoluteY="266dp" />  
</RelativeLayout>  

MainActivity.java

In the "MainActivity.java" file, write a code to get values you will enter in EditText and display (manipulate) them in a Toast message on clicking the button.

package example.javatpoint.com.edittext;  
  
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;  
import android.os.Bundle;  
import android.view.View;  
import android.widget.Button;  
import android.widget.EditText;  
import android.widget.Toast;  
  
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {  
    private EditText edittext1, edittext2;  
    private Button buttonDisplay;  
  
    @Override  
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {  
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);  
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);  
  
        addListenerOnButton();  
    }  
  
    public void addListenerOnButton() {  
        edittext1 = findViewById(R.id.editText1);  
        edittext2 = findViewById(R.id.editText2);  
        buttonDisplay = findViewById(R.id.button);  
  
        buttonDisplay.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {  
            @Override  
            public void onClick(View view) {  
                String value1=edittext1.getText().toString();  
                String value2=edittext2.getText().toString();  
                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),value1"\n"value2, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();  
            }  
        });  
    }  
}  

Output:

How to use attributes of EditText

Let's see some of the common attributes of EditText that help to configure the user interface in an XML (layout) file.

1. id:

id attribute used to identify a text of EditText element uniquely. Following is the code to define and set the id attribute of EditText.

<EditText
android:id="@+id/editText"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="match_parent"/>

2. gravity:

gravity is an optional attribute used to align the input text right, left, center, center_vertical, center_horizontal, etc. Following is an example in which we have defined the gravity of text to the "right" in EditText.

<EditText
android:id="@+id/editText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Enter your text"
android:gravity="right"/> <!--set gravity-->

3. text:

text attribute is used to set the text within an EditText control widget. You can set the text in both an XML file and the Java class. Following is an example in which we set the text value "Javatpoint" in EditText.

<EditText
android:id="@+id/editText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="Javatpoint"/><!--set text in EditText-->

Setting text within EditText in the Java class

Here is the code to set text within EditText programmatically in the Java class.

EditText editText = findViewById(R.id.editText);
editText.setText("Javatpoint");//set the text in EditText

4. hint:

hint attribute is used to set the hint, i.e., what the user has to enter in this edit text. Whenever the user starts typing (or providing) value in it, the hint text automatically goes disappears. Following is the code where we set the hint "enter your name" in the edit text.

<EditText
android:id="@+id/editText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:hint="enter your name" /><!--display the hint-->

Setting hint within EditText in Java class

Here is the code to set hint within EditText in Java class programmatically.

EditText editText = findViewById(R.id.editText);
editText.setHint("enter your name");//set the hint

5. textColor:

textColor attribute is used to set the text color of the text of EditText. You can set the text color like "#rgb", "#rrggbb". Following is the code to set the text color in an XML file of EditText control; here, we set the red color.

<EditText
android:id="@+id/editText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="Password"
android:textColor="#f00"/><!--set red text color-->

Setting textColor within EditText in the Java class

Here is the code to programmatically set the text color within EditText in the Java class.

EditText editText=findViewById(R.id.editText);
editText.setTextColor(Color.RED);//set the red text color

6. textColorHint:

textColorHint attribute is used to set the color of hint text in EditText. Following is the code to set the color of hint text in an XML file; here, we set the blue color of hint text.

<EditText
android:id="@+id/editText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:hint="enter your name"
android:textColorHint="#00f"/><!--set hint color blue-->

Setting textColorHint within EditText in Java class

Following is the code to programmatically set the color of hint text within EditText in the Java class.

EditText editText=findViewById(R.id.editText);
editText.setHintTextColor(Color.blue(0));//set the blue hint color

7. textSize:

textSize attribute is used to set the size of the text in edit text. You can set the size of edit text in a different unit like sp (scale independent pixel) or dp (density pixel). In the below example, we set 25sp size for the text of an edit text.

<EditText
android:id="@+id/editText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="Javatpoint"
android:textSize="25sp" /><!--set 25sp text size-->

Setting textSize within EditText in Java class

Also, you can set the text size of EditText in Java class programmatically as follow.

EditText editText=findViewById(R.id.editText);
editText.setTextSize(25);//set size of text

8. textStyle:

textStyle attribute is used to set the style of text in EditText. The different text styles are bold, italic, and normal (default style). If you want to set two or more styles for an edit text, use the "|" operator. In the below example, we set the text style to bold and italic.

<EditText
android:id="@+id/editText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:text="Email"
android:textSize="25sp"
android:textStyle="bold|italic"/><!--set bold and italic text style-->

9. background:

background attribute is used to set the background of an EditText. You can set a color or a drawable image in the background of an edited text. Here, we set the black background of EditText.

<EditText
android:id="@+id/editText"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:hint="enter your name"
android:padding="15dp"
android:textColorHint="#fff"
android:textStyle="bold|italic"
android:background="#000"/><!--set background color black-->

Setting Background within EditText in Java class

Also, you can set the background color of EditText in the Java class programmatically as follow.

EditText editText=findViewById(R.id.editText);
editText.setBackgroundColor(Color.BLACK);//set black background color

10. padding:

padding attribute is used to set the padding of text as left, right, top or bottom. In the above example (in 9 background), we set the 15dp padding from all the sides of the edit text.

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