How To Change Text Color Of setError Method

This tutorial is going to explain you about changing the default behaviour of a EditText View i,e setError() method. Changing the error text color is also a part of giving branding to the application and nowadays many popular applications do this. It is achieved by a utility class called SpannableStringBuilder.

In this tutorial i will explain you how to change the text color of setError() method Programatically by using SpannableStringBuilder. It is a 5 line code by which you can give your own error text color. Please go through the below 3 Steps.

Step 1: Define Error Color

res/values/colors.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    ...
    ...   
    <color name="textColor">#000000</color>
    <color name="errorColor">#002db3</color>
    ...
    ...
</resources>

Step 2: Activity Layout

Add an EditText in it.

res/layout/activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    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="customerror.devdeeds.com.customeerror.MainActivity">

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/editTextView"
        android:layout_width="180dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:layout_marginTop="30dp"
        android:textSize="20sp"
        android:hint="Enter Text Here"
        android:textColor="@color/textColor"
        />
</RelativeLayout>

Step 3: In MainActivity Class

Open your activity class and build a SpannableStringBuilder with Foreground color, defined errorColor, and set it to the EditText. That’s it.

import android.os.Build;
import android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.text.SpannableStringBuilder;
import android.text.style.ForegroundColorSpan;
import android.widget.EditText;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        EditText editTextView = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.editTextView);  //Your EditText

        int errorColor;
        final int version = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT;

        //Get the defined errorColor from color resource.
        if (version >= 23) {
             errorColor = ContextCompat.getColor(getApplicationContext(), R.color.errorColor);
        } else {
             errorColor = getResources().getColor(R.color.errorColor);
        }

        String errorString = "This field cannot be empty";  // Your custom error message.
        ForegroundColorSpan foregroundColorSpan = new ForegroundColorSpan(errorColor);
        SpannableStringBuilder spannableStringBuilder = new SpannableStringBuilder(errorString);
        spannableStringBuilder.setSpan(foregroundColorSpan, 0, errorString.length(), 0);
        editTextView.setError(spannableStringBuilder);
    }
}

OutPut