EditText User Feedback

It is possible to use EditText to provide user feedback. The first method uses myEditText.setError(error) as in:

String destination= editTextPhoneNumber.getText().toString();

    // pre conditions

    if (destination.length()<7){

        editTextPhoneNumber.setError("Invalid Phone #");

        editTextPhoneNumber.setText("");

        editTextPhoneNumber.requestFocus();

    return;

}

Note the call to requestFocus which triggers the error text.

The second method is to use hints as in:

    // SMS Receiver

    private BroadcastReceiver sentReceiver= new BroadcastReceiver() {

        @Override

        public void onReceive(Context c, Intent i) {

            // TODO Auto-generated method stub

            switch(getResultCode()) {

            case Activity.RESULT_OK:

                editTextPhoneNumber.setHint("Success Sending SMS");

                editTextPhoneNumber.setText("");

                break;

            default:

...

                break;

            }

        }

    };

Note the call to setText("") which makes the hint visible.

Be sure to examine the behavior of programatically set errors and hints on a soft kill. Be sure to consider how to reset hints to default values and clear errors on re-entry.