Android: getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()) returning null?

Question

I'm trying to get suggestions for SearchView. I've implemented a custom content provider for it. I've also referred to this link to implement suggestions for the SearchView. The problem I'm facing is, I get null value on searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName())

Here are the snippets:

AndroidManifest.xml

    <application
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >

    <provider android:name=".SearchProvider"
        android:enabled="true"
        android:authorities="com.example.currentlocationmapdemo"
        android:grantUriPermissions="true"
        android:exported="true">
        <grant-uri-permission android:pathPattern="*" />
    </provider>
    <uses-library android:name="com.google.android.maps" />

    <activity
        android:name=".MainActivity"
        android:label="@string/title_activity_main" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
      <meta-data android:name="android.app.searchable"
          android:resource="@xml/searchable"/> 
    </activity>

searchable.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<searchable xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:label="label"
android:hint="hint"
android:searchSuggestAuthority="com.example.currentlocationmapdemo"
android:searchSuggestSelection=" ? ">

MainActivity

    @Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.searchview_in_menu, menu);
    MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_search);
    mSearchView = (SearchView) searchItem.getActionView();
    SearchManager searchManager = (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);
SearchableInfo info = searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName());  // null returned
mSearchView.setSearchableInfo(info);

 return true;
}

Shelburne

Answer 1

At least one of your activities - the one you're doing the searching from is sufficient - must have this intent-filter in it in the manifest:

<intent-filter>
  <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
</intent-filter>

If not, then searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()) always returns null, and your configuration is ignored.

This killed me for a day - I thought it was ActionBarSherlock-related, but no it works fine with that. The problem was that I was trying to short-circuit the sample, as you have too :-)

Sherly

As a note, currently I can ONLY get it to work if the intent-filter is in the current activity. It's pretty aggravating, because I'd like it to go to another activity to display search results. If you know what's up with that, I'd be grateful to hear. – Morbilli

Lost hours on this. It was the intent filter missing. – Bevan

Answer 2

I think your approach is wrong. You should have 2 activities - 1: Main activity which has as SearchView (on ActionBar or layout) and 2: SearchActivity which will be started when search is performed.

Maybe you can also do it like that but Im not sure. Where would you like to recive ACTION_SEARCH intent in your approach? Normally you do that in OnCreate in your searchActivity like that:

Intent intent = getIntent();
if (Intent.ACTION_SEARCH.equals(intent.getAction())) {
  String query = intent.getStringExtra(SearchManager.QUERY);
  System.out.println("searching for: " + query);
}

I did it on two activites and it worked for me. One additional thing I had to do and I didn't find in Android Search Tutorial was adding:

<meta-data
android:name="android.app.default_searchable"
android:value=".SearchableActivity" />

In manifest for my MainActivity

Shortcircuit

My implementation was actually correct. The problem was a very silly one. I had missed out '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> ' in menu.xml. However, the xml file did not show any errors. – Shelburne

The default_searchable attribute is the only thing which is NOT officially documented. Thank you! Drove me crazy. The Android documentation is a joke. – Gwennie

Answer 3

Your searchable.xml contains string literals (hint and label), they should be references. That's what make it fail according to this: SearchInfo always coming out null

Varia

Answer 4

Just wanted to add for anyone still struggling with this that a <data> tag will interfere with your intent-filter and cause you to get a null searchableInfo. I had this:

<intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
    <data android:scheme="https"
          android:host="www.example.com"/>
</intent-filter>

which I needed to change to:

<intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <data android:scheme="https"
          android:host="www.example.com"/>
</intent-filter>

<intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
</intent-filter>

Wynn

Answer 5

If you are using two activities, one for displaying search dialog(OtherActivity) and another for results(SearchableActivity), then save yourself time by looking at this https://mcmap.net/q/903651/-search-activity-not-being-launched-when-pressing-enter

Pieter