Changing action bar searchview hint text color

Question

How can I change the action bar search view hint text colour?

This question explains how to get the EditText when using ABS: Android ActionBar Customize Search View

Is there a android.R.id I could use to get a reference to the EditText so I could change the hint colour? Or is there some other way to change the colour?

Action bar search view hint text

score 66 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 25 '13 at 18:51

66

searchView.setQueryHint(Html.fromHtml("<font color = #ffffff>" + getResources().getString(R.string.hintSearchMess) + "</font>"));

answered Oct 25 '13 at 18:51

Vadim Teselkin

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2

Could you add a little explanation? – Steve Westbrook Oct 25 '13 at 19:13
13

What's not to understand? Change the color of text and hint text via html tags ... – Vadim Teselkin Oct 29 '13 at 13:30
2

can we change font size using html.fromhtml? – Chirag Khatsuriya Aug 19 '15 at 06:19
If you need only different size, you can use simple or – Vadim Teselkin Aug 21 '19 at 14:26

score 65 · Accepted Answer · edited May 25 '22 at 23:53

65

android:actionBarWidgetTheme of your main theme should point to a style that has a android:textColorHint in it. That one will allow changing the hint text color of the search view.

edited May 25 '22 at 23:53

Younes

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answered Jul 22 '13 at 15:29

Kirill

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`android:actionBarWidgetTheme` is available only at API lvl 14. – Roger Alien Sep 10 '13 at 08:27
2

The solution doesn't work. http://stackoverflow.com/a/14364222 does, but it's really a workaround. – Maksim Dmitriev Dec 04 '13 at 13:21
4

Ill just add a comment here, the parent for `android:actionBarWidgetTheme` style is a theme also. You can use `@android:style/Theme.Holo` for the lighter search icon, and `@android:style/Theme.Holo.Light` for the darker search icon. From [here](http://daniel-codes.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/the-unknown-style-actionbarwidgettheme.html) – Glenn.nz Jul 20 '14 at 23:08

score 26 · Answer 3 · edited May 17 '14 at 18:59

26

SearchView searchView= (SearchView) findViewById(R.id.searchView1);
int id = searchView.getContext()
                   .getResources()
                   .getIdentifier("android:id/search_src_text", null, null);
TextView textView = (TextView) searchView.findViewById(id);
textView.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);

edited May 17 '14 at 18:59

McDowell

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answered May 17 '14 at 18:48

Amr Angry

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Nice to know, how to find search_src_text. Thanks. – giltsl Jul 03 '14 at 15:13
1

This solution works for the actual search text, but does not affect the hint text color. – Graydyn Young Oct 23 '17 at 14:25
it works with me in its time don't knew by now :) sorry for that @GraydynYoung – Amr Angry Oct 23 '17 at 15:36

score 18 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

18

this worked for me, hope it helps

((EditText) searchView.findViewById(android.support.v7.appcompat.R.id.search_src_text)).setHintTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.white));

also see this

edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

Community

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answered Mar 13 '15 at 07:00

Syed Raza Mehdi

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I found that `android.support.v7.appcompat` is not necessary, just use `searchView.findViewById(R.id.search_src_text)` is ok. – user2331095 May 07 '15 at 07:08

score 12 · Answer 5 · answered May 16 '14 at 00:08

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I resolved it adding this property to the main theme:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="AppBaseTheme">
    .....
    .....
    <item name="android:actionBarWidgetTheme">@style/MyActionBarWidgetTheme</item> 
</style>

And then add the property i want to change in this case the hint color.

<style name="MyActionBarWidgetTheme" parent="@android:style/Theme.Holo">
    .....
    .....
    <item name="android:textColorHint">@color/blanco_60</item>
</style>

Hope it helps :D

answered May 16 '14 at 00:08

Kokusho

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"android:actionBarWidgetTheme requires API level 14" – aleb Nov 12 '14 at 15:57
Yes! With theming! – Radu Nov 26 '16 at 11:18
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This does not work ` – Red M Feb 26 '17 at 21:59

score 9 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 20 '14 at 16:13

Here's specifically how you apply the style as hinted at above. The right answer is to overload the action bar widget style with your own custom style. For holo light with dark action bar, put this in your own styles file such as res/values/styles_mytheme.xml:

<style name="Theme.MyTheme" parent="@android:style/Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <item name="android:actionBarWidgetTheme">@style/Theme.MyTheme.Widget</item>
    <!-- your other custom styles -->
</style>

<style name="Theme.MyTheme.Widget" parent="@android:style/Theme.Holo">
    <item name="android:textColorHint">@android:color/white</item>
    <!-- your other custom widget styles -->
</style>

Make sure your application is using theme custom theme as described in enter link description here

score 7 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 11 '14 at 04:05

A SearchView object extends from LinearLayout, so it holds other views. The trick is to find the view holding the hint text and change the colour programmatically. By traversing the view hierarchy, you can find the widget containing the hint text:

