android - Implementing SearchView as per the material design guidelines

Question

I have been looking for ways to implement a searchview in the activity toolbar (actionbar) as per the material design guidelines.

On clicking on the search icon, the entire toolbar animates to have only the search EditText with white background with suggestions appearing in the main view instead of a drop down.

Here is a screenshot from the guidelines:

Here is a gif from the Gmail Inbox implementation:

I have been looking for code examples and tutorials but so far I have been unsuccesful. How do I go about doing this?

Answer 1

I tried several material SearchView libraries, but none of them worked good as the one from the support library, so I decided to redesign it, after a lot of work, I am pleased with the result:

Here is how you can do it:

1) Add SearchView item to your menu

<item
    android:id="@+id/m_search"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_search"
    android:title="@string/search_title"
    app:actionLayout="@layout/search_view_layout"
    app:showAsAction="ifRoom|collapseActionView" />

Notice that I'm declaring actionLayout instead of actionViewClass, I figured that this is the only way to set SearchView theme separately from Toolbar theme.

search_view_layout.xml:

<android.support.v7.widget.SearchView
    android:id="@+id/search_view"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:theme="@style/SearchViewTheme" />

2) Add the custom SearchView theme to your styles, declare SearchView theme in your Toolbar theme as well:

<style name="SearchViewTheme" parent="Widget.AppCompat.SearchView.ActionBar">
    <item name="layout">@layout/toolbar_search_view</item>
    <item name="commitIcon">@drawable/ic_search_commit</item>
    <item name="colorControlNormal">@color/material_light_active_icon</item>
    <item name="colorControlHighlight">@color/material_ripple_light</item>
    <item name="autoCompleteTextViewStyle">@style/AutoCompleteTextViewStyle</item>
    <item name="suggestionRowLayout">@layout/search_view_suggestion_row</item>
    <item name="android:maxWidth">9999dp</item>
</style>

<style name="AutoCompleteTextViewStyle" parent="Widget.AppCompat.Light.AutoCompleteTextView">
    <item name="android:popupBackground">@drawable/search_suggestions_bg</item>
    <item name="android:popupElevation">0dp</item>
</style>

<style name="ToolbarTheme" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">
    <item name="searchViewStyle">@style/SearchViewTheme</item>
</style>

toolbar_search_view.xml:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/search_bar"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:paddingEnd="8dp">

<!-- This is actually used for the badge icon *or* the badge label (or neither) -->
<TextView
    android:id="@+id/search_badge"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_marginBottom="2dp"
    android:drawablePadding="0dp"
    android:gravity="center_vertical"
    android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
    android:textColor="?android:attr/textColorPrimary"
    android:visibility="gone" />

<ImageView
    android:id="@+id/search_button"
    style="?attr/actionButtonStyle"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
    android:contentDescription="@string/abc_searchview_description_search"
    android:focusable="true" />

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/search_edit_frame"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    android:layoutDirection="locale"
    android:orientation="horizontal">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/search_mag_icon"
        style="@style/RtlOverlay.Widget.AppCompat.SearchView.MagIcon"
        android:layout_width="@dimen/abc_dropdownitem_icon_width"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
        android:scaleType="centerInside"
        android:visibility="gone" />

    <!-- Inner layout contains the app icon, button(s) and EditText -->
    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/search_plate"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:orientation="horizontal">

        <view
            android:id="@+id/search_src_text"
            class="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView$SearchAutoComplete"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
            android:layout_marginEnd="@dimen/item_list_horizontal_margin"
            android:layout_marginStart="@dimen/item_list_horizontal_margin"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@null"
            android:dropDownAnchor="@id/anchor_dropdown"
            android:dropDownHeight="wrap_content"
            android:dropDownHorizontalOffset="0dp"
            android:dropDownVerticalOffset="0dp"
            android:ellipsize="end"
            android:imeOptions="actionSearch"
            android:inputType="text|textAutoComplete|textNoSuggestions"
            android:maxLines="1"
            android:paddingEnd="8dp"
            android:textColor="@android:color/black"
            android:textColorHint="@color/material_light_hint_text"
            android:textSize="20sp" />

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/search_close_btn"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
            android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackgroundBorderless"
            android:contentDescription="@string/abc_searchview_description_clear"
            android:focusable="true"
            android:paddingEnd="8dp"
            android:paddingStart="8dp" />
    </LinearLayout>

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/submit_area"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="horizontal">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/search_go_btn"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
            android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackgroundBorderless"
            android:contentDescription="@string/abc_searchview_description_submit"
            android:focusable="true"
            android:paddingEnd="8dp"
            android:paddingStart="8dp"
            android:visibility="gone" />

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/search_voice_btn"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
            android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackgroundBorderless"
            android:contentDescription="@string/abc_searchview_description_voice"
            android:focusable="true"
            android:paddingEnd="8dp"
            android:paddingStart="8dp"
            android:visibility="gone" />
    </LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Notice that I added anchor dropdown view under the Toolbar view, so suggestions will get full screen width.

<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:id="@+id/appBar"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    app:collapseIcon="@drawable/ic_search_collapse"
    app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay"
    app:theme="@style/ToolbarTheme" />

<View
    android:id="@+id/anchor_dropdown"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="0dp" />

</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

search_view_suggestion_row.xml:

(change suggestion_divider visibility if you want divider between suggestions):

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="58dp"
    android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.DayNight">

<!-- Icons come first in the layout, since their placement doesn't depend on
     the placement of the text views. -->
<ImageView
    android:id="@android:id/icon1"
    style="@style/RtlOverlay.Widget.AppCompat.Search.DropDown.Icon1"
    android:layout_width="56dp"
    android:layout_height="56dp"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:scaleType="centerInside"
    android:visibility="invisible" />

<ImageView
    android:id="@+id/edit_query"
    style="@style/RtlOverlay.Widget.AppCompat.Search.DropDown.Query"
    android:layout_width="56dp"
    android:layout_height="56dp"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackground"
    android:scaleType="centerInside"
    android:visibility="gone" />

<ImageView
    android:id="@id/android:icon2"
    style="@style/RtlOverlay.Widget.AppCompat.Search.DropDown.Icon2"
    android:layout_width="56dp"
    android:layout_height="56dp"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:layout_alignWithParentIfMissing="true"
    android:scaleType="centerInside"
    android:visibility="gone" />

<!-- The subtitle comes before the title, since the height of the title depends on whether the
     subtitle is visible or gone. -->
<TextView
    android:id="@android:id/text2"
    style="?android:attr/dropDownItemStyle"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="29dp"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignWithParentIfMissing="true"
    android:gravity="top"
    android:maxLines="1"
    android:paddingBottom="4dp"
    android:textColor="?android:textColorSecondary"
    android:textSize="12sp"
    android:visibility="gone" />

<!-- The title is placed above the subtitle, if there is one. If there is no
     subtitle, it fills the parent. -->
<TextView
    android:id="@android:id/text1"
    style="?android:attr/dropDownItemStyle"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_above="@android:id/text2"
    android:layout_centerVertical="true"
    android:ellipsize="end"
    android:maxLines="1"
    android:scrollHorizontally="false"
    android:textColor="?android:textColorPrimary"
    android:textSize="16sp" />

<View
    android:id="@+id/suggestion_divider"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="0.5dp"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignStart="@android:id/text1"
    android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
    android:background="@color/divider_color"
    android:visibility="gone" />

The suggestions background and the commit icon are custom made, the rest of the icons I used can be found at: https://material.io/icons/

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