How to filter a RecyclerView with a SearchView

I am trying to implement the SearchView from the support library. I want the user to be to use the SearchView to filter a List of movies in a RecyclerView.

I have followed a few tutorials so far and I have added the SearchView to the ActionBar, but I am not really sure where to go from here. I have seen a few examples but none of them show results as you start typing.

This is my MainActivity:

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    RecyclerView mRecyclerView;
    RecyclerView.LayoutManager mLayoutManager;
    RecyclerView.Adapter mAdapter;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_recycler_view);
        
        mRecyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.recycler_view);
        mRecyclerView.setHasFixedSize(true);

        mLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
        mRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(mLayoutManager);

        mAdapter = new CardAdapter() {
            @Override
            public Filter getFilter() {
                return null;
            }
        };
        mRecyclerView.setAdapter(mAdapter);
    }

    @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_main, menu);
        SearchManager searchManager = (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);
        SearchView searchView = (SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.menu_search).getActionView();
        searchView.setSearchableInfo(searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
        int id = item.getItemId();

        //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
            return true;
        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

And this is my Adapter:

public abstract class CardAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<CardAdapter.ViewHolder> implements Filterable {

    List<Movie> mItems;

    public CardAdapter() {
        super();
        mItems = new ArrayList<Movie>();
        Movie movie = new Movie();
        movie.setName("Spiderman");
        movie.setRating("92");
        mItems.add(movie);

        movie = new Movie();
        movie.setName("Doom 3");
        movie.setRating("91");
        mItems.add(movie);

        movie = new Movie();
        movie.setName("Transformers");
        movie.setRating("88");
        mItems.add(movie);

        movie = new Movie();
        movie.setName("Transformers 2");
        movie.setRating("87");
        mItems.add(movie);

        movie = new Movie();
        movie.setName("Transformers 3");
        movie.setRating("86");
        mItems.add(movie);

        movie = new Movie();
        movie.setName("Noah");
        movie.setRating("86");
        mItems.add(movie);

        movie = new Movie();
        movie.setName("Ironman");
        movie.setRating("86");
        mItems.add(movie);

        movie = new Movie();
        movie.setName("Ironman 2");
        movie.setRating("86");
        mItems.add(movie);

        movie = new Movie();
        movie.setName("Ironman 3");
        movie.setRating("86");
        mItems.add(movie);
    }

    @Override
    public ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup viewGroup, int i) {
        View v = LayoutInflater.from(viewGroup.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.recycler_view_card_item, viewGroup, false);
        return new ViewHolder(v);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(ViewHolder viewHolder, int i) {
        Movie movie = mItems.get(i);
        viewHolder.tvMovie.setText(movie.getName());
        viewHolder.tvMovieRating.setText(movie.getRating());
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return mItems.size();
    }

    class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder{

        public TextView tvMovie;
        public TextView tvMovieRating;
        
        public ViewHolder(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            tvMovie = (TextView)itemView.findViewById(R.id.movieName);
            tvMovieRating = (TextView)itemView.findViewById(R.id.movieRating);
        }
    }
}

Introduction

Since it is not really clear from your question what exactly you are having trouble with, I wrote up this quick walkthrough about how to implement this feature; if you still have questions feel free to ask.

I have a working example of everything I am talking about here in this GitHub Repository.

In any case the result should looks something like this:

If you first want to play around with the demo app you can install it from the Play Store:

Anyway lets get started.

---

Setting up the SearchView

In the folder res/menu create a new file called main_menu.xml. In it add an item and set the actionViewClass to android.support.v7.widget.SearchView. Since you are using the support library you have to use the namespace of the support library to set the actionViewClass attribute. Your xml file should look something like this:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">

    <item android:id="@+id/action_search"
          android:title="@string/action_search"
          app:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView"
          app:showAsAction="always"/>
      
</menu>

In your Fragment or Activity you have to inflate this menu xml like usual, then you can look for the MenuItem which contains the SearchView and implement the OnQueryTextListener which we are going to use to listen for changes to the text entered into the SearchView:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);

    final MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_search);
    final SearchView searchView = (SearchView) searchItem.getActionView();
    searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(this);

    return true;
}

@Override
public boolean onQueryTextChange(String query) {
    // Here is where we are going to implement the filter logic
    return false;
}

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

And now the SearchView is ready to be used. We will implement the filter logic later on in onQueryTextChange() once we are finished implementing the Adapter.

---

Setting up the Adapter

First and foremost this is the model class I am going to use for this example:

public class ExampleModel {

    private final long mId;
    private final String mText;

    public ExampleModel(long id, String text) {
        mId = id;
        mText = text;
    }

    public long getId() {
        return mId;
    }

    public String getText() {
        return mText;
    }
}

It's just your basic model which will display a text in the RecyclerView. This is the layout I am going to use to display the text:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <data>

        <variable
            name="model"
            type="com.github.wrdlbrnft.searchablerecyclerviewdemo.ui.models.ExampleModel"/>

    </data>

    <FrameLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackground"
        android:clickable="true">

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:padding="8dp"
            android:text="@{model.text}"/>

    </FrameLayout>

</layout>

As you can see I use Data Binding. If you have never worked with data binding before don't be discouraged! It's very simple and powerful, however I can't explain how it works in the scope of this answer.