// get your SearchView with its id
SearchView searchView = (SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.search).getActionView();
// traverse the view to the widget containing the hint text
LinearLayout ll = (LinearLayout)searchView.getChildAt(0);
LinearLayout ll2 = (LinearLayout)ll.getChildAt(2);
LinearLayout ll3 = (LinearLayout)ll2.getChildAt(1);
SearchView.SearchAutoComplete autoComplete = (SearchView.SearchAutoComplete)ll3.getChildAt(0);
// set the hint text color
autoComplete.setHintTextColor(getResources().getColor(Color.WHITE));

This method works with any theme. Also, you can change the look of other widgets in the SearchView hierarchy, such as the EditText holding the search query.

score 7 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 19 '17 at 17:07

If you want to change left arrow button in search view, add app:collapseIcon.

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
        android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
        app:collapseIcon="@drawable/ic_search_view_home"
        />

If you want to change text color and text hint color, add the following.

EditText searchEditText = searchView.findViewById(android.support.v7.appcompat.R.id.search_src_text);
    searchEditText.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
    searchEditText.setHintTextColor(Color.WHITE);

If you want to change close icon, add the following.

ImageView imvClose = searchView.findViewById(android.support.v7.appcompat.R.id
            .search_close_btn);
    imvClose.setImageResource(R.drawable.ic_search_view_close);

Mazhar Ali · Answer 9 · 2020-02-29T08:36:21.217

6

this worked for me :-)

 EditText seartext = searchView.findViewById(R.id.search_src_text);
    seartext.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
    seartext.setHintTextColor(Color.GRAY);

edited Feb 29 '20 at 08:36

answered Feb 28 '20 at 18:33

Mazhar Ali

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Try don't use uppercase letters when it's not necessary. Doing that sends your comment to review queue, what let people like me (and you in future) reviewing a post that don't have nothing wrong (only the uppercase...). – mold Feb 28 '20 at 19:24

Ferdous Ahamed · Answer 10 · 2014-08-25T15:29:00.033

5

Just get the textView id of search widget and use setTextColor() method to change the search text color and setHintTextColor() to change the search hints text color.

// Get textview id of search widget
int id =  searchView.getContext().getResources().getIdentifier("android:id/search_src_text", null, null);
TextView textView = (TextView) searchView.findViewById(id);

// Set search text color
textView.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);

// Set search hints color
textView.setHintTextColor(Color.GRAY);

edited Aug 25 '14 at 15:29

answered Aug 25 '14 at 14:40

Ferdous Ahamed

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Best Solution ever – Mazharul Islam Dec 11 '16 at 09:32

score 5 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 22 '16 at 18:59

With the most recent appcompat library (or if you're targeting 5.0+), this is possible to do purely in XML using a ThemeOverlay:

<style name="ThemeOverlay.MyApp.ActionBar" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.ActionBar">
    <item name="autoCompleteTextViewStyle">@style/Widget.MyApp.AutoCompleteTextView.SearchView</item>
</style>

<style name="Widget.MyApp.AutoCompleteTextView.SearchView" parent="Widget.AppCompat.AutoCompleteTextView">
    <item name="android:textColor">#000</item>
    <item name="android:textColorHint">#5000</item>
</style>

And then in your layout file:

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
    app:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.MyApp.ActionBar"
    ... />

If you also want it to apply to activities that are using an ActionBar instead of a Toolbar, you can add this to the Activity's theme:

<style name="Theme.MyApp" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="actionBarTheme">@style/ThemeOverlay.MyApp.ActionBar</item>
    ...
</style>

This worked for me. Except I created a new theme "SearchViewStyle" which inherits from my main app theme and then added it to my SearchView component like this: "android:theme="@style/SearchViewStyle" — user1354603, Aug 22 '18 at 08:17
yes, starting from 5 Android such things should be using app compat themes/styles, and support libraries which includes all of this are available for older versions as well — user924, Nov 11 '18 at 13:41

score 3 · Answer 12 · answered May 13 '16 at 10:13

Try this code. It is very easy.

    // Associate searchable configuration with the SearchView
        SearchManager searchManager =
                (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);
        SearchView searchView =
                (SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.search).getActionView();
        EditText searchEditText = (EditText) searchView.findViewById(android.support.v7.appcompat.R.id.search_src_text);
           searchEditText.setHint("Search");
        searchEditText.setHintTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.white));
        searchView.setSearchableInfo(searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));

searchEditText.setHintTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.white));

score 2 · Answer 13 · answered Oct 03 '13 at 17:56

Look to this class, it can help you to solve your problem

import android.R.color;
import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Typeface;
import android.widget.ImageView;

import com.actionbarsherlock.widget.SearchView;
import com.actionbarsherlock.widget.SearchView.SearchAutoComplete;

public class MySearchView {

    public static SearchView getSearchView(Context context, String strHint) {
        SearchView searchView = new SearchView(context);
        searchView.setQueryHint(strHint);
        searchView.setFocusable(true);
        searchView.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
        searchView.requestFocus();
        searchView.requestFocusFromTouch();

