Search dialog in android is not showing

Question

I am working on an Android application where I want to implement a search dialog. Despite following all the steps in http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/search/search-dialog.html

On clicking the search icon no search dialog appears. The code is as follows:

Android manifest

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        package="com.example.a1405232.rateit2">

        <application
            android:allowBackup="true"
            android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:supportsRtl="true"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
            <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                    <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
                </intent-filter>
            </activity>
            <activity
                android:name=".HomePage"
                android:label="@string/title_activity_home_page"
                android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar"></activity>

            <activity android:name=".SearchableActivity" >
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
                </intent-filter>
                <meta-data android:name="android.app.searchable"
                    android:resource="@xml/searchable"/>
            </activity>
                <meta-data android:name="android.app.searchable"
                android:resource="@xml/searchable"/>
        </application>

HomePage.java

package com.example.a1405232.rateit2;

    import android.content.Intent;
    import android.os.Bundle;
    import android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton;
    import android.support.design.widget.NavigationView;
    import android.support.design.widget.Snackbar;
    import android.support.v4.view.GravityCompat;
    import android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout;
    import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle;
    import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
    import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;
    import android.view.Menu;
    import android.view.MenuItem;
    import android.view.View;

    public class HomePage extends AppCompatActivity
            implements NavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener {
        Intent i1 = getIntent();
        @Override
        protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
            setContentView(R.layout.activity_home_page);
            Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
            setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

            FloatingActionButton fab = (FloatingActionButton) findViewById(R.id.fab);
            fab.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View view) {
                    Snackbar.make(view, "Replace with your own action", Snackbar.LENGTH_LONG)
                            .setAction("Action", null).show();
                }
            });

            DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
            ActionBarDrawerToggle toggle = new ActionBarDrawerToggle(
                    this, drawer, toolbar, R.string.navigation_drawer_open, R.string.navigation_drawer_close);
            drawer.setDrawerListener(toggle);
            toggle.syncState();

            NavigationView navigationView = (NavigationView) findViewById(R.id.nav_view);
            navigationView.setNavigationItemSelectedListener(this);
        }

        @Override
        public void onBackPressed() {
            DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
            if (drawer.isDrawerOpen(GravityCompat.START)) {
                drawer.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
            } else {
                super.onBackPressed();
            }
        }

        @Override
        public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
            // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
            getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.home_page, menu);
            return true;
        }

        @Override
        public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
            // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
            // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
            // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
            int id = item.getItemId();

            //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement

            switch(id)
            {
                case R.id.action_settings:
                    return true;

                case R.id.action_search:
                    onSearchRequested();


                    //          Toast.makeText(this, "This is my Toast message!",
            //                Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                    return true;

                default:
                    // If we got here, the user's action was not recognized.
                    // Invoke the superclass to handle it.
                    return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
            }

        }

        @SuppressWarnings("StatementWithEmptyBody")
        @Override
        public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
            // Handle navigation view item clicks here.
            int id = item.getItemId();

            if (id == R.id.nav_camera) {
                // Handle the camera action
            } else if (id == R.id.nav_gallery) {

            } else if (id == R.id.nav_slideshow) {

            } else if (id == R.id.nav_manage) {

            } else if (id == R.id.nav_share) {

            } else if (id == R.id.nav_send) {

            }

            DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
            drawer.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
            return true;
        }
    }

SearchableActivity.java

package com.example.a1405232.rateit2;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.app.SearchManager;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ListView;

public class SearchableActivity extends ListActivity{
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        handleIntent(getIntent());
    }

    public void onNewIntent(Intent intent) {
        setIntent(intent);
        handleIntent(intent);
    }

    public void onListItemClick(ListView l,View v, int position, long id) {
        // call detail activity for clicked entry
    }

    private void handleIntent(Intent intent) {
        if (Intent.ACTION_SEARCH.equals(intent.getAction())) {
            String query =intent.getStringExtra(SearchManager.QUERY);
            doSearch(query);
        }
    }

    private void doSearch(String queryStr) {
        // get a Cursor, prepare the ListAdapter and set it
    }

}

There's a searchable.xml in res/xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<searchable xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:hint="@string/search_hint" >
</searchable>

What am I missing out on? I have not yet implemented query yet. Just want the SearchableActivity to open so that I can see the search dialog.

I saw this answer and added an external meta tag but no response Search in Android

This is how the screen looks. No search box appears on clicking the search icon.

Answer 1

following is the basic code for a working search dialog example.

First of all u have to define a searchable.xml file in the xml resource folder:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<searchable xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:hint="@string/search_hint" >
</searchable>

Please be careful, for the label and hint values are mandatory they point to string resources, this is a point that should be highlighted more in the android documentation and still is the source of so many issues.

Second, you have to change a bit your AndroidManifest.xml, let's suppose for sake of simplicity that you just have one activity MainActivity, your manifest at the end should be like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
          package="com.paolomoschini.searchdialogtest">

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
            </intent-filter>

            <!-- this is the searchable activity; it performs searches. 
            Notice that this provides the search dialog by default -->
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
            </intent-filter>
            <meta-data android:name="android.app.searchable"
                       android:resource="@xml/searchable"/>

        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

The last step is to change the MainActivity.class for show the search dialog and receive the search query. Let's suppose you have a menu item with the following items declared:

<menu 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"
      xmlns:appcompat="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
      tools:context="com.paolomoschini.searchdialogtest.MainActivity">

    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_search"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_search"
        android:title="Search"
        appcompat:showAsAction="always"/>

    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_settings"
        android:orderInCategory="100"
        android:title="@string/action_settings"
        app:showAsAction="never"/>

</menu>

The MainActivity.class should trigger the following when user press on the search icon

@Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
        int id = item.getItemId();

        //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
            return true;
        }

        if (id == R.id.action_search) {
            //this is the method that displays the search dialog
            onSearchRequested();
        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }

MainActivity.class receive the search text throught an intent, in your onCreate method add the following:

    // Get the intent, verify the action and get the query
    Intent intent = getIntent();
    if (Intent.ACTION_SEARCH.equals(intent.getAction())) {
        String query = intent.getStringExtra(SearchManager.QUERY);
        Log.v("QUERY", query);
    }