Search suggestions from network resource into Quick Search box

Question

I'm building the search in an application and need to have a way of putting the suggestions which I get from my server as a JSON-array into the list of suggestions which is displayed below the Quick Search Box.

Is there an easy way to have the quick search box read such resources?

Currently I am trying to use a ContentProvider, but the interface methods clearly indicate one is supposed to be querying a database to get the suggestions. I guess using a ContentProvider is the correct way if you are searching the data which is stored inside the application. I am not so sure however, that it is the right way if you need to query a network resource.

It makes no sense for me to save the suggestions I get from the network to a local database, as the suggestions and their hit rate will vary from time to time.

Anyone had this issue? Or can point me in the direction of a similar question? I could not find questions here on stack that mentioned network suggestions.

Answer 1

Here is an example of SearchView with suggestions coming from a network service (I used Retrofit):

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_search_activity, menu);

        final SearchView searchView = (SearchView) MenuItemCompat.getActionView(menu.findItem(R.id.search));

        final CursorAdapter suggestionAdapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(this,
                android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,
                null,
                new String[]{SearchManager.SUGGEST_COLUMN_TEXT_1},
                new int[]{android.R.id.text1},
                0);
        final List<String> suggestions = new ArrayList<>();

        searchView.setSuggestionsAdapter(suggestionAdapter);
        searchView.setOnSuggestionListener(new SearchView.OnSuggestionListener() {
            @Override
            public boolean onSuggestionSelect(int position) {
                return false;
            }

            @Override
            public boolean onSuggestionClick(int position) {
                searchView.setQuery(suggestions.get(position), false);
                searchView.clearFocus();
                doSearch(suggestions.get(position));
                return true;
            }
        });

        searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(new SearchView.OnQueryTextListener() {

            @Override
            public boolean onQueryTextSubmit(String query) {
                return false;
            }

            @Override
            public boolean onQueryTextChange(String newText) {

                MyApp.autocompleteService.search(newText, new Callback<Autocomplete>() {
                    @Override
                    public void success(Autocomplete autocomplete, Response response) {
                        suggestions.clear();
                        suggestions.addAll(autocomplete.suggestions);

                        String[] columns = {
                                BaseColumns._ID,
                                SearchManager.SUGGEST_COLUMN_TEXT_1,
                                SearchManager.SUGGEST_COLUMN_INTENT_DATA
                        };

                        MatrixCursor cursor = new MatrixCursor(columns);

                        for (int i = 0; i < autocomplete.suggestions.size(); i++) {
                            String[] tmp = {Integer.toString(i), autocomplete.suggestions.get(i), autocomplete.suggestions.get(i)};
                            cursor.addRow(tmp);
                        }
                        suggestionAdapter.swapCursor(cursor);
                    }

                    @Override
                    public void failure(RetrofitError error) {
                        Toast.makeText(SearchFoodActivity.this, error.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                        Log.w("autocompleteService", error.getMessage());
                    }
                });
                return false;
            }
        });

        return true;
}

Answer 2

Found the solution on developer.android.com:

If you have suggestions that you get from a network location, you can build a cursor on the fly when you get the results from your server.

This goes inside your ContentProvider's query() method:

String[] columns = {
   BaseColumns._ID, 
   SearchManager.SUGGEST_COLUMN_TEXT_1, 
   SearchManager.SUGGEST_COLUMN_INTENT_DATA
};

MatrixCursor cursor = new MatrixCursor(columns);

for (int i = 0; i < arr.length(); i++)
{
  String[] tmp = {Integer.toString(i), arr.getString(i), arr.getString(i)};
  cursor.addRow(tmp);
}
return cursor;

The cursor is the used in the quick-search box to fill a list of suggestions.