This is the ViewHolder for the ExampleModel class:

public class ExampleViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {

    private final ItemExampleBinding mBinding;

    public ExampleViewHolder(ItemExampleBinding binding) {
        super(binding.getRoot());
        mBinding = binding;
    }

    public void bind(ExampleModel item) {
        mBinding.setModel(item);
    }
}

Again nothing special. It just uses data binding to bind the model class to this layout as we have defined in the layout xml above.

Now we can finally come to the really interesting part: Writing the Adapter. I am going to skip over the basic implementation of the Adapter and am instead going to concentrate on the parts which are relevant for this answer.

But first there is one thing we have to talk about: The SortedList class.

---

SortedList

The SortedList is a completely amazing tool which is part of the RecyclerView library. It takes care of notifying the Adapter about changes to the data set and does so it a very efficient way. The only thing it requires you to do is specify an order of the elements. You need to do that by implementing a compare() method which compares two elements in the SortedList just like a Comparator. But instead of sorting a List it is used to sort the items in the RecyclerView!

The SortedList interacts with the Adapter through a Callback class which you have to implement:

private final SortedList.Callback<ExampleModel> mCallback = new SortedList.Callback<ExampleModel>() {

    @Override
    public void onInserted(int position, int count) {
         mAdapter.notifyItemRangeInserted(position, count);
    }

    @Override
    public void onRemoved(int position, int count) {
        mAdapter.notifyItemRangeRemoved(position, count);
    }

    @Override
    public void onMoved(int fromPosition, int toPosition) {
        mAdapter.notifyItemMoved(fromPosition, toPosition);
    }

    @Override
    public void onChanged(int position, int count) {
        mAdapter.notifyItemRangeChanged(position, count);
    }

    @Override
    public int compare(ExampleModel a, ExampleModel b) {
        return mComparator.compare(a, b);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean areContentsTheSame(ExampleModel oldItem, ExampleModel newItem) {
        return oldItem.equals(newItem);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean areItemsTheSame(ExampleModel item1, ExampleModel item2) {
        return item1.getId() == item2.getId();
    }
}

In the methods at the top of the callback like onMoved, onInserted, etc. you have to call the equivalent notify method of your Adapter. The three methods at the bottom compare, areContentsTheSame and areItemsTheSame you have to implement according to what kind of objects you want to display and in what order these objects should appear on the screen.

Let's go through these methods one by one:

@Override
public int compare(ExampleModel a, ExampleModel b) {
    return mComparator.compare(a, b);
}

This is the compare() method I talked about earlier. In this example I am just passing the call to a Comparator which compares the two models. If you want the items to appear in alphabetical order on the screen. This comparator might look like this:

private static final Comparator<ExampleModel> ALPHABETICAL_COMPARATOR = new Comparator<ExampleModel>() {
    @Override
    public int compare(ExampleModel a, ExampleModel b) {
        return a.getText().compareTo(b.getText());
    }
};

Now let's take a look at the next method:

@Override
public boolean areContentsTheSame(ExampleModel oldItem, ExampleModel newItem) {
    return oldItem.equals(newItem);
}

The purpose of this method is to determine if the content of a model has changed. The SortedList uses this to determine if a change event needs to be invoked - in other words if the RecyclerView should crossfade the old and new version. If you model classes have a correct equals() and hashCode() implementation you can usually just implement it like above. If we add an equals() and hashCode() implementation to the ExampleModel class it should look something like this:

public class ExampleModel implements SortedListAdapter.ViewModel {

    private final long mId;
    private final String mText;

    public ExampleModel(long id, String text) {
        mId = id;
        mText = text;
    }

    public long getId() {
        return mId;
    }

    public String getText() {
        return mText;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if (this == o) return true;
        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;

        ExampleModel model = (ExampleModel) o;

        if (mId != model.mId) return false;
        return mText != null ? mText.equals(model.mText) : model.mText == null;

    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        int result = (int) (mId ^ (mId >>> 32));
        result = 31 * result + (mText != null ? mText.hashCode() : 0);
        return result;
    }
}

Quick side note: Most IDE's like Android Studio, IntelliJ and Eclipse have functionality to generate equals() and hashCode() implementations for you at the press of a button! So you don't have to implement them yourself. Look up on the internet how it works in your IDE!

Now let's take a look at the last method:

@Override
public boolean areItemsTheSame(ExampleModel item1, ExampleModel item2) {
    return item1.getId() == item2.getId();
}

The SortedList uses this method to check if two items refer to the same thing. In simplest terms (without explaining how the SortedList works) this is used to determine if an object is already contained in the List and if either an add, move or change animation needs to be played. If your models have an id you would usually compare just the id in this method. If they don't you need to figure out some other way to check this, but however you end up implementing this depends on your specific app. Usually it is the simplest option to give all models an id - that could for example be the primary key field if you are querying the data from a database.

With the SortedList.Callback correctly implemented we can create an instance of the SortedList:

final SortedList<ExampleModel> list = new SortedList<>(ExampleModel.class, mCallback);

As the first parameter in the constructor of the SortedList you need to pass the class of your models. The other parameter is just the SortedList.Callback we defined above.

