Showing EditText-hint for limited time

[FSchmidt]

Hello guys,

I want to change the hint of an editText-inputfield for two seconds, if the user inserts wrong data.

I tried to do something like this:

new Thread() {
                    @Override
                    public void run() {
                        try {
                            input1.setHint(R.string.emptyEditTextFieldHint);
                            input2.setHint(R.string.emptyEditTextFieldHint);
                            this.sleep(2000);
                        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                        } finally {
                            input1.setHint(R.string.input1Hint);
                            input2.setHint(R.string.input2Hint);
                            return;
                        }
                    }
                }.start();

But the program crashes (I guess it's because of the InterruptionException / .sleep()). How can I fix it? I know there is an easy way, but I can't figure it out write now.

Kind regards and thanks for your responses.
F.S.

 

[Deleted User]

What's the stack trace?

At a guess I'll say that the problem is caused by you trying to update a UI component, from a non-UI thread.

If you want to do input validation, then why not just use a Toast message?

 

[FSchmidt]

This is the (important part of) stack trace:

android.view.ViewRootImpl$CalledFromWrongThreadException: Only the original thread that created a view hierarchy can touch its views.

I've already got a Toast, but the hint change would look awesome

How can I fix it?

Kind regards!
F.S.

 

[Deleted User]

There are techniques to allow a parallel thread to change UI components.

You can use runOnUIThread(), or AsyncTask

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7005756/update-ui-from-another-thread-in-android

 

[FSchmidt]

I've tried my code surrounded with

this.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
.....
});

But it sadly didn't work. There is no error, but the hint does not show up...

 

[GameTheory]

EditText already has a way to handle incorrect user input...

input1.setError("Nope! Wrong input!");

Another thing to note. The hint is only displayed in an empty EditText. So if the user's incorrect input is still there then your hint will not show up. You would have to clear the edittext first and then show your hint.

The approach you're trying to take is not user friendly...
Say I enter the wrong input. I wouldn't want the app to delete it just to show me a hint. What if I just need to change one character? I wouldn't want to type it all over again.

setError() is the way to go on this.

 

[FSchmidt]

Hello,
the hint would just show up, if both inputfields were completly empty.

I now fixed the problem with a toast and .setError on both inputfields.

Thanks for your help.


Edit: Is there a way to just display the error symbol without error message?

 

[Deleted User]

That's great!
Keep it simple, is my motto

 

[GameTheory]

Is there a way to just display the error symbol without error message?

As far as I know you cannot remove the error message from the error icon. So Ideally it would be best to remove the toast as to not be redundant with error messages.

 

[FSchmidt]

Hello,

I removed the toast and added the hints, I think it looks sweet now

Thanks for your help =)