Question 1

How do I change the colors of MaterialSearchBar?

Accepted Answer

You can customize colors by creating a custom style in styles.xml that inherits from MaterialSearchBarLight or Dark, or by defining specific color resources in colors.xml. The README lists attributes like mt_searchBarColor and mt_textColor for detailed control over icons and text.

Question 2

MaterialSearchBar vs Android's native SearchView: which should I use?

Accepted Answer

MaterialSearchBar offers a more modern, Material Design-compliant UI out-of-the-box with features like voice search and extensive customization, while SearchView is part of the Android SDK but may require more work for styling. Choose MaterialSearchBar for design fidelity and ease, or SearchView for minimal dependencies.

Question 3

How to add voice search functionality with MaterialSearchBar?

Accepted Answer

Enable speech mode by setting mt_speechMode="true" in XML or programmatically with setSpeechModeEnabled(true). Handle voice input in the onButtonClicked callback for BUTTON_SPEECH, where you can integrate a voice recognizer, as shown in the example with openVoiceRecognizer.

Question 4

Does MaterialSearchBar work with Kotlin?

Accepted Answer

Yes, MaterialSearchBar is compatible with both Kotlin and Java, as it's a standard Android library. The example in the README is in Java, but you can use it seamlessly in Kotlin projects by following the same integration steps.

Question 5

How to save search history persistently in MaterialSearchBar?

Accepted Answer

Use getLastSuggestions() to retrieve current suggestions and save them to disk in onDestroy, then restore with setLastSuggestions() in onCreate, as demonstrated in the provided example code. You'll need to implement the storage logic yourself, such as using SharedPreferences or a database.

Question 6

Can I add a menu to MaterialSearchBar?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can inflate a menu using inflateMenu(int menuResource) and handle menu item clicks via getMenu().setOnMenuItemClickListener, allowing for additional actions like filters or settings directly within the search bar.

MaterialSearchBar

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