Now let's get down to business: If we implement the Adapter with a SortedList it should look something like this:

public class ExampleAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<ExampleViewHolder> {

    private final SortedList<ExampleModel> mSortedList = new SortedList<>(ExampleModel.class, new SortedList.Callback<ExampleModel>() {
        @Override
        public int compare(ExampleModel a, ExampleModel b) {
            return mComparator.compare(a, b);
        }

        @Override
        public void onInserted(int position, int count) {
            notifyItemRangeInserted(position, count);
        }

        @Override
        public void onRemoved(int position, int count) {
            notifyItemRangeRemoved(position, count);
        }

        @Override
        public void onMoved(int fromPosition, int toPosition) {
            notifyItemMoved(fromPosition, toPosition);
        }

        @Override
        public void onChanged(int position, int count) {
            notifyItemRangeChanged(position, count);
        }

        @Override
        public boolean areContentsTheSame(ExampleModel oldItem, ExampleModel newItem) {
            return oldItem.equals(newItem);
        }

        @Override
        public boolean areItemsTheSame(ExampleModel item1, ExampleModel item2) {
            return item1.getId() == item2.getId();
        }
    });

    private final LayoutInflater mInflater;
    private final Comparator<ExampleModel> mComparator;

    public ExampleAdapter(Context context, Comparator<ExampleModel> comparator) {
        mInflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);
        mComparator = comparator;
    }

    @Override
    public ExampleViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        final ItemExampleBinding binding = ItemExampleBinding.inflate(inflater, parent, false);
        return new ExampleViewHolder(binding);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(ExampleViewHolder holder, int position) {
        final ExampleModel model = mSortedList.get(position);
        holder.bind(model);
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return mSortedList.size();
    }
}

The Comparator used to sort the item is passed in through the constructor so we can use the same Adapter even if the items are supposed to be displayed in a different order.

Now we are almost done! But we first need a way to add or remove items to the Adapter. For this purpose we can add methods to the Adapter which allow us to add and remove items to the SortedList:

public void add(ExampleModel model) {
    mSortedList.add(model);
}

public void remove(ExampleModel model) {
    mSortedList.remove(model);
}

public void add(List<ExampleModel> models) {
    mSortedList.addAll(models);
}

public void remove(List<ExampleModel> models) {
    mSortedList.beginBatchedUpdates();
    for (ExampleModel model : models) {
        mSortedList.remove(model);
    }
    mSortedList.endBatchedUpdates();
}

We don't need to call any notify methods here because the SortedList already does this for through the SortedList.Callback! Aside from that the implementation of these methods is pretty straight forward with one exception: the remove method which removes a List of models. Since the SortedList has only one remove method which can remove a single object we need to loop over the list and remove the models one by one. Calling beginBatchedUpdates() at the beginning batches all the changes we are going to make to the SortedList together and improves performance. When we call endBatchedUpdates() the RecyclerView is notified about all the changes at once.

Additionally what you have to understand is that if you add an object to the SortedList and it is already in the SortedList it won't be added again. Instead the SortedList uses the areContentsTheSame() method to figure out if the object has changed - and if it has the item in the RecyclerView will be updated.

Anyway, what I usually prefer is one method which allows me to replace all items in the RecyclerView at once. Remove everything which is not in the List and add all items which are missing from the SortedList:

public void replaceAll(List<ExampleModel> models) {
    mSortedList.beginBatchedUpdates();
    for (int i = mSortedList.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
        final ExampleModel model = mSortedList.get(i);
        if (!models.contains(model)) {
            mSortedList.remove(model);
        }
    }
    mSortedList.addAll(models);
    mSortedList.endBatchedUpdates();
}

This method again batches all updates together to increase performance. The first loop is in reverse since removing an item at the start would mess up the indexes of all items that come up after it and this can lead in some instances to problems like data inconsistencies. After that we just add the List to the SortedList using addAll() to add all items which are not already in the SortedList and - just like I described above - update all items that are already in the SortedList but have changed.

And with that the Adapter is complete. The whole thing should look something like this:

public class ExampleAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<ExampleViewHolder> {

    private final SortedList<ExampleModel> mSortedList = new SortedList<>(ExampleModel.class, new SortedList.Callback<ExampleModel>() {
        @Override
        public int compare(ExampleModel a, ExampleModel b) {
            return mComparator.compare(a, b);
        }

        @Override
        public void onInserted(int position, int count) {
            notifyItemRangeInserted(position, count);
        }

        @Override
        public void onRemoved(int position, int count) {
            notifyItemRangeRemoved(position, count);
        }

        @Override
        public void onMoved(int fromPosition, int toPosition) {
            notifyItemMoved(fromPosition, toPosition);
        }

        @Override
        public void onChanged(int position, int count) {
            notifyItemRangeChanged(position, count);
        }

        @Override
        public boolean areContentsTheSame(ExampleModel oldItem, ExampleModel newItem) {
            return oldItem.equals(newItem);
        }

