[android] How can I set the focus (and display the keyboard) on my EditText programmatically

I have a layout which contains some views like this:

<LinearLayout>
<TextView...>
<TextView...>
<ImageView ...>
<EditText...>
<Button...>
</linearLayout>

How can I set the focus (display the keyboard) on my EditText programmatically?

I've tried this and it works only when I launch my Activity normally, but when I launch it in a TabHost, it doesn't work.

txtSearch.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
txtSearch.setFocusable(true);
txtSearch.requestFocus();

showSoftInput was not working for me at all.

I figured I needed to set the input mode : android:windowSoftInputMode="stateVisible" (here in the Activity component in the manifest)

Hope this help!

First way:

    etPassword.post(() -> {
        etPassword.requestFocus();
        InputMethodManager manager = (InputMethodManager) getContext().getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
        manager.showSoftInput(etPassword, InputMethodManager.SHOW_IMPLICIT);
    });

Second way:

In Manifest:

    <activity
        android:name=".activities.LoginActivity"
        android:screenOrientation="portrait"
        android:windowSoftInputMode="stateVisible"/>

In code:

etPassword.requestFocus();

I tried the top answer by David Merriman and it also didn't work in my case. But I found the suggestion to run this code delayed here and it works like a charm.

val editText = view.findViewById<View>(R.id.settings_input_text)

editText.postDelayed({
    editText.requestFocus()

    val imm = context.getSystemService(INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as? InputMethodManager
    imm?.showSoftInput(editText, InputMethodManager.SHOW_IMPLICIT)
}, 100)

editTxt.setOnFocusChangeListener { v, hasFocus ->
            val imm = getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as InputMethodManager
            if (hasFocus) {
                imm.toggleSoftInput(InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED, InputMethodManager.HIDE_IMPLICIT_ONLY)
            } else {
                imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(v.windowToken, 0)
            }
        }

Here is how a kotlin extension for showing and hiding the soft keyboard can be made:

fun View.showKeyboard() {
  this.requestFocus()
  val inputMethodManager = context.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as InputMethodManager
  inputMethodManager.showSoftInput(this, InputMethodManager.SHOW_IMPLICIT)
}

fun View.hideKeyboard() {
  val inputMethodManager = context.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as InputMethodManager
  inputMethodManager.hideSoftInputFromWindow(windowToken, 0)
}

Then you can just do this:

editText.showKeyboard()
// OR
editText.hideKeyboard()

I recommend using a LifecycleObserver which is part of the Handling Lifecycles with Lifecycle-Aware Components of Android Jetpack.

I want to open and close the Keyboard when the Fragment/Activity appears. Firstly, define two extension functions for the EditText. You can put them anywhere in your project:

fun EditText.showKeyboard() {
    requestFocus()
    val imm = context.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as InputMethodManager
    imm.showSoftInput(this, InputMethodManager.SHOW_IMPLICIT)
}

fun EditText.hideKeyboard() {
    val imm = context.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as InputMethodManager
    imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(this.windowToken, 0)
}

Then define a LifecycleObserver which opens and closes the keyboard when the Activity/Fragment reaches onResume() or onPause:

class EditTextKeyboardLifecycleObserver(private val editText: WeakReference<EditText>) :
    LifecycleObserver {

    @OnLifecycleEvent(Lifecycle.Event.ON_RESUME)
    fun openKeyboard() {
        editText.get()?.postDelayed({ editText.get()?.showKeyboard() }, 100)
    }

    @OnLifecycleEvent(Lifecycle.Event.ON_PAUSE)
    fun closeKeyboard() {
        editText.get()?.hideKeyboard()
    }
}

Then add the following line to any of your Fragments/Activities, you can reuse the LifecycleObserver any times. E.g. for a Fragment:

override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState)

    // inflate the Fragment layout

    lifecycle.addObserver(EditTextKeyboardLifecycleObserver(WeakReference(myEditText)))

    // do other stuff and return the view

}

I finally figured out a solution and create a Kotlin class for it

object KeyboardUtils {

    fun showKeyboard(editText: EditText) {
        editText.requestFocus()
        val imm = editText.context.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as InputMethodManager
        imm.showSoftInput(editText, 0)
    }

    fun hideKeyboard(editText: EditText) {
        val imm = editText.context.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as InputMethodManager
        imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(editText.windowToken, 0)
    }

}

I couldn't get any of these answers to work on their own. The solution for me was to combine them:

InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.toggleSoftInput(InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED, InputMethodManager.HIDE_IMPLICIT_ONLY);
editText.requestFocus();
imm.showSoftInput(editText, InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED);

I'm not sure why that was required for me -- according to the docs it seems that either method should have worked on their own.

This worked for me, Thanks to ungalcrys

Show keyboard:

editText = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.myTextViewId);
editText.requestFocus();
InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager)getSystemService(this.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.toggleSoftInput(InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED,InputMethodManager.HIDE_IMPLICIT_ONLY);

Hide keyboard:

InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(this.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(editText.getWindowToken(), 0);

final EditText tb = new EditText(this);
tb.requestFocus();
tb.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        InputMethodManager inputMethodManager = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
        inputMethodManager.showSoftInput(tb, InputMethodManager.SHOW_IMPLICIT);
    }
}, 1000);

I tried a lot ways and it's not working tho, not sure is it because i'm using shared transition from fragment to activity containing the edit text.

Btw my edittext is also wrapped in LinearLayout.

I added a slight delay to request focus and below code worked for me: (Kotlin)

 et_search.postDelayed({
     editText.requestFocus()

     showKeyboard()
 },400) //only 400 is working fine, even 300 / 350, the cursor is not showing

showKeyboard()

 val imm = getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as InputMethodManager
 imm.toggleSoftInput(InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED, 0)

use:

editText.requestFocus();
InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.toggleSoftInput(InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED, InputMethodManager.HIDE_IMPLICIT_ONLY);

Here is KeyboardHelper Class for hiding and showing keyboard

import android.content.Context;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.inputmethod.InputMethodManager;
import android.widget.EditText;

/**
 * Created by khanhamza on 06-Mar-17.
 */

public class KeyboardHelper {
public static void hideSoftKeyboard(final Context context, final View view) {
    if (context == null) {
        return;
    }
    view.requestFocus();
    view.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) context.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
assert imm != null;
imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(view.getWindowToken(), 0);
}
}, 1000);
}

public static void hideSoftKeyboard(final Context context, final EditText editText) {
    editText.requestFocus();
    editText.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) context.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
assert imm != null;
imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(editText.getWindowToken(), 0);
}
}, 1000);
}


public static void openSoftKeyboard(final Context context, final EditText editText) {
    editText.requestFocus();
    editText.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) context.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
assert imm != null;
imm.showSoftInput(editText, InputMethodManager.SHOW_IMPLICIT);
}
}, 1000);
}
}