Many a times you need to filter or serahc data. That data may be contained in an SQLite database.

There are two ways to do that:

• Clientside Search/Filter - Retrieving everything from database,populating arraylist, then searching the arraylist.
• Serverside Search/Filter - Applying search/filter at the database level and returning only data matching the search term.

The second option is the faster one since we take advantage of the heavily optimized SQL databases.

We use the second approach in this tutorial.

But first we need to insert data into database and populate the ListView. So we do all those.

We use the SearchView as our search input widget.

Let's go.

1. Create Basic Activity Project

1. First create an empty project in android studio. Go to File --> New Project.

2. Type the application name and choose the company name.

3. Choose minimum SDK.

4. Choose Basic activity.

5. Click Finish.

Basic activity will have a toolbar and floating action button already added in the layout

Normally two layouts get generated with this option:

No.	Name	Type	Description
1.	activity_main.xml	XML Layout	Will get inflated into MainActivity Layout.Typically contains appbarlayout with toolbar.Also has a floatingactionbutton.
2.	content_main.xml	XML Layout	Will be included into activity_main.xml.You add your views and widgets here.
3.	MainActivity.java	Class	Main Activity.

In this example I used a basic activity.

The activity will automatically be registered in the android_manifest.xml. Android Activities are components and normally need to be registered as an application component.

If you've created yours manually then register it inside the <application>...<application> as following, replacing the MainActivity with your activity name:

        <activity android:name=".MainActivity">

            <intent-filter>

                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />

            </intent-filter>

        </activity>

You can see that one action and category are specified as intent filters. The category makes our MainActivity as launcher activity. Launcher activities get executed first when th android app is run.

Advantage of Creating Basic Activity project

You can optionally choose empty activity over basic activity for this project.

However basic activity has the following advantages:

No.	Advantage
1.	Provides us a readymade toolbar which gives us actionbar features yet easily customizable
2.	Provides us with appbar layout which implements material design appbar concepts.
3.	Provides a FloatinActionButton which we can readily use to initiate quick actions especially in examples like these.
4.	Decouples our custom content views and widgets from the templating features like toolbar.

Generated Project Structure

AndroidStudio will generate for you a project with default configurations via a set of files and directories.

Here are the most important of them:

No.	File	Major Responsibility
1.	build/	A directory containing resources that have been compiled from the building of application and the classes generated by android tools. Such a tool is the R.java file. R.java file normally holds the references to application resources.
2.	libs/	To hold libraries we use in our project.
3.	src/main/	To hold the source code of our application.This is the main folder you work with.
4.	src/main/java/	Contains our java classes organized as packages.
5.	src/main/res/	Contains our project resources folders as follows.
6.	src/main/res/drawable/	Contains our drawable resources.
7.	src/main/res/layout/	Contains our layout resources.
8.	src/main/res/menu/	Contains our menu resources XML code.
9.	src/main/res/values/	Contains our values resources XML code.These define sets of name-value pairs and can be strings, styles and colors.
10.	AndroidManifest.xml	This file gets autogenerated when we create an android project.It will define basic information needed by the android system like application name,package name,permissions,activities,intents etc.
11.	build.gradle	Gradle Script used to build the android app.

2. Add gradle dependencies

We add some support libraries inside the app level build.gradle:

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.3.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:design:23.3.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:cardview-v7:23.3.0'
}

3. Create User Interface

User interfaces are typically created in android using XML layouts as opposed by direct java coding.

This is an example fo declarative programming.

######### Advantages of Using XML over Java

No.	Advantage
1.	Declarative creation of widgets and views allows us to use a declarative language XML which makes is easier.
2.	It's easily maintanable as the user interface is decoupled from your Java logic.
3.	It's easier to share or download code and safely test them before runtime.
4.	You can use XML generated tools to generate XML

Here are our layouts for this project:

(a). activity_main.xml

• This layout gets inflated to MainActivity user interface.
• It includes the content_main.xml.

Here are some of the widgets, views and viewgroups that get employed"

No.	View/ViewGroup	Package	Role
1.	CordinatorLayout	android.support.design.widget	Super-powered framelayout that provides our application's top level decoration and is also specifies interactions and behavioros of all it's children.
2.	AppBarLayout	android.support.design.widget	A LinearLayout child that arranges its children vertically and provides material design app bar concepts like scrolling gestures.
3.	ToolBar	<android.support.v7.widget	A ViewGroup that can provide actionbar features yet still be used within application layouts.
4.	FloatingActionButton	android.support.design.widget	An circular imageview floating above the UI that we can use as buttons.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    tools:context="com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.MainActivity">

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

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

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

    <include layout="@layout/content_main" />

    <android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton
        android:id="@+id/fab"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="bottom|end"
        android:layout_margin="@dimen/fab_margin"
        android:src="@android:drawable/ic_dialog_email" />

