How to force an editTextbox to format any replaced text by indentation?

Question

I have an editTextBox in my xml file that gets modified. Initially, I indent the text already present but when I replace with new text my indentation is gone. This makes sense because I need to indent the new string before I .setText(my string). I am curious to know, can we force format an editTextbox that takes any inputted string and converts it to a certain style?

// My orginal string. I already indent here, but once I change the string, I lose my indentation.
 <string name="first_name">\tFirst Name</string>

// Whenever I am getting a new string. I need to tell it to format by tab again.
name.setText(String.format("  %s", user.firstName));

// I want to be able to force my edittext...

   <EditText
        android:id="@+id/enterText"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
        android:layout_below="@+id/title_of_the_field"
        android:layout_marginTop="27dp"
        android:hint="@string/hint"
        android:imeActionLabel="Done"
        android:singleLine="false"
        android:textAlignment="center"
        app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="1.0"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        tools:ignore="MissingConstraints" />

// To take any string that is put inside it to auto convert it into a desired style.

Answer 1

You could use a TextWatcher to accomplish what you're looking for. Here's a quick example in Java:

public class SomeActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private EditText editText;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(...)
        editText = findViewById(R.id.some_edit_text);
        editText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {
            @Override
            public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {}

            @Override
            public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {}

            @Override
            public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
                if(TextUtils.isEmpty(s) || s.charAt(0) != ' '){
                    editText.removeTextChangedListener(this);
                    s.insert(0, " ");
                    editText.addTextChangedListener(this);
                }
            }
        });
    }
}

Note that you have to remove the TextWatcher before changing the Editable, otherwise you'll get a StackOverFlow from triggering a change within the TextWatcher