(#) Dynamic text should probably be selectable
!!! WARNING: Dynamic text should probably be selectable
This is a warning.
Id
: `SelectableText`
Summary
: Dynamic text should probably be selectable
Note
: **This issue is disabled by default**; use `--enable SelectableText`
Severity
: Warning
Category
: Usability
Platform
: Android
Vendor
: Android Open Source Project
Feedback
: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/new?component=192708
Since
: Initial
Affects
: Resource files
Editing
: This check runs on the fly in the IDE editor
Implementation
: [Source Code](https://cs.android.com/android-studio/platform/tools/base/+/mirror-goog-studio-main:lint/libs/lint-checks/src/main/java/com/android/tools/lint/checks/TextViewDetector.java)
Tests
: [Source Code](https://cs.android.com/android-studio/platform/tools/base/+/mirror-goog-studio-main:lint/libs/lint-tests/src/test/java/com/android/tools/lint/checks/TextViewDetectorTest.java)
Copyright Year
: 2012
If a `` is used to display data, the user might want to copy
that data and paste it elsewhere. To allow this, the `` should
specify `android:textIsSelectable="true"`.
This lint check looks for TextViews which are likely to be displaying
data: views whose text is set dynamically.
!!! Tip
This lint check has an associated quickfix available in the IDE.
(##) Example
Here is an example of lint warnings produced by this check:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~text
res/layout/edit_textview.xml:83:Warning: Consider making the text value
selectable by specifying android:textIsSelectable="true"
[SelectableText]
<TextView
--------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is the source file referenced above:
`res/layout/edit_textview.xml`:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~xml linenumbers
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<!-- Various attributes that should be set on EditTexts, not TextViews -->
<TextView
android:text="label"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:autoText="true"
android:bufferType="editable"
android:capitalize="words"
android:cursorVisible="true"
android:digits=""
android:editable="true"
android:editorExtras="@+id/foobar"
android:focusable="true"
android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
android:imeActionId="@+id/foo"
android:imeActionLabel=""
android:imeOptions=""
android:inputMethod=""
android:inputType="text"
android:numeric=""
android:password="true"
android:phoneNumber="true"
android:privateImeOptions="" />
<!-- Various attributes that should be set on EditTexts, not Buttons -->
<Button
android:id="@+id/button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:cursorVisible="true" />
<CheckedTextView
android:id="@+id/checkedTextView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:cursorVisible="true" />
<CheckBox
android:id="@+id/checkbox"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:cursorVisible="true" />
<RadioButton
android:id="@+id/radioButton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:cursorVisible="true" />
<ToggleButton
android:id="@+id/toggleButton"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:cursorVisible="true" />
<!-- Ok #1 -->
<TextView
android:text="label"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:bufferType="spannable"
android:freezesText="true"
android:editable="false"
android:inputType="none" />
<!-- Ok #2 -->
<TextView
android:text="label"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<TextView
android:id="@+id/dynamictext"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<TextView
android:id="@+id/dynamictext"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textIsSelectable="true" />
</LinearLayout>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can also visit the
[source code](https://cs.android.com/android-studio/platform/tools/base/+/mirror-goog-studio-main:lint/libs/lint-tests/src/test/java/com/android/tools/lint/checks/TextViewDetectorTest.java)
for the unit tests for this check to see additional scenarios.
The above example was automatically extracted from the first unit test
found for this lint check, `TextViewDetector.testBasic`.
To report a problem with this extracted sample, visit
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/new?component=192708.
(##) Suppressing
You can suppress false positives using one of the following mechanisms:
* Adding the suppression attribute `tools:ignore="SelectableText"` on
the problematic XML element (or one of its enclosing elements). You
may also need to add the following namespace declaration on the root
element in the XML file if it's not already there:
`xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"`.
```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TextView xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
tools:ignore="SelectableText" ...>
...
</TextView>
```
* Using a special `lint.xml` file in the source tree which turns off
the check in that folder and any sub folder. A simple file might look
like this:
```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<lint>
<issue id="SelectableText" severity="ignore" />
</lint>
```
Instead of `ignore` you can also change the severity here, for
example from `error` to `warning`. You can find additional
documentation on how to filter issues by path, regular expression and
so on
[here](https://googlesamples.github.io/android-custom-lint-rules/usage/lintxml.md.html).
* In Gradle projects, using the DSL syntax to configure lint. For
example, you can use something like
```gradle
lintOptions {
disable 'SelectableText'
}
```
In Android projects this should be nested inside an `android { }`
block.
* For manual invocations of `lint`, using the `--ignore` flag:
```
$ lint --ignore SelectableText ...`
```
* Last, but not least, using baselines, as discussed
[here](https://googlesamples.github.io/android-custom-lint-rules/usage/baselines.md.html).