How to stop EditText from gaining focus when an activity starts in Android?

Question

I have an Activity in Android, with two elements:

1. EditText
2. ListView

When my Activity starts, the EditText immediately has the input focus (flashing cursor). I don't want any control to have input focus at startup. I tried:

EditText.setSelected(false);
EditText.setFocusable(false);

No luck. How can I convince the EditText to not select itself when the Activity starts?

Answer 1

Adding the tags android:focusableInTouchMode="true" and android:focusable="true" to the parent layout (e.g. LinearLayout or ConstraintLayout) like in the following example, will fix the problem.

<!-- Dummy item to prevent AutoCompleteTextView from receiving focus -->
<LinearLayout
    android:focusable="true" 
    android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
    android:layout_width="0px" 
    android:layout_height="0px"/>

<!-- :nextFocusUp and :nextFocusLeft have been set to the id of this component
to prevent the dummy from receiving focus again -->
<AutoCompleteTextView android:id="@+id/autotext"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:nextFocusUp="@id/autotext" 
    android:nextFocusLeft="@id/autotext"/>

Answer 2

Is the actual problem that you just don't want it to have focus at all? Or you don't want it to show the virtual keyboard as a result of focusing on the EditText? I don't really see an issue with the EditText having a focus on the start, but it's definitely a problem to have the softInput window open when the user did not explicitly request to focus on the EditText (and open the keyboard as a result).

If it's the problem of the virtual keyboard, see the AndroidManifest.xml <activity> element documentation.

android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden" - always hide it when entering the activity.

or android:windowSoftInputMode="stateUnchanged" - don't change it (e.g. don't show it if it isn't already shown, but if it was open when entering the activity, leave it open).

Answer 3

A simpler solution exists. Set these attributes in your parent layout:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/mainLayout"
    android:descendantFocusability="beforeDescendants"
    android:focusableInTouchMode="true" >

And now, when the activity starts this main layout will get focus by default.

Also, we can remove focus from child views at runtime (e.g., after finishing child editing) by giving the focus to the main layout again, like this:

findViewById(R.id.mainLayout).requestFocus();

Good comment from Guillaume Perrot:

android:descendantFocusability="beforeDescendants" seems to be the default (integer value is 0). It works just by adding android:focusableInTouchMode="true".

Really, we can see that the beforeDescendants is set as default in the ViewGroup.initViewGroup() method (Android 2.2.2). But not equal to 0. ViewGroup.FOCUS_BEFORE_DESCENDANTS = 0x20000;

Thanks to Guillaume.

Answer 4

The only solution I've found is:

• Create a LinearLayout (I don't know if other kinds of Layout will work)
• Set the attributes android:focusable="true" and android:focusableInTouchMode="true"

And the EditText won't get the focus after starting the activity

Answer 5

The problem seems to come from a property that I can only see in the XML form of the layout.

Make sure to remove this line at the end of the declaration within the EditText XML tags:

<requestFocus />

That should give something like that :

<EditText
   android:id="@+id/emailField"
   android:layout_width="fill_parent"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:inputType="textEmailAddress">

   //<requestFocus /> /* <-- without this line */
</EditText>

Answer 6

using the information provided by other posters, I used the following solution:

in the layout XML

<!-- Dummy item to prevent AutoCompleteTextView from receiving focus -->
<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/linearLayout_focus"
    android:focusable="true"
    android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
    android:layout_width="0px"
    android:layout_height="0px"/>

<!-- AUTOCOMPLETE -->
<AutoCompleteTextView
    android:id="@+id/autocomplete"
    android:layout_width="200dip"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="20dip"
    android:inputType="textNoSuggestions|textVisiblePassword"/>

in onCreate()

private AutoCompleteTextView mAutoCompleteTextView;
private LinearLayout mLinearLayout;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.mylayout);

    //get references to UI components
    mAutoCompleteTextView = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.autocomplete);
    mLinearLayout = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.linearLayout_focus);
}

and finally, in onResume()

@Override
protected void onResume() {
    super.onResume();

    //do not give the editbox focus automatically when activity starts
    mAutoCompleteTextView.clearFocus();
    mLinearLayout.requestFocus();
}

Answer 7

Try clearFocus() instead of setSelected(false). Every view in Android has both focusability and selectability, and I think that you want to just clear the focus.

Answer 8

The following will stop EditText from taking focus when created but grab it when you touch them.

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/et_bonus_custom"
    android:focusable="false" />

So you set focusable to false in the xml, but the key is in the java, which you add the following listener:

etBonus.setOnTouchListener(new View.OnTouchListener() {
    @Override
    public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event) {
        v.setFocusable(true);
        v.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
        return false;
    }
});

Because you are returning false, i.e. not consuming the event, the focusing behavior will proceed like normal.

Answer 9

I had tried several answers individually but the focus is still at the EditText. I only managed to solve it by using two of the below solution together.

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:id="@+id/mainLayout"
  android:descendantFocusability="beforeDescendants"
  android:focusableInTouchMode="true" >

( Reference from Silver https://stackoverflow.com/a/8639921/15695 )

and remove

<requestFocus />

at EditText

( Reference from floydaddict https://stackoverflow.com/a/9681809 )

Answer 10

Late but simplest answer, just add this in the parent layout of the XML.

android:focusable="true" 
android:focusableInTouchMode="true"

Upvote if it helped you! Happy Coding :)

Answer 11

None of these solutions worked for me. The way I fix the autofocus was:

<activity android:name=".android.InviteFriendsActivity"
 android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustPan">
    <intent-filter >
    </intent-filter>
</activity>

Answer 12

Simple solution: In AndroidManifest in Activity tag use

android:windowSoftInputMode="stateAlwaysHidden"

Answer 13

You can just set "focusable" and "focusable in touch mode" to value true on the first TextView of the layout. In this way when the activity starts the TextView will be focused but, due to its nature, you will see nothing focused on the screen and, of course, there will be no keyboard displayed...

Answer 14

The following worked for me in Manifest. Write,

<activity
android:name=".MyActivity"
android:windowSoftInputMode="stateAlwaysHidden"/>

Answer 15

I needed to clearly focus on all fields programmatically. I just added the following two statements to my main layout definition.

myLayout.setDescendantFocusability(ViewGroup.FOCUS_BEFORE_DESCENDANTS);
myLayout.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);

That's it. Fixed my problem instantly. Thanks, Silver, for pointing me in the right direction.

Answer 16

Add android:windowSoftInputMode="stateAlwaysHidden" in the activity tag of the Manifest.xml file.

Source

Answer 17

If you have another view on your activity like a ListView, you can also do:

ListView.requestFocus(); 

in your onResume() to grab focus from the editText.

I know this question has been answered but just providing an alternative solution that worked for me :)

Answer 18

Try this before your first editable field:

<TextView  
        android:id="@+id/dummyfocus" 
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:text="@string/foo"
        />

---

findViewById(R.id.dummyfocus).setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
findViewById(R.id.dummyfocus).requestFocus();

Answer 19

Add following in onCreate method:

this.getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_HIDDEN);

Answer 20

Write this line in your Parent Layout...

 android:focusableInTouchMode="true"

Answer 21

Being that I don't like to pollute the XML with something that is related to functionality, I created this method that "transparently" steals the focus from the first focusable view and then makes sure to remove itself when necessary!

public static View preventInitialFocus(final Activity activity)
{
    final ViewGroup content = (ViewGroup)activity.findViewById(android.R.id.content);
    final View root = content.getChildAt(0);
    if (root == null) return null;
    final View focusDummy = new View(activity);
    final View.OnFocusChangeListener onFocusChangeListener = new View.OnFocusChangeListener()
    {
        @Override
        public void onFocusChange(View view, boolean b)
        {
            view.setOnFocusChangeListener(null);
            content.removeView(focusDummy);
        }
    };
    focusDummy.setFocusable(true);
    focusDummy.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
    content.addView(focusDummy, 0, new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(0, 0));
    if (root instanceof ViewGroup)
    {
        final ViewGroup _root = (ViewGroup)root;
        for (int i = 1, children = _root.getChildCount(); i < children; i++)
        {
            final View child = _root.getChildAt(i);
            if (child.isFocusable() || child.isFocusableInTouchMode())
            {
                child.setOnFocusChangeListener(onFocusChangeListener);
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    else if (root.isFocusable() || root.isFocusableInTouchMode())
        root.setOnFocusChangeListener(onFocusChangeListener);

    return focusDummy;
}

Answer 22

Late, but maybe helpful. Create a dummy EditText at the top of your layout then call myDummyEditText.requestFocus() in onCreate()

<EditText android:id="@+id/dummyEditTextFocus" 
android:layout_width="0px"
android:layout_height="0px" />

That seems to behave as I expect. No need to handle configuration changes, etc. I needed this for an Activity with a lengthy TextView (instructions).

Answer 23

Yeah, I did the same thing - create a 'dummy' linear layout which gets the initial focus. Furthermore, I set the 'next' focus IDs so the user can't focus it anymore after scrolling once:

<LinearLayout 'dummy'>
<EditText et>

dummy.setNextFocusDownId(et.getId());
 
dummy.setNextFocusUpId(et.getId());
 
et.setNextFocusUpId(et.getId());

a lot of work just to get rid of focus on a view.

Thanks

Answer 24

For me, what worked on all devices is this:

    <!-- fake first focusable view, to allow stealing the focus to itself when clearing the focus from others -->

    <View
    android:layout_width="0px"
    android:layout_height="0px"
    android:focusable="true"
    android:focusableInTouchMode="true" />

Just put this as a view before the problematic focused view, and that's it.

Answer 25

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/textView01"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    android:singleLine="true"
    android:ellipsize="marquee"
    android:marqueeRepeatLimit="marquee_forever"
    android:focusable="true"
    android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
    style="@android:style/Widget.EditText"/>

Answer 26

The simplest thing I did is to set focus on another view in onCreate:

myView.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
myView.requestFocus();

This stopped the soft keyboard from coming up and there was no cursor flashing in the EditText.

Answer 27

This is the perfect and easiest solution. I always use this in my app.
getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_HIDDEN);

Answer 28

Write this code inside the Manifest file in the Activity where you do not want to open the keyboard.

android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden"

Manifest file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.project"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="8"
        android:targetSdkVersion="24" />

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

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Login"
            **android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden"**
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
        </activity>
 
    </application>

</manifest>

Answer 29

The easiest way to hide the keyboard is using setSoftInputMode

getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_HIDDEN);

or you can use InputMethodManager and hide the keyboard like this.

InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(myEditText.getWindowToken(), 0);

Answer 30

At onCreate of your Activity, just add use clearFocus() on your EditText element. For example,

edittext = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edittext);
edittext.clearFocus();

And if you want to divert the focus to another element, use requestFocus() on that. For example,

button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button);
button.requestFocus();