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

(b). content_main.xml

This layout gets included in your activity_main.xml. You define your UI widgets right here. We will have a searchview for searching right on top our Listview which is our AdapterView.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"
    tools:context="com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.MainActivity"
    tools:showIn="@layout/activity_main">

    <android.support.v7.widget.SearchView
        android:id="@+id/sv"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:queryHint="Search.."
        ></android.support.v7.widget.SearchView>

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/lv"
        android:layout_below="@+id/sv"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        ></ListView>
</RelativeLayout>

(c) dialog_layout.xml

This layout will be used to construct our input dialog. That dialog is actually our data entry form.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

    <android.support.v7.widget.CardView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="500dp"
        xmlns:card_view="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
        android:layout_margin="1dp"
        card_view:cardCornerRadius="10dp"
        card_view:cardElevation="5dp"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:orientation="vertical"
            android:layout_height="match_parent">

        <android.support.design.widget.TextInputLayout
            android:id="@+id/nameLayout"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content">

            <EditText
                android:id="@+id/nameEditTxt"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:singleLine="true"
                android:hint= "Name" />
        </android.support.design.widget.TextInputLayout>

        <Button android:id="@+id/saveBtn"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Save"
            android:clickable="true"
            android:background="@color/colorAccent"
            android:layout_marginTop="40dp"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"/>
        <Button android:id="@+id/retrieveBtn"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Retrieve"
            android:clickable="true"
            android:background="@color/colorAccent"
            android:layout_marginTop="40dp"
            android:textColor="@android:color/white"/>
</LinearLayout>
</android.support.v7.widget.CardView>

(d) model.xml

This layout will be used to construct our ListView View items.

It's our custom row template.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.widget.CardView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="match_parent"
    xmlns:card_view="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_margin="5dp"
    card_view:cardCornerRadius="10dp"
    card_view:cardElevation="5dp"

    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
            android:text="Name"
            android:id="@+id/nameTxt"
            android:padding="10dp"
            android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
            />
    </RelativeLayout>
</android.support.v7.widget.CardView>

Java Classes

Let's now jump to java.

Our Data Object

(a) Planet.java

This is our POJO class. It defines for us the properties for a single planet.

We will be saving planet objects into our sqlite database.

package com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.mDataObject;

public class Planet {

    String name;
    int id;

    public Planet() {
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }
}

Our SQLite Classes

(a) Constants.java

This class will hold for us our sqlite database constants.

These constants include sqlite database name, database version, sqlite tabe name, table column names, database table creation and deletion statements.

All of these are defined as simple string constants.

package com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.mDataBase;

public class Constants {
    //COLUMNS
    static final String ROW_ID="id";
    static final String NAME="name";

    //DB
    static final String DB_NAME="ii_DB";
    static final String TB_NAME="ii_TB";
    static final int DB_VERSION=1;

    //CREATE TB
    static final String CREATE_TB="CREATE TABLE ii_TB(id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,"
            + "name TEXT NOT NULL);";

    //DROP TB
    static final String DROP_TB="DROP TABLE IF EXISTS "+TB_NAME;

}

(a) DBHelper.java

This is our SQLiteHelper class. This class helps in database table creation and upgade.

package com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.mDataBase;

import android.content.Context;
import android.database.SQLException;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper;

public class DBHelper extends SQLiteOpenHelper {
    public DBHelper(Context context) {
        super(context, Constants.DB_NAME, null, Constants.DB_VERSION);
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
        try
        {
           db.execSQL(Constants.CREATE_TB);
        }catch (SQLException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

    @Override
    public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
       db.execSQL(Constants.DROP_TB);
        onCreate(db);
    }
}

(c) DBAdapter.java

This is our database adapter class.

Basically we perform all CRUD and data retrieval including searching here.

First a database connection is opened, data is inserted to sqlite, data can be retrieved or searched by passing in search term.

Finally database connection is closed.

package com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.mDataBase;

import android.content.ContentValues;
import android.content.Context;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.database.SQLException;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.provider.SyncStateContract;
public class DBAdapter {

    Context c;
    SQLiteDatabase db;
    DBHelper helper;

    public DBAdapter(Context c) {
        this.c = c;
        helper=new DBHelper(c);
    }

    //OPEN DB
    public void openDB()
    {
        try
        {
           db=helper.getWritableDatabase();
        }catch (SQLException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    //CLOSE
    public void closeDB()
    {
        try
        {
            helper.close();
        }catch (SQLException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    //INSERT DATA
    public boolean add(String name)
    {
        try
        {
            ContentValues cv=new ContentValues();
            cv.put(Constants.NAME, name);

            db.insert(Constants.TB_NAME, Constants.ROW_ID, cv);

            return true;

        }catch (SQLException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return false;
    }

    //RETRIEVE DATA AND FILTER
    public Cursor retrieve(String searchTerm)
    {
        String[] columns={Constants.ROW_ID,Constants.NAME};
        Cursor c=null;

        if(searchTerm != null && searchTerm.length()>0)
        {
            String sql="SELECT * FROM "+Constants.TB_NAME+" WHERE "+Constants.NAME+" LIKE '%"+searchTerm+"%'";
            c=db.rawQuery(sql,null);
            return c;

        }

        c=db.query(Constants.TB_NAME,columns,null,null,null,null,null);
        return c;
    }
}

Our LisView Class

(a) CustomAdapter.java

Our ListView Adapter class.

