Display Contacts in the AutoCompleteTextView

In this post, I will show how to display Contacts in an AutoCompleteTextView. Now create a new Android Application with the following details:

Activity: activity_show_contacts.xml

<!-- LinearLayout so that dragged Components will be postioned depending upon the position of the other Components -->
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/ll_ShowContactsMain"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context=".ShowContactsActivity" >
   
    <!-- The Contact's Display Names will get displayed in the AutoCompleteTextView upon typing into it. -->
    <!-- Property "android:drawableRight" will show the specified icon to the Right side of the AutoCompleteTextView -->
    <AutoCompleteTextView
        android:id="@+id/at_Contacts"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="55dp"
        android:drawableRight="@drawable/ic_finder"
        android:ems="10"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:completionThreshold="1" >
       
        <!-- On the Activity Start, focus will be on the AutoCompleteTextView -->
        <requestFocus />
    </AutoCompleteTextView>

</LinearLayout>

XML file to display Contact Name in an AutoCompleteTextView: single_contact.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/ll_SingleContactMain"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="40dp"
    android:gravity="center_vertical"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:layout_margin="5dp" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tv_ContactName"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/sample_text"
        android:textColor="@android:color/black" />

</LinearLayout>

ShowContactsActivity.java
package com.samples.accesscontacts;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.provider.ContactsContract;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.AutoCompleteTextView;

public class ShowContactsActivity extends Activity {
    // AutoCompleteTextView: Need to create an Object in order to Access it.
    private AutoCompleteTextView mContactsAt;
   
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_show_contacts);
       
        // Initialize AutoCompleteTextView object So that it can access at_Contacts
        mContactsAt = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.at_Contacts);
       
        // Load the Contact Name from List into the AutoCompleteTextView
        mContactsAt.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(getApplicationContext(), R.layout.single_contact, R.id.tv_ContactName, getAllContactNames()));
    }

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

    /**
     * Get All the Contact Names
     * @return
    */
    private List<String> getAllContactNames() {
        List<String> lContactNamesList = new ArrayList<String>();
        try {
            // Get all Contacts
            Cursor lPeople = getContentResolver().query(ContactsContract.Contacts.CONTENT_URI, null, null, null, null);
            if (lPeople != null) {
                while (lPeople.moveToNext()) {
                    // Add Contact's Name into the List
                    lContactNamesList.add(lPeople.getString(lPeople.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME)));
                }
            }
        } catch (NullPointerException e) {
            Log.e("getAllContactNames()", e.getMessage());
        }
        return lContactNamesList;
    }
}

Add following into the manifest file to all the application read Contacts from the phone:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS"/>

Add some sample contacts in the emulator.

Run the application: