Using Android AutoCompleteTextView with ArrayAdapter<Objects> instead of ArrayAdapter<Strings>

Two ways:

1. Override toString() in Student class and make it return name. You can get the object that was selected with the following code:

    public static class Student {
   
       private String name;
   
           public Student(String name) {
               this.name = name;
           }
   
           @Override
           public String toString() {
               return name;
           }
   
       }
   
   AutoCompleteTextView tv = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.autoCompleteTextView1);
   final ArrayList<Student> list = new ArrayList<MainActivity.Student>();
   list.add(new Student("Viru"));
   list.add(new Student("Gauti"));
   ArrayAdapter<Student> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<MainActivity.Student>(
           this, android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, list);
   tv.setAdapter(adapter);
   
   tv.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {
   
       @Override
       public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> arg0, View arg1, int arg2,
               long arg3) {
           Student selected = (Student) arg0.getAdapter().getItem(arg2);
           Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,
                   "Clicked " + arg2 + " name: " + selected.name,
                   Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
       }
   });
   

2. Implement a custom adapter (by extending BaseAdapter class or ArrayAdapter<Student> class) Check this tutorial : http://www.ezzylearning.com/tutorial.aspx?tid=1763429

You can use an AbstractList to get the String representation of each item in your object list.

private void setupAutoComplete(AutoCompleteTextView view, List<T> objects) {
    List<String> names = new AbstractList<String>() {
        @Override
        public int size() { return objects.size(); }

        @Override
        public String get(int location) {
            return objects.get(location).getName();
        }
    };

    view.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, names));
}