        @Override
        public boolean areItemsTheSame(ExampleModel item1, ExampleModel item2) {
            return item1 == item2;
        }
    });

    private final Comparator<ExampleModel> mComparator;
    private final LayoutInflater mInflater;

    public ExampleAdapter(Context context, Comparator<ExampleModel> comparator) {
        mInflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);
        mComparator = comparator;
    }

    @Override
    public ExampleViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        final ItemExampleBinding binding = ItemExampleBinding.inflate(mInflater, parent, false);
        return new ExampleViewHolder(binding);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(ExampleViewHolder holder, int position) {
        final ExampleModel model = mSortedList.get(position);
        holder.bind(model);
    }

    public void add(ExampleModel model) {
        mSortedList.add(model);
    }

    public void remove(ExampleModel model) {
        mSortedList.remove(model);
    }

    public void add(List<ExampleModel> models) {
        mSortedList.addAll(models);
    }

    public void remove(List<ExampleModel> models) {
        mSortedList.beginBatchedUpdates();
        for (ExampleModel model : models) {
            mSortedList.remove(model);
        }
        mSortedList.endBatchedUpdates();
    }

    public void replaceAll(List<ExampleModel> models) {
        mSortedList.beginBatchedUpdates();
        for (int i = mSortedList.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
            final ExampleModel model = mSortedList.get(i);
            if (!models.contains(model)) {
                mSortedList.remove(model);
            }
        }
        mSortedList.addAll(models);
        mSortedList.endBatchedUpdates();
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return mSortedList.size();
    }
}

The only thing missing now is to implement the filtering!

---

Implementing the filter logic

To implement the filter logic we first have to define a List of all possible models. For this example I create a List of ExampleModel instances from an array of movies:

private static final String[] MOVIES = new String[]{
        ...
};

private static final Comparator<ExampleModel> ALPHABETICAL_COMPARATOR = new Comparator<ExampleModel>() {
    @Override
    public int compare(ExampleModel a, ExampleModel b) {
        return a.getText().compareTo(b.getText());
    }
};

private ExampleAdapter mAdapter;
private List<ExampleModel> mModels;
private RecyclerView mRecyclerView;

    @Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    mBinding = DataBindingUtil.setContentView(this, R.layout.activity_main);

    mAdapter = new ExampleAdapter(this, ALPHABETICAL_COMPARATOR);

    mBinding.recyclerView.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(this));
    mBinding.recyclerView.setAdapter(mAdapter);

    mModels = new ArrayList<>();
    for (String movie : MOVIES) {
        mModels.add(new ExampleModel(movie));
    }
    mAdapter.add(mModels);
}

Nothing special going on here, we just instantiate the Adapter and set it to the RecyclerView. After that we create a List of models from the movie names in the MOVIES array. Then we add all the models to the SortedList.

Now we can go back to onQueryTextChange() which we defined earlier and start implementing the filter logic:

@Override
public boolean onQueryTextChange(String query) {
    final List<ExampleModel> filteredModelList = filter(mModels, query);
    mAdapter.replaceAll(filteredModelList);
    mBinding.recyclerView.scrollToPosition(0);
    return true;
}

This is again pretty straight forward. We call the method filter() and pass in the List of ExampleModels as well as the query string. We then call replaceAll() on the Adapter and pass in the filtered List returned by filter(). We also have to call scrollToPosition(0) on the RecyclerView to ensure that the user can always see all items when searching for something. Otherwise the RecyclerView might stay in a scrolled down position while filtering and subsequently hide a few items. Scrolling to the top ensures a better user experience while searching.

The only thing left to do now is to implement filter() itself:

private static List<ExampleModel> filter(List<ExampleModel> models, String query) {
    final String lowerCaseQuery = query.toLowerCase();

    final List<ExampleModel> filteredModelList = new ArrayList<>();
    for (ExampleModel model : models) {
        final String text = model.getText().toLowerCase();
        if (text.contains(lowerCaseQuery)) {
            filteredModelList.add(model);
        }
    }
    return filteredModelList;
}

The first thing we do here is call toLowerCase() on the query string. We don't want our search function to be case sensitive and by calling toLowerCase() on all strings we compare we can ensure that we return the same results regardless of case. It then just iterates through all the models in the List we passed into it and checks if the query string is contained in the text of the model. If it is then the model is added to the filtered List.

And that's it! The above code will run on API level 7 and above and starting with API level 11 you get item animations for free!

I realize that this is a very detailed description which probably makes this whole thing seem more complicated than it really is, but there is a way we can generalize this whole problem and make implementing an Adapter based on a SortedList much simpler.

---

Generalizing the problem and simplifying the Adapter

In this section I am not going to go into much detail - partly because I am running up against the character limit for answers on Stack Overflow but also because most of it already explained above - but to summarize the changes: We can implemented a base Adapter class which already takes care of dealing with the SortedList as well as binding models to ViewHolder instances and provides a convenient way to implement an Adapter based on a SortedList. For that we have to do two things:

• We need to create a ViewModel interface which all model classes have to implement
• We need to create a ViewHolder subclass which defines a bind() method the Adapter can use to bind models automatically.

This allows us to just focus on the content which is supposed to be displayed in the RecyclerView by just implementing the models and there corresponding ViewHolder implementations. Using this base class we don't have to worry about the intricate details of the Adapter and its SortedList.

SortedListAdapter

Because of the character limit for answers on StackOverflow I can't go through each step of implementing this base class or even add the full source code here, but you can find the full source code of this base class - I called it SortedListAdapter - in this GitHub Gist.

To make your life simple I have published a library on jCenter which contains the SortedListAdapter! If you want to use it then all you need to do is add this dependency to your app's build.gradle file:

compile 'com.github.wrdlbrnft:sorted-list-adapter:0.2.0.1'

You can find more information about this library on the library homepage.

Using the SortedListAdapter

To use the SortedListAdapter we have to make two changes:

• Change the ViewHolder so that it extends SortedListAdapter.ViewHolder. The type parameter should be the model which should be bound to this ViewHolder - in this case ExampleModel. You have to bind data to your models in performBind() instead of bind().

   public class ExampleViewHolder extends SortedListAdapter.ViewHolder<ExampleModel> {
  
       private final ItemExampleBinding mBinding;
  
       public ExampleViewHolder(ItemExampleBinding binding) {
           super(binding.getRoot());
           mBinding = binding;
       }
  
       @Override
       protected void performBind(ExampleModel item) {
           mBinding.setModel(item);
       }
   }
  

• Make sure that all your models implement the ViewModel interface:

   public class ExampleModel implements SortedListAdapter.ViewModel {
       ...
   }
  

After that we just have to update the ExampleAdapter to extend SortedListAdapter and remove everything we don't need anymore. The type parameter should be the type of model you are working with - in this case ExampleModel. But if you are working with different types of models then set the type parameter to ViewModel.

public class ExampleAdapter extends SortedListAdapter<ExampleModel> {

    public ExampleAdapter(Context context, Comparator<ExampleModel> comparator) {
        super(context, ExampleModel.class, comparator);
    }

    @Override
    protected ViewHolder<? extends ExampleModel> onCreateViewHolder(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        final ItemExampleBinding binding = ItemExampleBinding.inflate(inflater, parent, false);
        return new ExampleViewHolder(binding);
    }

    @Override
    protected boolean areItemsTheSame(ExampleModel item1, ExampleModel item2) {
        return item1.getId() == item2.getId();
    }

    @Override
    protected boolean areItemContentsTheSame(ExampleModel oldItem, ExampleModel newItem) {
        return oldItem.equals(newItem);
    }
}

After that we are done! However one last thing to mention: The SortedListAdapter does not have the same add(), remove() or replaceAll() methods our original ExampleAdapter had. It uses a separate Editor object to modify the items in the list which can be accessed through the edit() method. So if you want to remove or add items you have to call edit() then add and remove the items on this Editor instance and once you are done, call commit() on it to apply the changes to the SortedList:

mAdapter.edit()
        .remove(modelToRemove)
        .add(listOfModelsToAdd)
        .commit();

All changes you make this way are batched together to increase performance. The replaceAll() method we implemented in the chapters above is also present on this Editor object:

mAdapter.edit()
        .replaceAll(mModels)
        .commit();

If you forget to call commit() then none of your changes will be applied!

All you need to do is to add filter method in RecyclerView.Adapter:

public void filter(String text) {
    items.clear();
    if(text.isEmpty()){
        items.addAll(itemsCopy);
    } else{
        text = text.toLowerCase();
        for(PhoneBookItem item: itemsCopy){
            if(item.name.toLowerCase().contains(text) || item.phone.toLowerCase().contains(text)){
                items.add(item);
            }
        }
    }
    notifyDataSetChanged();
}

itemsCopy is initialized in adapter's constructor like itemsCopy.addAll(items).

If you do so, just call filter from OnQueryTextListener:

searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(new SearchView.OnQueryTextListener() {
	@Override
	public boolean onQueryTextSubmit(String query) {
	    adapter.filter(query);
	    return true;
	}

	@Override
	public boolean onQueryTextChange(String newText) {
	    adapter.filter(newText);
	    return true;
	}
});

It's an example from filtering my phonebook by name and phone number.

Following @Shruthi Kamoji in a cleaner way, we can just use a filterable, its meant for that:

public abstract class GenericRecycleAdapter<E> extends RecyclerView.Adapter implements Filterable
{
    protected List<E> list;
    protected List<E> originalList;
    protected Context context;
    
    public GenericRecycleAdapter(Context context,
    List<E> list)
    {
        this.originalList = list;
        this.list = list;
        this.context = context;
    }
    
    ...
    
    @Override
    public Filter getFilter() {
        return new Filter() {
            @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
            @Override
            protected void publishResults(CharSequence constraint, FilterResults results) {
                list = (List<E>) results.values;
                notifyDataSetChanged();
            }
            
            @Override
            protected FilterResults performFiltering(CharSequence constraint) {
                List<E> filteredResults = null;
                if (constraint.length() == 0) {
                    filteredResults = originalList;
                } else {
                    filteredResults = getFilteredResults(constraint.toString().toLowerCase());
                }
                
                FilterResults results = new FilterResults();
                results.values = filteredResults;
                
                return results;
            }
        };
    }
    
    protected List<E> getFilteredResults(String constraint) {
        List<E> results = new ArrayList<>();
        
        for (E item : originalList) {
            if (item.getName().toLowerCase().contains(constraint)) {
                results.add(item);
            }
        }
        return results;
    }
} 

The E here is a Generic Type, you can extend it using your class:

public class customerAdapter extends GenericRecycleAdapter<CustomerModel>

Or just change the E to the type you want (<CustomerModel> for example)

Then from searchView (the widget you can put on menu.xml):

searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(new SearchView.OnQueryTextListener() {
    @Override
    public boolean onQueryTextSubmit(String text) {
        return false;
    }
    
    @Override
    public boolean onQueryTextChange(String text) {
        yourAdapter.getFilter().filter(text);
        return true;
    }
});

In Adapter:

public void setFilter(List<Channel> newList){
        mChannels = new ArrayList<>();
        mChannels.addAll(newList);
        notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

In Activity:

searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(new SearchView.OnQueryTextListener() {
            @Override
            public boolean onQueryTextSubmit(String query) {
                return false;
            }

            @Override
            public boolean onQueryTextChange(String newText) {
                newText = newText.toLowerCase();
                ArrayList<Channel> newList = new ArrayList<>();
                for (Channel channel: channels){
                    String channelName = channel.getmChannelName().toLowerCase();
                    if (channelName.contains(newText)){
                        newList.add(channel);
                    }
                }
                mAdapter.setFilter(newList);
                return true;
            }
        });

>simply create two list in adapter one orignal and one temp and implements Filterable.

    @Override
    public Filter getFilter() {
        return new Filter() {
            @Override
            protected FilterResults performFiltering(CharSequence constraint) {
                final FilterResults oReturn = new FilterResults();
                final ArrayList<T> results = new ArrayList<>();
                if (origList == null)
                    origList = new ArrayList<>(itemList);
                if (constraint != null && constraint.length() > 0) {
                    if (origList != null && origList.size() > 0) {
                        for (final T cd : origList) {
                            if (cd.getAttributeToSearch().toLowerCase()
                                    .contains(constraint.toString().toLowerCase()))
                                results.add(cd);
                        }
                    }
                    oReturn.values = results;
                    oReturn.count = results.size();//newly Aded by ZA
                } else {
                    oReturn.values = origList;
                    oReturn.count = origList.size();//newly added by ZA
                }
                return oReturn;
            }

            @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
            @Override
            protected void publishResults(final CharSequence constraint,
                                          FilterResults results) {
                itemList = new ArrayList<>((ArrayList<T>) results.values);
                // FIXME: 8/16/2017 implement Comparable with sort below
                ///Collections.sort(itemList);
                notifyDataSetChanged();
            }
        };
    }

where

public GenericBaseAdapter(Context mContext, List<T> itemList) {
        this.mContext = mContext;
        this.itemList = itemList;
        this.origList = itemList;
    }

With Android Architecture Components through the use of LiveData this can be easily implemented with any type of Adapter. You simply have to do the following steps:

1. Setup your data to return from the Room Database as LiveData as in the example below:

@Dao
public interface CustomDAO{

@Query("SELECT * FROM words_table WHERE column LIKE :searchquery")
    public LiveData<List<Word>> searchFor(String searchquery);
}

2. Create a ViewModel object to update your data live through a method that will connect your DAO and your UI

public class CustomViewModel extends AndroidViewModel {

    private final AppDatabase mAppDatabase;

    public WordListViewModel(@NonNull Application application) {
        super(application);
        this.mAppDatabase = AppDatabase.getInstance(application.getApplicationContext());
    }

    public LiveData<List<Word>> searchQuery(String query) {
        return mAppDatabase.mWordDAO().searchFor(query);
    }

}

3. Call your data from the ViewModel on the fly by passing in the query through onQueryTextListener as below:

Inside onCreateOptionsMenu set your listener as follows

searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(onQueryTextListener);

Setup your query listener somewhere in your SearchActivity class as follows

private android.support.v7.widget.SearchView.OnQueryTextListener onQueryTextListener =
            new android.support.v7.widget.SearchView.OnQueryTextListener() {
                @Override
                public boolean onQueryTextSubmit(String query) {
                    getResults(query);
                    return true;
                }

                @Override
                public boolean onQueryTextChange(String newText) {
                    getResults(newText);
                    return true;
                }

                private void getResults(String newText) {
                    String queryText = "%" + newText + "%";
                    mCustomViewModel.searchQuery(queryText).observe(
                            SearchResultsActivity.this, new Observer<List<Word>>() {
                                @Override
                                public void onChanged(@Nullable List<Word> words) {
                                    if (words == null) return;
                                    searchAdapter.submitList(words);
                                }
                            });
                }
            };

Note: Steps (1.) and (2.) are standard AAC ViewModel and DAO implementation, the only real "magic" going on here is in the OnQueryTextListener which will update the results of your list dynamically as the query text changes.

If you need more clarification on the matter please don't hesitate to ask. I hope this helped :).

I don't know why everyone is using 2 copies of the same list to solve this. This uses too much RAM...

