docs/html/guide/topics/search/index.jd

page.title=Search
@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper">
<div id="qv">
<h2>Topics</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="search-dialog.html">Using the Android Search Dialog</a></li>
<li><a href="adding-recent-query-suggestions.html">Adding Recent Query Suggestions</a></li>
<li><a href="adding-custom-suggestions.html">Adding Custom Suggestions</a></li>
</ol>
<h2>Reference</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="searchable-config.html">Searchable Configuration</a></li>
</ol>
<h2>Related samples</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/SearchableDictionary/index.html">Searchable
Dictionary</a></li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>


<p>Search is a core user feature on Android. Users should be able
to search any data that is available to them, whether the content is located on the device or
the Internet. The search experience should be seamless and consistent across the entire
system, which is why Android provides a search framework to help you provide users with
a familiar search dialog and a great search experience.</p>

<div class="figure" style="width:250px">
<img src="{@docRoot}images/search/search-suggest-custom.png" alt="" height="417" />
<p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 1.</strong> Screenshot of a search dialog with custom
search suggestions.</p>
</div>

<p>Android's search framework provides a user interface in which users can perform a search and
an interaction layer that communicates with your application, so you don't have to build
your own search Activity. Instead, a search dialog appears at the top of the screen at the user's
command without interrupting the current Activity.</p>

<p>The search framework manages the life of the search dialog. When users execute a search, the
search framework passes the query text to your application so your application can perform a
search. Figure 1 shows an example of the search dialog with optional search suggestions.</p>

<p>Once your application is set up to use the search dialog, you can:</p>

<ul>
<li>Enable voice search</li>
<li>Provide search suggestions based on recent user queries</li>
<li>Provide custom search suggestions that match actual results in your application data</li>
<li>Offer your application's search suggestions in the system-wide Quick Search Box</li>
</ul>

<p class="note"><strong>Note</strong>: The search framework does <em>not</em> provide APIs to
search your data. To perform a search, you need to use APIs appropriate for your data. For example,
if your data is stored in an SQLite database, you should use the {@link android.database.sqlite}
APIs to perform searches.</p>

<p>The following documents show you how to use the search dialog in your application:</p>

<dl>
  <dt><strong><a href="search-dialog.html">Using the Android Search Dialog</a></strong></dt>
  <dd>How to set up your application to use the search dialog. </dd>
  <dt><strong><a href="adding-recent-query-suggestions.html">Adding Recent Query
Suggestions</a></strong></dt>
  <dd>How to show suggestions based on queries previously used in the search dialog.</dd>
  <dt><strong><a href="adding-custom-suggestions.html">Adding Custom Suggestions</a></strong></dt>
  <dd>How to show suggestions based on custom data from your application and offer your suggestions
in the system-wide Quick Search Box.</dd>
  <dt><strong><a href="searchable-config.html">Searchable Configuration</a></strong></dt>
  <dd>A reference for the searchable configuration file (though the other
documents also discuss the configuration file in terms of specific behaviors).</dd>
</dl>


<h2>Protecting User Privacy</h2>

<p>When you implement search in your application, take steps to protect the user's
privacy. Many users consider their activities on the phone&mdash;including searches&mdash;to
be private information. To protect each user's privacy, you should abide by the following
principles:</p>

<ul>
<li><strong>Don't send personal information to servers, but if you must, do not log it.</strong>
<p>Personal information is any information that can personally identify your users, such as their
names, email addresses, billing information, or other data that can be reasonably linked to such
information. If your application implements search with the assistance of a server, avoid sending
personal information along with the search queries. For example, if you are searching for businesses
near a zip code,
you don't need to send the user ID as well; send only the zip code to the server. If you must
send the personal information, you should not log it. If you must log it, protect that data
very carefully and erase it as soon as possible.</p>
</li>
<li><strong>Provide the user with a way to clear their search history.</strong>
<p>The search framework helps your application provide context-specific suggestions while the user
types. Sometimes these
suggestions are based on previous searches or other actions taken by the user in an earlier
session. A user might not wish for previous searches to be revealed to other device users, for
instance, if they share their phone with a friend. If your application provides suggestions that can
reveal previous activities, you should implement the ability for the user to clear the search
history. If you are using {@link android.provider.SearchRecentSuggestions}, you can simply call the
{@link android.provider.SearchRecentSuggestions#clearHistory()} method. If you are implementing
custom suggestions, you'll need to provide a similar "clear history" method in your provider that
the user can execute.</p>
</li>
</ul>