        ImageView searchBtn = (ImageView) searchView.findViewById(R.id.abs__search_button);
        searchBtn.setImageResource(R.drawable.ic_menu_search);

        // ImageView searchBtnClose = (ImageView) searchView.findViewById(R.id.abs__search_close_btn);
        // searchBtnClose.setImageResource(R.drawable.ic_cancel_search_bar);


        SearchAutoComplete searchText = (SearchAutoComplete) searchView.findViewById(R.id.abs__search_src_text);
        setFont(context, searchText);
        searchText.setTextColor(context.getResources().getColor(color.white));
        searchText.setHintTextColor(context.getResources().getColor(color.white));

        return searchView;
    }

    private static void setFont(Context _context, SearchAutoComplete searchText) {
        Typeface tf = null;
        Typeface currentType = searchText.getTypeface();
        if (currentType == null) {
            tf = MyApplication.fontNormal;
        }
        else {
            int currentStyle = currentType.getStyle();
            if (currentStyle == Typeface.BOLD) {
                tf = MyApplication.fontBold;
            }
            else if (currentStyle == Typeface.BOLD_ITALIC) {
                tf = MyApplication.fontBoldItalic;
            }
            else if (currentStyle == Typeface.ITALIC) {
                tf = MyApplication.fontItalic;
            }
            else {
                tf = MyApplication.fontNormal;
            }
        }
        searchText.setTypeface(tf);
    }

    public static SearchView getSearchView(Context context, int strHintRes) {
        return getSearchView(context, context.getString(strHintRes));
    }
}

Deepak Gupta · Answer 14 · 2015-09-01T11:13:10.433

By using this you can change the Searchable xml

Search text hint color
Search Text
Search close icon
Search hint icon
Search plate

int searchHintBtnId = searchView.getContext().getResources()
                    .getIdentifier("android:id/search_mag_icon", null, null);
     int hintTextId = searchView.getContext()
                    .getResources()
                    .getIdentifier("android:id/search_src_text", null, null);
            int closeBtnId = searchView.getContext()
                    .getResources()
                    .getIdentifier("android:id/search_close_btn", null, null);
            // Set the search plate color to white
            int searchPlateId = getResources().getIdentifier("android:id/search_plate", null, null);

            View view = searchView.findViewById(searchPlateId);
            view.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.search_plate);

            ImageView closeIcon = (ImageView) searchView.findViewById(closeBtnId);
            closeIcon.setImageResource(R.drawable.close);

            ImageView searchHintIcon = (ImageView) searchView.findViewById(searchHintBtnId);
            searchHintIcon.setImageResource(R.drawable.search);

            TextView textView = (TextView) searchView.findViewById(hintTextId);
            textView.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.search_text_color));
            textView.setHintTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.search_hint_text_color));

Here is drawable/search_plate.xml

<!-- main color -->
<item android:bottom="1dp"
    android:left="1dp"
    android:right="1dp">
    <shape >
        <solid android:color="@color/app_theme_color" />
    </shape>
</item>

<!-- draw another block to cut-off the left and right bars -->
<item android:bottom="10.0dp">
    <shape >
        <solid android:color="@color/app_theme_color" />
    </shape>
</item> </layer-list>

score 2 · Answer 15 · answered Jun 06 '16 at 05:40

2

The solution to change color of Search View Hint Text is :

 SearchView.SearchAutoComplete searchAutoComplete = (SearchView.SearchAutoComplete)searchView.findViewById(android.support.v7.appcompat.R.id.search_src_text);
 searchAutoComplete.setHintTextColor(Color.GRAY);

answered Jun 06 '16 at 05:40

Manvendra Priyadarshi

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This is pretty close to a duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/a/29026547/733092 above (but better formatted). – Noumenon Jun 06 '16 at 06:04

score 1 · Answer 16 · edited May 17 '14 at 20:14

1

int id = searchView.getContext().getResources().getIdentifier("android:id/search_src_text", null, null);
TextView textView = (TextView) searchView.findViewById(id);
textView.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
textView.setHintTextColor(Color.WHITE);

edited May 17 '14 at 20:14

max

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answered May 17 '14 at 19:53

Andrey Degtiarev

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score 1 · Answer 17 · edited Sep 23 '17 at 02:35

1

This is really simple to achieve using the styles.xml Just understand that themeing the SearchView is directly related to the theme of the Toolbar from whose menu.xml it is fetched as a app:actionViewClass.

Create a style for Toolbar.
Apply that style as theme on the Toolbar and it changes al the related views and their properties.

edited Sep 23 '17 at 02:35

Graham

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answered May 09 '17 at 11:23

sud007

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score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Jul 22 '13 at 15:58

0

Also you can set the SearchView on your menuItem manually and thereby have full control over the view.

answered Jul 22 '13 at 15:58

Moritz

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Changing action bar searchview hint text color

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