The model.xml will be inflated here and used as the listView's viewitem.

Data from SQLite is then bound to the ListView.

package com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.mListView;

import android.content.Context;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.R;
import com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.mDataObject.Planet;

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class CustomAdapter extends BaseAdapter {

    Context c;
    ArrayList<Planet> planets;
    LayoutInflater inflater;

    public CustomAdapter(Context c, ArrayList<Planet> planets) {
        this.c = c;
        this.planets = planets;
    }

    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        return planets.size();
    }

    @Override
    public Object getItem(int position) {
        return planets.get(position);
    }

    @Override
    public long getItemId(int position) {
        return position;
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        if(inflater==null)
        {
            inflater= (LayoutInflater) c.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
        }
        if(convertView==null)
        {
            convertView=inflater.inflate(R.layout.model,parent,false);
        }

        TextView nameTxt= (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.nameTxt);
        nameTxt.setText(planets.get(position).getName());

        final int pos=position;

        convertView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                Toast.makeText(c,planets.get(pos).getName(),Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
        });

        return convertView;
    }
}

Our Activity Class

(a) MainActivity.java

This is our main and only activity. Activities represent user interface in android and so does this.

We define a searchview for searching data and listview for showing data.

Also a dialog that will be used as our data entry form.

package com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview;

import android.app.Dialog;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton;
import android.support.design.widget.Snackbar;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.support.v7.widget.SearchView;
import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.mDataBase.DBAdapter;
import com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.mDataObject.Planet;
import com.tutorials.hp.sqlitefilterlistview.mListView.CustomAdapter;

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    ListView lv;
    SearchView sv;
    EditText nameEditText;
    Button saveBtn,retrieveBtn;
    CustomAdapter adapter;
    ArrayList<Planet> planets=new ArrayList<>();

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
        FloatingActionButton fab = (FloatingActionButton) findViewById(R.id.fab);

        lv= (ListView) findViewById(R.id.lv);
        sv= (SearchView) findViewById(R.id.sv);

        adapter=new CustomAdapter(this,planets);

        fab.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view) {

                   displayDialog();
            }
        });

        sv.setOnQueryTextListener(new SearchView.OnQueryTextListener() {
            @Override
            public boolean onQueryTextSubmit(String query) {
                return false;
            }

            @Override
            public boolean onQueryTextChange(String newText) {
                getPlanets(newText);
                return false;
            }
        });

    }

    private void displayDialog()
    {
        Dialog d=new Dialog(this);
        d.setTitle("SQLite Database");
        d.setContentView(R.layout.dialog_layout);

        nameEditText= (EditText) d.findViewById(R.id.nameEditTxt);
        saveBtn= (Button) d.findViewById(R.id.saveBtn);
        retrieveBtn= (Button) d.findViewById(R.id.retrieveBtn);

        saveBtn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                save(nameEditText.getText().toString());
            }
        });
        retrieveBtn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                 getPlanets(null);
            }
        });

        d.show();
    }

    private void save(String name)
    {
        DBAdapter db=new DBAdapter(this);
        db.openDB();
        if(db.add(name))
        {
            nameEditText.setText("");
        }else {
            Toast.makeText(this,"Unable To Save",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }

        db.closeDB();

        this.getPlanets(null);
    }

    private void getPlanets(String searchTerm)
    {
        planets.clear();

        DBAdapter db=new DBAdapter(this);
        db.openDB();
        Planet p=null;
        Cursor c=db.retrieve(searchTerm);
        while (c.moveToNext())
        {
            int id=c.getInt(0);
            String name=c.getString(1);

            p=new Planet();
            p.setId(id);
            p.setName(name);

            planets.add(p);
        }

        db.closeDB();

        lv.setAdapter(adapter);

    }
}

How do You Feel after reading this?

According to scientists, we humans have 8 primary innate emotions: joy, acceptance, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation. Feel free to tell us how you feel about this article using these emotes or via the comment section. This feedback helps us gauge our progress.

Help me Grow.

I set myself some growth ambitions I desire to achieve by this year's end regarding this website and my youtube channel. Am halfway. Help me reach them by: