Set initial focus in an Android application

Question

In my Android application it automatically focuses the first Button I have in my layout, giving it an orange outline. How can I set the initial focus preferably in XML, and can this be set to nothing?

Priest

Answer 1

You could use the requestFocus tag:

<Button ...>
  <requestFocus />
</Button>

I find it odd though that it auto-focuses one of your buttons, I haven't observed that behavior in any of my views.

Alkalinize

Yeah, it has happened with two of my applications now. I guess I could requestFocus onto a element that doesn't change like a TextView or would this not be allowed? – Priest

@stealthcopter: can you tell me which Android version you're using. I'm using 2.1 & 2.2, but requestFocus doesn't work. – Condensed

Well I've been using it across all versions, but the problem I was having seemed to disappear on it's own so I haven't investigated much. – Priest

I've tried the XML approach, I've tried the programmatic approach. Yet the EditText retains focus. VERY ANNOYING ! – Jacklight

for an EditText, use programmatic method and be sure to use setFocusableInTouchMode(true); – Jacklight

<requestFocus /> is here: developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/… – Blaise

I have found it when I added a new TextView however this is not seen in xml while typing ctrl +space. – Aracelis

@SomeoneSomewhere, see Stop EditText from gaining focus at Activity startup – Ep

Answer 2

@Someone Somewhere, I tried all of the above to no avail. The fix I found is from http://www.helloandroid.com/tutorials/remove-autofocus-edittext-android . Basically, you need to create an invisible layout just above the problematic Button:

<LinearLayout android:focusable="true"
              android:focusableInTouchMode="true" 
              android:layout_width="0px"
              android:layout_height="0px" >
    <requestFocus />
</LinearLayout>

Gagarin

I was able to gain focus on an AlertDialog and enabling focusableintouchmode helped me get it right. Essentially, here's how: alert.show(); alert.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_POSITIVE).setFocusableInTouchMode(true);alert.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_NEGATIVE).requestFocus(); – Sergent

Thank you! This was the only solution that worked in my case. Although I used it slightly different; I put the focus stuff in a RelativeLayout containing the EditText. – Mettlesome

With Android P following changes are coming to the platform: "Views with 0 area (either a width or a height is 0) are no longer focusable. Additionally, activities no longer implicitly assign initial focus in touch-mode. Instead, it is up to you to explicitly request initial focus, if desired." – Bendicty

Answer 3

Set both :focusable and :focusableInTouchMode to true and call requestFocus. It does the trick.

Trow

Yes this is the true solution to fix it. Thanks Anders – Ytterbium

Answer 4

I found this worked best for me.

In AndroidManifest.xml <activity> element add android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden"

This always hides the keyboard when entering the activity.

Karmakarmadharaya

Easy and clean! – Spoofery

great... this is very impressive! – Yokoyokohama

Answer 5

I just add this line of code into onCreate():

this.getWindow().setSoftInputMode(
    WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_HIDDEN);

Problem solved.

Bybee

Answer 6

Use the code below,

TableRow _tableRow =(TableRow)findViewById(R.id.tableRowMainBody);
tableRow.requestFocus();

that should work.

Pinchcock

Answer 7

@Someone Somewhere I used this to clear focus:

editText.clearFocus();

and it helps

Scriptorium

Answer 8

android:focusedByDefault="true"

Righteous

Attribute focusedByDefault is only used in API level 26 and higher (current min is 21). – Favus

Answer 9

in my case, I had to put isFocusable = true in the init block of my custom view:

init {
    isFocusable = true
}

Barroom