Search Functionality for RecyclerView in Android

Full source code to implement a search functionality for our RecyclerView so we can filter it’s items by their text. For this we will use an EditText, the setTextChangedListener method, a TextWatcher and the afterTextChanged method

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout 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"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context="com.codinginflow.searchfunctionalityexample.MainActivity">

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/edittext"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="16dp"/>

    <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
        android:id="@+id/recyclerView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@android:color/darker_gray"
        android:padding="4dp"
        android:scrollbars="vertical" />

</LinearLayout>

example_item.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.widget.CardView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginBottom="4dp"
    app:cardCornerRadius="4dp">

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_margin="4dp">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/imageView"
            android:layout_width="50dp"
            android:layout_height="50dp"
            android:padding="2dp" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/textView"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
            android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/imageView"
            android:text="Line 1"
            android:textColor="@android:color/black"
            android:textSize="20sp"
            android:textStyle="bold" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/textView2"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@+id/textView"
            android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
            android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/imageView"
            android:text="Line 2"
            android:textSize="15sp" />

    </RelativeLayout>

</android.support.v7.widget.CardView>

ExampleAdapter.java

package com.codinginflow.searchfunctionalityexample;

import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

import java.util.ArrayList;


public class ExampleAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<ExampleAdapter.ExampleViewHolder> {
    private ArrayList<ExampleItem> mExampleList;

    public static class ExampleViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        public ImageView mImageView;
        public TextView mTextView1;
        public TextView mTextView2;

        public ExampleViewHolder(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            mImageView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.imageView);
            mTextView1 = itemView.findViewById(R.id.textView);
            mTextView2 = itemView.findViewById(R.id.textView2);

        }
    }

    public ExampleAdapter(ArrayList<ExampleItem> exampleList) {
        mExampleList = exampleList;
    }

    @Override
    public ExampleViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View v = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.example_item, 
                parent, false);
        ExampleViewHolder evh = new ExampleViewHolder(v);
        return evh;
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(ExampleViewHolder holder, int position) {
        ExampleItem currentItem = mExampleList.get(position);

        holder.mImageView.setImageResource(currentItem.getImageResource());
        holder.mTextView1.setText(currentItem.getText1());
        holder.mTextView2.setText(currentItem.getText2());
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return mExampleList.size();
    }

    public void filterList(ArrayList<ExampleItem> filteredList) {
        mExampleList = filteredList;
        notifyDataSetChanged();
    }
}

ExampleItem.java

package com.codinginflow.searchfunctionalityexample;

public class ExampleItem {
    private int mImageResource;
    private String mText1;
    private String mText2;

    public ExampleItem(int imageResource, String text1, String text2) {
        mImageResource = imageResource;
        mText1 = text1;
        mText2 = text2;
    }

    public int getImageResource() {
        return mImageResource;
    }

    public String getText1() {
        return mText1;
    }

    public String getText2() {
        return mText2;
    }
}

MainActivity.java

package com.codinginflow.searchfunctionalityexample;

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.text.Editable;
import android.text.TextWatcher;
import android.widget.EditText;

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    private ArrayList<ExampleItem> mExampleList;

    private RecyclerView mRecyclerView;
    private ExampleAdapter mAdapter;
    private RecyclerView.LayoutManager mLayoutManager;


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

        createExampleList();
        buildRecyclerView();

        EditText editText = findViewById(R.id.edittext);
        editText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {
            @Override
            public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {

            }

            @Override
            public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {

            }

            @Override
            public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
                filter(s.toString());
            }
        });

    }

    private void filter(String text) {
        ArrayList<ExampleItem> filteredList = new ArrayList<>();

        for (ExampleItem item : mExampleList) {
            if (item.getText1().toLowerCase().contains(text.toLowerCase())) {
                filteredList.add(item);
            }
        }

        mAdapter.filterList(filteredList);
    }

    private void createExampleList() {
        mExampleList = new ArrayList<>();
        mExampleList.add(new ExampleItem(R.drawable.ic_android, "One", "Line 2"));
        mExampleList.add(new ExampleItem(R.drawable.ic_audio, "Two", "Line 2"));
        mExampleList.add(new ExampleItem(R.drawable.ic_sun, "Three", "Line 2"));
        mExampleList.add(new ExampleItem(R.drawable.ic_android, "Four", "Line 2"));
        mExampleList.add(new ExampleItem(R.drawable.ic_audio, "Five", "Line 2"));
        mExampleList.add(new ExampleItem(R.drawable.ic_sun, "Six", "Line 2"));
        mExampleList.add(new ExampleItem(R.drawable.ic_android, "Seven", "Line 2"));
        mExampleList.add(new ExampleItem(R.drawable.ic_audio, "Eight", "Line 2"));
        mExampleList.add(new ExampleItem(R.drawable.ic_sun, "Nine", "Line 2"));
    }

    private void buildRecyclerView() {
        mRecyclerView = findViewById(R.id.recyclerView);
        mRecyclerView.setHasFixedSize(true);
        mLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
        mAdapter = new ExampleAdapter(mExampleList);

        mRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(mLayoutManager);
        mRecyclerView.setAdapter(mAdapter);
    }

}

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