Working With the EditText in Android (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025

EditText is one of the basic UI widgets, which is used to take the input from the user. The EditText is derived or is the extension of the TextView in Android. This article its been discussed in detail about the EditText in Android. The article also contains some of the redirections to other articles, also refer to them to get the detailed perspective of the EditText widget in Android. Have a look at the following list to get an idea of the overall discussion.

Input Type for the EditText
Getting the data or retrieving the data entered by the user
Input Data Customization
Adding hints for the placeholder
Change the stroke color
Change the highlighted color inside the EditText
Event Listener for the EditText
Error Message for the EditText filed
Implementing Password visibility toggle
Character counting using Material Design EditText

The Detailed Perspective of EditText in Android

Step 1: Create an empty activity project

Create an empty activity Android Studio project. Refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio, to know how to create an empty activity Android project.

Step 2: Working with the activity_main.xml file

The main layout of the application contains the EditText Widget and two buttons. To implement the UI invoke the following code inside the activity_main.xml file. To get an idea about how the basic EditText in android looks like. XML `

<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout 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=".MainActivity" tools:ignore="HardcodedText">

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/editText"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.321" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="SUBMIT"
    android:textColor="@color/white"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="@+id/editText"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

<Button
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="CANCEL"
    android:textColor="@color/green_500"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Output UI:

Now let's discuss the various attributes of the EditText

1. Input Type for the EditText

This is one of the attributes which is needed to be specified under the EditText widget. Which defines the type of data to be entered by the user.
The following are attributes which are needed to be invoked and refer to its output to get a clear understanding.

InputType Attribute	Type of the Data which is entered
number	Mathematical numeric value
phone	Contact Number based on the country code
date	To take the date input
time	To take the time is neededinput
textCapCharacters	To take the entire input in the upper case letters
textMultiLine	Makes the user input multiple lines of text
textEmailAddress	To take the email address from the user
textPersonName	To take the name of the person as input
textPassword	To take the text password from the user, which turns to asterisks dots after entering the data
numberPassword	To take only the numerical digits as a password
textVisiblePassword	To take the text password from the user, which do not turns to asterisks dots after entering the data
textUri	To take the particular URL of the website

Refer to the following code, which contains only the phone as the input type, for demonstration purposes. Which the value of that can be replaced with the values mentioned in the above table. XML `

<!--the values mentioned in the table are to be 
    invoked inside the inputType attribute-->
<EditText
    android:id="@+id/editText"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
          
    android:inputType="phone"
          
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.321" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="SUBMIT"
    android:textColor="@color/white"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="@+id/editText"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

<Button
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="CANCEL"
    android:textColor="@color/green_500"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Output:

2. Getting the data or retrieving the data entered by the user

To get the data entered by the user, firstly the EditText widget has to be invoked with the id. which is used to point to the unique widgets in android.
Provide the EditText with the id, by referring to the following code, which has to be invoked inside the activity_main.xml file. XML `

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/editText"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.321" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/submitButton"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="SUBMIT"
    android:textColor="@color/white"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="@+id/editText"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/cancelButton"
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="CANCEL"
    android:textColor="@color/green_500"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/submitButton"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

The following code needs to be invoked inside the MainActivity.kt file. Which performs the retrieving operation and provides the Toast message the same as the entered data.
There is one scenario, if the user left the EditText blank, it has to be checked whether it's blank or not. To check whether it is blank EditText. Kotlin `

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity import android.os.Bundle import android.widget.Button import android.widget.EditText import android.widget.Toast

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() { override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

    // register editText with instance
    val editText: EditText = findViewById(R.id.editText)

    // also register the submit button with the appropriate id
    val submitButton: Button = findViewById(R.id.submitButton)

    // handle the button with the onClickListener
    submitButton.setOnClickListener {

        // get the data with the "editText.text.toString()"
        val enteredData: String = editText.text.toString()

        // check whether the retrieved data is empty or not
        // based on the emptiness provide the Toast Message
        if (enteredData.isEmpty()) {
            Toast.makeText(applicationContext, "Please Enter the Data", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
                .show()
        } else {
            Toast.makeText(applicationContext, enteredData, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
        }
    }
}

}

Java

import android.os.Bundle; import android.view.View; import android.widget.Button; import android.widget.EditText; import android.widget.Toast; import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

EditText editText;
Button submitButton;

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

    // register editText with instance
    editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.editText);

    // also register the submit button with the appropriate id
    submitButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.submitButton);

    // handle the button with the onClickListener
    submitButton.setOnClickListener(
            new View.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View view) {
                    
                    // get the data with the
                    // "editText.text.toString()"
                    String enteredData = editText.getText().toString();

                    // check whether the retrieved data is
                    // empty or not based on the emptiness
                    // provide the Toast Message
                    if (enteredData.isEmpty()) {
                        Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Please Enter the Data", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                    } else {
                        Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), enteredData, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                    }
                }
            });
}

}

Output:

3. Input Data Customization

The EditText allows developers to make restrictions for the amount of data to be entered by the user. For example, the number of characters entered can be restricted, or the number of lines can be restricted, or the number of digits can be restricted.
Following are some of the attributes:

Input only particular numbers -> The following attribute takes only the digits 5 & 6 as input and no other numbers can be entered by the user.

digits="56"

inputType="number"

Restrict the number of characters of the input -> The following attribute makes user to enter only 6 number of characters.

maxLength="6"

Restrict the number of lines of input -> The following attribute makes user restricted to only single line, in which the EditText do not expand if the amount of the data gets more than single line.

lines="1"

maxLines="1"

Following is the example of the numberPassword with only 6 digits as maxLength. XML `

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/editText"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
          
    android:inputType="numberPassword"
    android:maxLength="6"
          
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.321" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/submitButton"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="SUBMIT"
    android:textColor="@color/white"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="@+id/editText"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/cancelButton"
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="CANCEL"
    android:textColor="@color/green_500"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/submitButton"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Output:

4. Adding hints for the placeholder

The hints for the EditText give confidence to the user, on what the data they have to enter into the EditText.

The attribute which is used to provide the hint text for the EditText is:

android:hint="First and Last Name"

Refer to the following code and its output for better understanding. XML `

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/editText"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
          
    android:hint="First and Last Name"
          
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.321" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/submitButton"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="SUBMIT"
    android:textColor="@color/white"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="@+id/editText"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/cancelButton"
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="CANCEL"
    android:textColor="@color/green_500"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/submitButton"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Output:

5. Change the stroke color

The stroke color which appears when it is in focus can also be changed, by the following attribute

android:backgroundTint="colorValue"

Refer to the following code and its output, for better understanding. XML `

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/editText"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
    
    android:backgroundTint="@android:color/holo_red_dark"
    
    android:hint="First and Last Name"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.321" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/submitButton"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="SUBMIT"
    android:textColor="@color/white"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="@+id/editText"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/cancelButton"
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="CANCEL"
    android:textColor="@color/green_500"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/submitButton"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Output:

6. Change the highlighted color inside the EditText

The text inside the EditText gets highlighted when the user selects the particular text from it.
The color of the highlighted text inside the EditText can be changed using the following attribute.

android:textColorHighlight="colorValue"

Refer to the following code and its output for better understanding. XML `

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/editText"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"

    android:textColorHighlight="@android:color/holo_orange_light"

    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.321" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/submitButton"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="SUBMIT"
    android:textColor="@color/white"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="@+id/editText"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/cancelButton"
    style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/green_500"
    android:text="CANCEL"
    android:textColor="@color/green_500"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/submitButton"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/editText" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Output:

7. Event Listener for the EditText

Event listeners for the EditText can also be implemented to perform particular actions. Refer to the How to Implement TextWatcher in Android?

8. Error Message for the EditText filed

If the user misses out on any of the EditText or left the EditText blank without inputting any data, the user has to be alerted with the error message.
To implement such functionality, refer to Implement Form Validation (Error to EditText) in Android

9. Implementing Password visibility toggle

Implement the password visibility toggle for the EditText by referring to How to Toggle Password Visibility in Android?.

10. Character counting using Material Design EditText

Invoke the following dependency to access the Material Design components.

implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.2.1'

The following attributes are to be invoked inside the TextInputLayout

app:counterEnabled="true"

app:counterMaxLength="6"

Refer to the following code and its output for better understanding. XML `

<com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
    android:layout_marginTop="32dp"
    android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
    android:hint="Enter Something"

    app:counterEnabled="true"
    app:counterMaxLength="6"

    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent">

    <com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputEditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />


</com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputLayout>

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Output: