How to close/hide the Android soft keyboard programmatically?

How to Close/Hide the Android Soft Keyboard Programmatically?

Are you tired of the Android soft keyboard lingering on your screen and hindering your app's user experience? Fear not! Today, we will explore how you can programmatically close or hide the Android soft keyboard with just a few lines of code. 📱💨

The Common Conundrum

Suppose you have an EditText and a Button in your layout, and after writing in the edit field, you want to hide the virtual keyboard when touching outside the keyboard. It seems like a relatively simple task, but finding a concrete example can sometimes be a challenge. 🤔

The Solution in Plain Sight

To programmatically close or hide the Android soft keyboard, you can utilize the InputMethodManager class, which provides methods for interacting with the input methods (keyboard) on the device.

Here's a handy code snippet that will do the trick:

// Get the InputMethodManager instance
InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);

// Hide the soft keyboard
imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(editText.getWindowToken(), 0);

Let's break down the code:

1. First, we obtain an instance of InputMethodManager using the getSystemService() method from our Context.

2. Then, we call the hideSoftInputFromWindow() method on the InputMethodManager instance. This method takes two parameters: the window token associated with the view that currently has focus and a flag (in this case, set to 0) that specifies additional behavior options (e.g., HIDE_IMPLICIT_ONLY or HIDE_NOT_ALWAYS).

By passing the window token of our EditText (which we can get through the getWindowToken() method) and the flag set to 0, we request the system to hide the soft keyboard. 🙌

Putting It All Together

Now that we've learned the solution, let's see how we can apply it to our specific scenario of hiding the keyboard when touching outside it.

Button button = findViewById(R.id.button);
final EditText editText = findViewById(R.id.editText);

button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
    @Override
    public void onClick(View v) {
        // Get the InputMethodManager instance
        InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);

        // Hide the soft keyboard
        imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(editText.getWindowToken(), 0);
        
        // Add any additional logic you want to execute when the button is clicked
        // ...
    }
});

Here, we've added an OnClickListener to our Button, which triggers the code to hide the soft keyboard and execute any additional logic you may have. ✨

Your Turn to Take Action

Now that you have the power to close or hide the Android soft keyboard programmatically, it's time to enhance your app's user experience! Let us know in the comments below if you found this guide helpful or if you have any other tips and tricks to share. 💬🚀

Happy coding! 👩‍💻👨‍💻