Why not just hide the elements that are not found, and simply store their index in a Set to be able to restore them later? That's much less RAM especially if your objects are quite large.

public class MyRecyclerViewAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<MyRecyclerViewAdapter.SampleViewHolders>{
    private List<MyObject> myObjectsList; //holds the items of type MyObject
    private Set<Integer> foundObjects; //holds the indices of the found items

    public MyRecyclerViewAdapter(Context context, List<MyObject> myObjectsList)
    {
        this.myObjectsList = myObjectsList;
        this.foundObjects = new HashSet<>();
        //first, add all indices to the indices set
        for(int i = 0; i < this.myObjectsList.size(); i++)
        {
            this.foundObjects.add(i);
        }
    }

    @NonNull
    @Override
    public SampleViewHolders onCreateViewHolder(@NonNull ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View layoutView = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(
                R.layout.my_layout_for_staggered_grid, null);
        MyRecyclerViewAdapter.SampleViewHolders rcv = new MyRecyclerViewAdapter.SampleViewHolders(layoutView);
        return rcv;
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(@NonNull SampleViewHolders holder, int position)
    {
        //look for object in O(1) in the indices set
        if(!foundObjects.contains(position))
        {
            //object not found => hide it.
            holder.hideLayout();
            return;
        }
        else
        {
            //object found => show it.
            holder.showLayout();
        }

        //holder.imgImageView.setImageResource(...)
        //holder.nameTextView.setText(...)
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return myObjectsList.size();
    }

    public void findObject(String text)
    {
        //look for "text" in the objects list
        for(int i = 0; i < myObjectsList.size(); i++)
        {
            //if it's empty text, we want all objects, so just add it to the set.
            if(text.length() == 0)
            {
                foundObjects.add(i);
            }
            else
            {
                //otherwise check if it meets your search criteria and add it or remove it accordingly
                if (myObjectsList.get(i).getName().toLowerCase().contains(text.toLowerCase()))
                {
                    foundObjects.add(i);
                }
                else
                {
                    foundObjects.remove(i);
                }
            }
        }
        notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    public class SampleViewHolders extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder implements View.OnClickListener
    {
        public ImageView imgImageView;
        public TextView nameTextView;

        private final CardView layout;
        private final CardView.LayoutParams hiddenLayoutParams;
        private final CardView.LayoutParams shownLayoutParams;

        
        public SampleViewHolders(View itemView)
        {
            super(itemView);
            itemView.setOnClickListener(this);
            imgImageView = (ImageView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.some_image_view);
            nameTextView = (TextView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.display_name_textview);

            layout = itemView.findViewById(R.id.card_view); //card_view is the id of my androidx.cardview.widget.CardView in my xml layout
            //prepare hidden layout params with height = 0, and visible layout params for later - see hideLayout() and showLayout()
            hiddenLayoutParams = new CardView.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
                    ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
            hiddenLayoutParams.height = 0;
            shownLayoutParams = new CardView.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
                    ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
        }

        @Override
        public void onClick(View view)
        {
            //implement...
        }

        private void hideLayout() {
            //hide the layout
            layout.setLayoutParams(hiddenLayoutParams);
        }

        private void showLayout() {
            //show the layout
            layout.setLayoutParams(shownLayoutParams);
        }
    }
}

And I simply have an EditText as my search box:

cardsSearchTextView.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {
            @Override
            public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence charSequence, int i, int i1, int i2) {

            }

            @Override
            public void onTextChanged(CharSequence charSequence, int i, int i1, int i2) {

            }

            @Override
            public void afterTextChanged(Editable editable) {
                myViewAdapter.findObject(editable.toString().toLowerCase());
            }
        });

Result:

I have solved the same problem using the link with some modifications in it. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29792187/search-filter-on-recyclerview-with-cards-is-it-even-possible/29792313#29792313 (hope this helps).

Here is my adapter class

public class ContactListRecyclerAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<ContactListRecyclerAdapter.ContactViewHolder> implements Filterable {

Context mContext;
ArrayList<Contact> customerList;
ArrayList<Contact> parentCustomerList;


public ContactListRecyclerAdapter(Context context,ArrayList<Contact> customerList)
{
    this.mContext=context;
    this.customerList=customerList;
    if(customerList!=null)
    parentCustomerList=new ArrayList<>(customerList);
}

   // other overrided methods

@Override
public Filter getFilter() {
    return new FilterCustomerSearch(this,parentCustomerList);
}
}

//Filter class

import android.widget.Filter;
import java.util.ArrayList;


public class FilterCustomerSearch extends Filter
{
private final ContactListRecyclerAdapter mAdapter;
ArrayList<Contact> contactList;
ArrayList<Contact> filteredList;

public FilterCustomerSearch(ContactListRecyclerAdapter mAdapter,ArrayList<Contact> contactList) {
    this.mAdapter = mAdapter;
    this.contactList=contactList;
    filteredList=new ArrayList<>();
}

@Override
protected FilterResults performFiltering(CharSequence constraint) {
    filteredList.clear();
    final FilterResults results = new FilterResults();

    if (constraint.length() == 0) {
        filteredList.addAll(contactList);
    } else {
        final String filterPattern = constraint.toString().toLowerCase().trim();

        for (final Contact contact : contactList) {
            if (contact.customerName.contains(constraint)) {
                filteredList.add(contact);
            }
            else if (contact.emailId.contains(constraint))
            {
                filteredList.add(contact);

