Masking sensitive information, such as phone numbers, is an essential step in ensuring the security and privacy of user data. In the world of mobile development, this becomes even more crucial as users often share their personal information through various forms and input fields.
One such input field is the EditText, which is a versatile and widely used component in Android development. However, when it comes to collecting phone numbers, developers often face the challenge of formatting the input to match a specific pattern, such as the NaN (Not A Number) format.
In this article, we will explore how to use the PhoneNumberUtils class to mask an EditText with a phone number format NaN in an Android application.
First, let's understand what the NaN format is. It is a common way of representing invalid or missing numerical values, typically used in systems that support floating-point numbers. In the context of phone numbers, NaN refers to a placeholder character that can be used to mask digits that are not yet entered or are invalid.
To begin, we need to create an EditText in our layout file and set its input type to "phone." This will ensure that the keyboard displayed to the user is optimized for entering phone numbers.
<EditText
android:id="@+id/et_phone_number"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:inputType="phone"
android:hint="Enter Phone Number"
/>
Next, in our activity class, we need to retrieve the reference to this EditText and initialize a PhoneNumberFormattingTextWatcher, which will handle the formatting of the input.
EditText etPhoneNumber = findViewById(R.id.et_phone_number);
PhoneNumberFormattingTextWatcher textWatcher = new PhoneNumberFormattingTextWatcher();
Now, we need to set this text watcher to our EditText. Additionally, we can also set the initial format to NaN using the setInitialValue method of the PhoneNumberFormattingTextWatcher class.
etPhoneNumber.addTextChangedListener(textWatcher);
textWatcher.setInitialValue("NaN");
With this, our EditText will now be masked with the NaN format, and any input entered by the user will be automatically formatted accordingly.
For example, if the user enters a phone number as 1234567890, it will be automatically formatted to (123) 456-7890, which is the standard phone number format in the United States. Additionally, if the user inputs an invalid number, such as 1234567, it will be displayed as (123) 456-7NaN, where "NaN" represents the missing digits.
Using the PhoneNumberUtils class, we can also further customize the formatting by setting a specific country code and carrier code. For example, if we want to format the phone number for India, we can use the formatNumber method and pass the phone number, country code, and carrier code as parameters.
String formattedNumber = PhoneNumberUtils.formatNumber("1234567890", "IN", "91");
etPhoneNumber.setText(formattedNumber);
This will result in the phone number being displayed in the format +91 12345 67890, which is the standard format used in India.
In addition to formatting, the PhoneNumberUtils class also provides methods for validating phone numbers, retrieving the country code and carrier code, and converting phone numbers to a standardized format.
In conclusion, masking an EditText with a phone number format NaN is a simple yet effective way of ensuring the security and privacy of user data in an Android application. By using the PhoneNumberUtils class, we can easily achieve this functionality and also customize the formatting according to our requirements. So, the next time you are collecting phone numbers in your app, be sure to implement this feature to enhance the user experience and protect their sensitive information.
