Create a Search Experience

Now you have simple app showing a map. In this step, you'll create a simple search and display the search results in a list. You'll also learn how to filter the data displayed on the map based on the

Create a Simple Query Search​

Start by creating a new activity or fragment to facilitate searches on your application. Here we will be using a fragment for search and show to search results on, while using a bottom sheet to display the results. We also create a search input field on our main map activity for the user to input the text they want to search for. This is already setup in the basic example app.

To perform a search you will need to have initiated MapsIndoors. This was shown in the previous section of the getting started tutorial how you do this.

For advanced usage of the search functionality read the Search guide and tutorials connected to it: Search Guide

Show a List of Search Results​

Create a search method that takes a search string as a parameter on your MapsActivity class. In this example we only use the setTake on the MPFilter to limit our result to 30 locations. We will expand on this method later.

MapsActivity.kt

private fun search(searchQuery: String) {
    //Query with a string to search on
    val mpQuery = MPQuery.Builder().setQuery(searchQuery).build()
    //Filter for the search query, only taking 30 locations
    val mpFilter = MPFilter.Builder().setTake(30).build()

    //Query for the locations
    MapsIndoors.getLocationsAsync(mpQuery, mpFilter) { list: List<MPLocation?>?, miError: MIError? ->
      //Implement UI handling of the search result here
    }
}

To be able to search we will use a text input field where a user can write what they want to search for. This is placed at the top of the MapsActivity

To call our search method with the text in the search input field, we then add an EditorActionListener and a OnClickListener to the text input field and the search button in the onCreate of MapsActivity. Find the full onCreate example here: MapsActivity.kt

MapsActivity.kt

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    ...
    mSearchTxtField = findViewById(R.id.search_edit_txt)
    //Listener for when the user searches through the keyboard
    mSearchTxtField.setOnEditorActionListener { textView, i, _ ->
        if (i == EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE || i == EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_SEARCH) {
            if (textView.text.isNotEmpty()) {
                search(textView.text.toString())
            }
            return@setOnEditorActionListener true
        }
        return@setOnEditorActionListener false
    }

    //ClickListener to start a search, when the user clicks the search button
    var searchBtn = findViewById<ImageButton>(R.id.search_btn)
    searchBtn.setOnClickListener {
        if (mSearchTxtField.text?.length != 0) {
            //There is text inside the search field. So lets do the search.
            search(mSearchTxtField.text.toString())
        }
    }
    ...
}

Find the full onCreate example here: MapsActivity.kt

To accompany this we use the SearchFragment that is already created for you and a BottomSheet to handle the SearchFragment.

Observe that the SearchFragmentis just a simple fragment with a RecyclerView and a SearchItemAdapter added to it

SearchFragment.kt

class SearchFragment : Fragment() {
    private var mLocations: List<MPLocation?>? = null
    private var mMapActivity: MapsActivity? = null

    override fun onViewCreated(view: View, @Nullable savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        val recyclerView = view as RecyclerView
        recyclerView.layoutManager = LinearLayoutManager(context)
        recyclerView.adapter = mLocations?.let { locations -> SearchItemAdapter(locations, mMapActivity) }
    }

    ...

    companion object {
        fun newInstance(locations: List<MPLocation?>?, mapsActivity: MapsActivity?): SearchFragment {
            val fragment = SearchFragment()
            fragment.mLocations = locations
            fragment.mMapActivity = mapsActivity
            return fragment
        }
    }
}

See the full example of SearchFragment here: SearchFragment.kt

Create a getter for your MapControl object on the MapsActivity so that it can be used in the SearchAdapter.

MapsActivity.kt

fun getMapControl(): MapControl {
    return mMapControl
}

Inside the SearchItemAdapter implement logic to display the locations you get from a search result. Here we show an image of the location marker and show the name of the locations.

SearchItemAdapter.kt

internal class SearchItemAdapter(private val mLocations: List<MPLocation?>, private val mMapActivity: MapsActivity?) : RecyclerView.Adapter<ViewHolder>() {

    ...

    override fun onBindViewHolder(holder: ViewHolder, position: Int) {
        holder.text.text = mLocations[position]?.name

        if (mMapActivity != null) {
            mLocations[position]?.let { MapsIndoors.getDisplayRule(it) }?.getIconAsync {
                mMapActivity.runOnUiThread {
                    holder.imageView.setImageBitmap(it)
                }
            }
        }
    }

    ...

}

internal class ViewHolder(inflater: LayoutInflater, parent: ViewGroup?) : RecyclerView.ViewHolder(inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_search_list_item, parent, false)) {
    val text: TextView
    val imageView: ImageView

    init {
        text = itemView.findViewById(R.id.text)
        imageView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.location_image)
    }
}

See the full example of SearchItemAdapter and accompanying ViewHolder here: SearchItemAdapter.kt

We have already implemented the BottomSheet in the UI. Now we add the search fragment to the BottomSheet in our search query method on our MapsActivity. You can use the addFragmentToBottomSheet too add the created fragment to the BottomSheet. When we have received the search results

MapsActivity.kt

private fun search(searchQuery: String) {
    //Query with a string to search on
    val mpQuery = MPQuery.Builder().setQuery(searchQuery).build()
    //Filter for the search query, only taking 30 locations
    val mpFilter = MPFilter.Builder().setTake(30).build()

    //Query for the locations
    MapsIndoors.getLocationsAsync(mpQuery, mpFilter) { list: List<MPLocation?>?, miError: MIError? ->
        //Check if there is no error and the list is not empty
        if (miError == null && !list.isNullOrEmpty()) {
            //Create a new instance of the search fragment
            mSearchFragment = SearchFragment.newInstance(list, this)
            //Make a transaction to the bottom sheet
            addFragmentToBottomSheet(mSearchFragment)
            //Clear the search text, since we got a result
            mSearchTxtField.text?.clear()
            ...
        }
    }
}

See the full example of the search method here: MapsActivity.kt

Filter Locations on Map Based on Search Results​

When getting a search result, you might want to only show those search results on the map. You can do this through calling displaySearchResults(List<MPLocation> locations) on MapControl. This method has different parameters to make it easier for you as a developer to fit your exact need in terms of animation and more. This can be read in the JavaDoc of MapControl.

The standard implementation animates the camera to fit all Locations on the map and show the info window of a Location, if it's a list of only one Location.

When you are done showing the search results you can call clearMap() on MapControl.

Since the default displaySearchResults(List<MPLocation> locations) uses camera animation we will call it from the UI Thread and implement it in our search method inside the getLocationsAsync result with the list from the method.

MapsActivity.kt

private fun search(searchQuery: String) {
    MapsIndoors.getLocationsAsync(mpQuery, mpFilter) { list: List<MPLocation?>?, miError: MIError? ->
        //Calling displaySearchResults on the ui thread as camera movement is involved
        runOnUiThread { mMapControl.setFilter(list, MPFilterBehavior.DEFAULT) }
    }
}

Expected result:

The accompanying UI and implementation of this search experience can be found in the getting started app sample. Getting Started App sample