Handling Keyboard Input | Android Developers

The Android system shows an on-screen keyboard—known as a soft input method—when a text field in your UI receives focus. To provide the best user experience ... Quicknav Quicknav Design Develop Distribute GooglePlayDeveloperConsole AndroidDevelopersBlog AboutAndroid Android.com AndroidDevelopers AndroidOpenSourceProject close GetStarted Style Patterns BuildingBlocks Downloads Videos Training APIGuides Reference Tools GettheSDK GoogleServices GooglePlay Publishing Promoting AppQuality Spotlight OpenDistribution Results Loading... 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CreatingMultipleAPKsforDifferentScreenSizes CreatingMultipleAPKsforDifferentGLTextures CreatingMultipleAPKswith2+Dimensions MonetizingYourApp AdvertisingwithoutCompromisingUserExperience HandlingKeyboardInput Previous Next Getstarted Dependenciesandprerequisites Android1.6(APILevel3)orhigher TheAndroidsystemshowsanon-screenkeyboard—knownasa softinputmethod—whenatextfieldinyourUIreceivesfocus. Toprovidethebestuserexperience,youcanspecifycharacteristics aboutthetypeofinputyouexpect(suchas whetherit'saphonenumberoremailaddress)andhowtheinputmethodshouldbehave(suchas whetheritperformsauto-correctforspellingmistakes). Inadditiontotheon-screeninputmethods,Androidalsosupportshardwarekeyboards,soit's importantthatyourappoptimizeitsuserexperienceforinteractionthatmightoccur throughanattachedkeyboard. Thesetopicsandmorearediscussedinthefollowinglessons. Lessons SpecifyingtheInputMethodType Learnhowtoshowcertainsoftinputmethods,suchasthosedesignedforphonenumbers,web addresses,orotherformats.Alsolearnhowtospecifycharacteristicssuch asspellingsuggestionbehaviorandactionbuttonssuchasDoneorNext. HandlingInputMethodVisibility Learnhowtospecifywhentoshowthesoftinputmethodandhow yourlayoutshouldadjusttothereducedscreenspace. SupportingKeyboardNavigation Learnhowtoverifythatuserscannavigateyourappusingakeyboard andhowtomakeanynecessarychangestothenavigationorder. HandlingKeyboardActions Learnhowtoresponddirectlytokeyboardinputforuseractions. Previous Next Nextclass: Exceptasnoted,thiscontentis licensedunder CreativeCommonsAttribution2.5.Fordetailsand restrictions,seetheContent License. AboutAndroid  |  Legal  |  Support