            }
            else if(contact.phoneNumber.contains(constraint))
                filteredList.add(contact);
        }
    }
    results.values = filteredList;
    results.count = filteredList.size();
    return results;
}

@Override
protected void publishResults(CharSequence constraint, FilterResults results) {
    mAdapter.customerList.clear();
    mAdapter.customerList.addAll((ArrayList<Contact>) results.values);
    mAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
}

}

//Activity class

public class HomeCrossFadeActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements View.OnClickListener,OnFragmentInteractionListener,OnTaskCompletedListner
{
Fragment fragment;
 protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_homecrossfadeslidingpane2);CardView mCard;
   setContentView(R.layout.your_main_xml);}
   //other overrided methods
  @Override
   public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.

    MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
    // Inflate menu to add items to action bar if it is present.
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu_customer_view_and_search, menu);
    // Associate searchable configuration with the SearchView
    SearchManager searchManager =
            (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);
    SearchView searchView =
            (SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.menu_search).getActionView();
    searchView.setQueryHint("Search Customer");
    searchView.setSearchableInfo(
            searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));

    searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(new SearchView.OnQueryTextListener() {
        @Override
        public boolean onQueryTextSubmit(String query) {
            return false;
        }

        @Override
        public boolean onQueryTextChange(String newText) {
            if(fragment instanceof CustomerDetailsViewWithModifyAndSearch)
                ((CustomerDetailsViewWithModifyAndSearch)fragment).adapter.getFilter().filter(newText);
            return false;
        }
    });



    return true;
}
}

In OnQueryTextChangeListener() method use your adapter. I have casted it to fragment as my adpter is in fragment. You can use the adapter directly if its in your activity class.

This is my take on expanding @klimat answer to not losing filtering animation.

public void filter(String query){
    int completeListIndex = 0;
    int filteredListIndex = 0;
    while (completeListIndex < completeList.size()){
        Movie item = completeList.get(completeListIndex);
        if(item.getName().toLowerCase().contains(query)){
            if(filteredListIndex < filteredList.size()) {
                Movie filter = filteredList.get(filteredListIndex);
                if (!item.getName().equals(filter.getName())) {
                    filteredList.add(filteredListIndex, item);
                    notifyItemInserted(filteredListIndex);
                }
            }else{
                filteredList.add(filteredListIndex, item);
                notifyItemInserted(filteredListIndex);
            }
            filteredListIndex++;
        }
		else if(filteredListIndex < filteredList.size()){
            Movie filter = filteredList.get(filteredListIndex);
            if (item.getName().equals(filter.getName())) {
                filteredList.remove(filteredListIndex);
                notifyItemRemoved(filteredListIndex);
            }
        }
        completeListIndex++;
    }
}

Basically what it does is looking through a complete list and adding/removing items to a filtered list one by one.

Add an interface in your adapter.

public interface SelectedUser{

    void selectedUser(UserModel userModel);

}

implement the interface in your mainactivity and override the method. @Override public void selectedUser(UserModel userModel) {

    startActivity(new Intent(MainActivity.this, SelectedUserActivity.class).putExtra("data",userModel));



}

Full tutorial and source code: Recyclerview with searchview and onclicklistener

I recommend modify the solution of @Xaver Kapeller with 2 things below to avoid a problem after you cleared the searched text (the filter didn't work anymore) due to the list back of adapter has smaller size than filter list and the IndexOutOfBoundsException happened. So the code need to modify as below

public void addItem(int position, ExampleModel model) {
    if(position >= mModel.size()) {
        mModel.add(model);
        notifyItemInserted(mModel.size()-1);
    } else {
        mModels.add(position, model);
        notifyItemInserted(position);
    }
}

And modify also in moveItem functionality

public void moveItem(int fromPosition, int toPosition) {
    final ExampleModel model = mModels.remove(fromPosition);
    if(toPosition >= mModels.size()) {
	    mModels.add(model);
		notifyItemMoved(fromPosition, mModels.size()-1);
    } else {
	    mModels.add(toPosition, model);
	    notifyItemMoved(fromPosition, toPosition); 
	}
}

Hope that It could help you!

If you want to search on button click then this works fine.

filterIcon.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
    @Override
    public void onClick(View v) {
        String strCHR = homeSearchEdit.getText().toString();
        if (homeSearchEdit.getText().toString().length() > 0) {
            ArrayList<ServiceModel> listNew = new ArrayList<>();
            for (int l = 0; l < arrayList.size(); l++) {
                String serviceName = arrayList.get(l).getServiceName().toLowerCase();
                if (serviceName.contains(strCHR.toLowerCase())) {
                    listNew.add(arrayList.get(l));
                }
            }
            recyclerView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            adapter = new ServiceAdapter(HomeActivity.this, listNew);
            recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);
        } else {
            recyclerView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            adapter = new ServiceAdapter(HomeActivity.this, arrayList);
            recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);
        }
    }
});

where ,filterIcon is button and homeSearchEdit is editText(where we apply for search).