Ime options on Android

What are those ImeActions?

IME Actions

It’s keyboard action button which is often skipped during the development and sometimes even in Q/A process. Most user may never use that, but you will make some other furious. In modern times you should care about all of them.

You should care even more when you are developing apps for

Android TV - virtual keyboard is quite annoying, so it’s sad when we will have switch to virtual cursor to switch edit field
Business - when employees are filling the same form for 100x time, it’s way easier to click next on keyboard than switch fields by touch
Devices with physical or external keyboard - it’s just more pleasant

As a developer you have some possibilities to control those keyboard

ImeAction types and when to use

Ime Action	When to use?
`None`	No action is expected from the keyboard
`Default`	Let the keyboard to decide the action
`Done`	User is done providing input to a group of inputs
`Go`	User would like to go to the target of the text in the input
`Next`	User is done with the current input, and wants to move to the next one
`Previous`	User wants to return to the previous input
`Search`	User wants to execute a search
`Send`	User wants to send the text in the input

Implementation

Jetpack Compose

Instructions

There are several options when you are setting things up.

You have to set KeyboardOptions on your TextField.

TextField(
        //...
        keyboardOptions = KeyboardOptions(
                imeAction = ImeAction.Next
        )
)

You have to set KeyboardActions on your TextField

TextField(
        //...
        keyboardActions = KeyboardActions(
                onNext = {
                    // ... 
                }
        )
)

Compose mappings

Ime Action	Compose property	Lambda name
`None`	ImeAction.None	-
`Default`	ImeAction.Default	-
`Done`	ImeAction.Done	onDone
`Go`	ImeAction.Go	onGo
`Next`	ImeAction.Next	onNext
`Previous`	ImeAction.Previous	onPrevious
`Search`	ImeAction.Search	onSearch
`Send`	ImeAction.Send	onSend

Full Snippet

@Preview
@Composable
fun PersonalInformationForm() {

    val focusManager = LocalFocusManager.current

    Column(
            modifier = Modifier
                    .background(Color.White)
                    .padding(all = 6.dp)
    ) {
        TextField(
                value = "Enter first name",
                onValueChange = { /** handle state **/ },
                keyboardOptions = KeyboardOptions(
                        imeAction = ImeAction.Next
                ),
                keyboardActions = KeyboardActions(
                        onNext = {
                            focusManager.moveFocus(FocusDirection.Down)
                        }
                ),
        )
        TextField(
                value = "Enter surname",
                onValueChange = { /** handle state **/ },
                keyboardOptions = KeyboardOptions(
                        imeAction = ImeAction.Send
                ),
                keyboardActions = KeyboardActions(
                        onSend = {
                            /** Send/Save data **/
                        }
                )
        )
        Spacer(modifier = Modifier.height(6.dp))
        Button(
                modifier = Modifier.align(Alignment.CenterHorizontally),
                onClick = { /** Send/Save data **/ }) {
            Text("Send")
        }
    }
}

XML + Code

You have to set android:imeOptions in your XML file under the EditText and listener to handle the action.

Snippets

<com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputEditText
        android:id="@+id/et_email"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:autofillHints="emailAddress"
        android:hint="@string/new_email"
        android:imeOptions="actionSearch"
        android:inputType="textEmailAddress"
        android:maxLines="1"
        android:textSize="16sp" />

binding.et_email.setOnEditorActionListener { _, actionId, _ ->
    if (actionId == EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_SEARCH) {
        //... Search logic and else
    }
}

XML + Code mappings

Ime Action	XML property value	Listener action name
`None`	actionNone	-
`Default`	actionUnspecified	-
`Done`	actionDone	EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE
`Go`	actionGo	EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_GO
`Next`	actionNext	EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_NEXT
`Previous`	actionPrevious	EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_PREVIOUS
`Search`	actionSearch	EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_SEARCH
`Send`	actionSend	EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_SEND

Summary

You shouldn’t skip keyboard actions during the implementation. It may reduce accessibility or even make app unusable on some platforms.

Thank you for your time,

Konrad

What are those ImeActions?#

You should care even more when you are developing apps for#

ImeAction types and when to use#

Implementation#

Jetpack Compose#

Instructions#

Compose mappings#

Full Snippet#

XML + Code#

Snippets#

XML + Code mappings#

Summary#