[android] Set inputType for an EditText Programmatically?

How do we set the input type for an EditText programatically? I'm trying:

mEdit.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_PASSWORD);

it doesn't seem to have any effect.

This question is related to android android-edittext android-inputtype

The answer is


This may be of help to others like me who wanted to toggle between password and free-text mode. I tried using the input methods suggested but it only worked in one direction. I could go from password to text but then I could not revert. For those trying to handle a toggle (eg a show Password check box) use

       @Override
        public void onClick(View v)
        {
            if(check.isChecked())
            {
                edit.setTransformationMethod(HideReturnsTransformationMethod.getInstance());
                Log.i(TAG, "Show password");
            }
            else
            {
                edit.setTransformationMethod(PasswordTransformationMethod.getInstance());
                Log.i(TAG, "Hide password");
            }
        }

I have to credit this for the solution. Wish I had found that a few hours ago!


editText.setInputType(EditorInfo.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER);

//you can change TYPE_... according to your requirement.


Here are the various Input Types as shown on the standard keyboard.

input types demo

Setting the input type programmatically

editText.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT);

Other options besides TYPE_CLASS_TEXT can be found in the documentation.

Setting the input type in XML

<EditText
    android:inputType="text"
/>

Other options besides text can be found in the documentation.

Supplemental code

Here is the code for the image above.

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    EditText editText;
    TextView textView;
    List<InputTypeItem> inputTypes;
    int counter = 0;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        editText = findViewById(R.id.editText);
        textView = findViewById(R.id.textView);
        initArray();
    }

    public void onChangeInputTypeButtonClick(View view) {
        if (counter >= inputTypes.size()) {
            startOver();
            return;
        }
        textView.setText(inputTypes.get(counter).name);
        editText.setInputType(inputTypes.get(counter).value);
        editText.setSelection(editText.getText().length());
        counter++;
    }

    private void startOver() {
        counter = 0;
        textView.setText("");
        editText.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT);
        InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager)getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
        imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(editText.getWindowToken(), 0);
    }


    private void initArray() {
        inputTypes = new ArrayList<>();
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("date",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_DATETIME | InputType.TYPE_DATETIME_VARIATION_DATE));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("datetime", InputType.TYPE_CLASS_DATETIME | InputType.TYPE_DATETIME_VARIATION_NORMAL));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("none", InputType.TYPE_NULL));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("number",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER | InputType.TYPE_NUMBER_VARIATION_NORMAL));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("numberDecimal",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER | InputType.TYPE_NUMBER_FLAG_DECIMAL));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("numberPassword",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER | InputType.TYPE_NUMBER_VARIATION_PASSWORD));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("numberSigned", InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER | InputType.TYPE_NUMBER_FLAG_SIGNED));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("phone",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_PHONE));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("text",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_NORMAL));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textAutoComplete", InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_AUTO_COMPLETE));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textAutoCorrect",  InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_AUTO_CORRECT));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textCapCharacters",  InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_CAP_CHARACTERS));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textCapSentences",  InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_CAP_SENTENCES));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textCapWords",  InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_CAP_WORDS));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textEmailAddress",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_EMAIL_ADDRESS));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textEmailSubject", InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_EMAIL_SUBJECT));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textFilter",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_FILTER));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textLongMessage",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_LONG_MESSAGE));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textMultiLine",  InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_MULTI_LINE));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textNoSuggestions", InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_NO_SUGGESTIONS));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textPassword",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_PASSWORD));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textPersonName", InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_PERSON_NAME));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textPhonetic",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_PHONETIC));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textPostalAddress", InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_POSTAL_ADDRESS));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textShortMessage", InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_SHORT_MESSAGE));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textUri",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_URI));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textVisiblePassword",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_VISIBLE_PASSWORD));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textWebEditText",  InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_WEB_EDIT_TEXT));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textWebEmailAddress", InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_WEB_EMAIL_ADDRESS));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("textWebPassword", InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_WEB_PASSWORD));
        inputTypes.add(new InputTypeItem("time", InputType.TYPE_CLASS_DATETIME | InputType.TYPE_DATETIME_VARIATION_TIME));
    }

    class InputTypeItem {
        private String name;
        private int value;
        InputTypeItem(String name, int value) {
            this.name = name;
            this.value = value;
        }
    }
}

See also


i've solve all with

.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER);

for see clear data and

.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER | InputType.TYPE_NUMBER_VARIATION_PASSWORD);

for see the dots (if the data is a number, it isn't choice che other class)


Hide:

edtPassword.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT);
edtPassword.setTransformationMethod(null);

Show:

edtPassword.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_PASSWORD);                    
edtPassword.setTransformationMethod(PasswordTransformationMethod.getInstance());

field.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT);

For setting the input type for an EditText programmatically, you have to specify that input class type is text.

editPass.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_PASSWORD);

Try adding this to the EditText/TextView tag in your layout

android:password="true"

Edit: I just re-read your post, perhaps you need to do this after construction. I don't see why your snippet wouldn't work.


For Kotlin:

    val password = EditText(this)
    password.inputType = InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT or InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_PASSWORD
    password.hint = "Password"

To only allow numbers:

password1.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER);

To transform (hide) the password:

password1.setTransformationMethod(PasswordTransformationMethod.getInstance());

password.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT |
InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_PASSWORD);

also you have to be careful that cursor moves to the starting point of the editText after this function is called, so make sure that you move cursor to the end point again.


To unhide password:

editText.setInputType(
      InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT|
      InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_VISIBLE_PASSWORD
);

To hide password again:

editText.setTransformationMethod(PasswordTransformationMethod.getInstance());

I know the expected Answer is in Java . But here's my 2 cents of advice always try to handle view related stuff in XML (atleast basic stuff) so I would suggest rather use a xml attribute rather than handling this use case in java

    <EditText
     android:inputType="textPassword"/>