Show soft keyboard for dialog

I am displaying a dialog with an edittext view. However, the softkeyboard will open only if the user presses inside the editview. So I tried calling an InputMethodManager with the following code.

InputMethodManager imm =
 (InputMethodManager)getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.showSoftInput(dialogField,0);

The dialogField is the input field. However, when exactly am I supposed to do this? I tried it in the onStart() method of the dialog, but nothing happens. I also tried requesting the focus for the dialogField before, but that changes nothing.

I also tried this code

dialogField.setOnFocusChangeListener(new View.OnFocusChangeListener()
{
    public void onFocusChange (View v, boolean hasFocus)
    {
        if (hasFocus)
        {
            Main.log("here");
            dialogInput.getWindow().setSoftInputMode(
              WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_VISIBLE);
            /*
                InputMethodManager mgr =
                  (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
                mgr.showSoftInput(dialogField,0);
            */
        }
    }
});

in both versions. But no soft keyboard would like to appear. The Main.log is just a log, which shows me that the function is actually called. And yes, it is called.

I could get the keyboard with the SHOW_FORCED flag before the dialog opens. But then it will not close on exit. And I can only do that BEFORE I show the dialog. Inside any callbacks it does not work either.

Awesome question, I was trying to do that too and found a solution.

Using the dialog builder class AlertDialog.Builder you will have to invoke the dialog like this:

AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder();
AlertDialog dialog;

builder.set...

dialog = builder.create();
dialog.getWindow().setSoftInputMode(LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_VISIBLE);
dialog.show();

This worked fine for me.

Note: you must import android.view.WindowManager.LayoutParams; for the constant value there.

 AlertDialog dialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(this).create();
    dialog.show();
    Window window = dialog.getWindow();
    window.clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_FOCUSABLE | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_ALT_FOCUSABLE_IM);
    window.setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_VISIBLE);

Kotlin

Here's the tested code.

val dialog = AlertDialog.Builder(requireContext()).apply {
    setTitle(…)
    setView(editText)
    setPositiveButton(…)
    setNegativeButton(…)
}
val window = dialog.show().window
window?.clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_FOCUSABLE or WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_ALT_FOCUSABLE_IM)
window?.setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_VISIBLE)

Make sure you access the window property from show() method. Getting window from create() method was returning null for me, so the keyboard wasn't showing.

Import AlertDialog from androidx.appcompat.app.AlertDialog. Import WindowManager from android.view.

Dialog Fragment With Kotlin

override onStart Method

override fun onStart() {
    super.onStart()
    dialog.window?.
    setSoftInputMode(
    WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_VISIBLE
    )
}

if you want to close after dismiss then override dismiss method with below code

override fun onDismiss(dialog: DialogInterface?) {
val inputMethodManager = context?.getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE) as InputMethodManager
        inputMethodManager.hideSoftInputFromWindow(activity?.currentFocus?.windowToken, InputMethodManager.HIDE_IMPLICIT_ONLY)
}

Here's my solution, it's working well for dialog.

txtFeedback.requestFocus();
InputMethodManager inputMethodManager = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
inputMethodManager.toggleSoftInput(InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED, InputMethodManager.HIDE_IMPLICIT_ONLY);

Maybe also you need to add this to your activity tag in AndroidManifest.xml for closing the keyboard when the dialog is dismissed.

android:windowSoftInputMode="stateAlwaysHidden"