How to store edit text data from an Android dialog?

Question

I've set up an alert dialog with multiple edit texts but I'm not sure how to store the values being entered in the alert dialog.

Usually I could just do something along the lines of this:

final EditText input = new EditText(this);
alert.setView(input);
Editable value = input.getText();

But my MessageDialog is a separate class being called from SearchResult.java like this, so I don't know how to access instances of the edit texts in the MyMessageDialog.java:

MyMessageDialog.displayMessage(SearchResult.this, "Sample Info", "Required");

Does anyone know how the edit text values can be retrieved in this implementation?

This is the MyMessageDialog class and below that the layout for the alert dialog:

public class MyMessageDialog  {

    @SuppressLint("NewApi") 
    public static AlertDialog displayMessage(Context context, String title, String message){ 
    AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(context); 
    LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);
    builder.setTitle(title); 
    builder.setMessage(message); 
    builder.setView(inflater.inflate(R.layout.custom_view, null));
    builder.setPositiveButton("Ok", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() { 
    @Override 
    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) { 
    dialog.cancel(); 
    } 
    }); 
    builder.show(); 
    return builder.create(); 
    } 

}

Alert Dialog Layout, custom_view:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

     <EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="ship name"
        android:id="@+id/shipNameEditText" />

    <EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="analyst name"
        android:id="@+id/scientistEditText2" />

    <EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="email address"
        android:id="@+id/emailEditText3"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal" />

    <EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="sample volume"
        android:id="@+id/volumeEditText4" />

    <EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="sample colour"
        android:id="@+id/colourEditText4" />


</LinearLayout>

Answer 1

Add an interface to your MyMessageDialog class to pass the values back:

    public interface MyMessageDialogListener {
        public void onClosed(String ship, String scientist, String email, String volume, String color);
    }

Store the dialog layout when you create it and extract the EditText values and pass them back via the listener inside the OK button onClick:

public class MyMessageDialog  {

    public interface MyMessageDialogListener {
        public void onClosed(String ship, String scientist, String email, String volume,     String color);
    }

@SuppressLint("NewApi") 
public static AlertDialog displayMessage(Context context, String title, String message, final MyMessageDialogListener listener){ 
    AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(context); 
    LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);
    builder.setTitle(title); 
    builder.setMessage(message); 
    final View layoutView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.custom_view, null);
    builder.setView(layoutView);
    builder.setPositiveButton("Ok", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() { 
    @Override 
    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) { 

    // get the edit text values here and pass them back via the listener
    if(listener != null)
    {
        EditText text1 = (EditText)layoutView.findViewById(R.id.shipNameEditText);
        EditText text2 = (EditText)layoutView.findViewById(R.id.scientistEditText2);
        EditText text3 = (EditText)layoutView.findViewById(R.id.emailEditText3);
        EditText text4 = (EditText)layoutView.findViewById(R.id.volumeEditText4);
        EditText text5 = (EditText)layoutView.findViewById(R.id.colourEditText4);

        listener.onClosed(text1.getText().toString(),
            text2.getText().toString(),
            text3.getText().toString(),
            text4.getText().toString(),
            text5.getText().toString());
        }

        dialog.cancel(); 
    } 
    }); 
    builder.show(); 
    return builder.create(); 
    } 

}

Create an instance of the listener when you call the dialog and use it to receive the strings:

MyMessageDialog.displayMessage(SearchResult.this, "Sample Info", "Required",
    new MyMessageDialog.MyMessageDialogListener() {
        public void onClosed(String ship, String scientist, String email, String volume, String color)
        {
            // store / use the values here
        }
    });