How to query SearchProviders like android's QSB?

Question

I'm attempting to query all available search providers similar to how the Quick Search Box does it, to get a list of search suggestions. I'm ignoring ones I don't have permissions to read. Now, everything works for providers which return results immediately.

However, for ones which go away and get results from the web, I can't get any results. An example of one of these is the IMDB app. Often I get a cursor returned of null, other times I get some cached results which are not correct.

Anyone know how best to do this?

In example below, (which runs in a thread), I simply wait for a while to ensure any network stuff is complete. I await callbacks in ChangeObserver and MyDataObserver but I get nothing. I've tried using LoaderManager instead too, but no difference. I've looked at source for Android's quick search box but can't find any clues.

SearchManager searchManager = (SearchManager)ProgDialog.this.getContext().getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);
List<SearchableInfo> searchables = searchManager.getSearchablesInGlobalSearch();

for(SearchableInfo si : searchables)
{
    if(si.getSuggestPackage() == null) continue;

    String query = title;
    Uri.Builder uriBuilder = new Uri.Builder();
    uriBuilder.authority(si.getSuggestAuthority());
    uriBuilder.scheme(ContentResolver.SCHEME_CONTENT);
    if(si.getSuggestPath() != null)
    {
        uriBuilder.appendEncodedPath(si.getSuggestPath());
    }
    uriBuilder.appendPath(SearchManager.SUGGEST_URI_PATH_QUERY);

    // get the query selection, may be null
    String selection = si.getSuggestSelection();

    // inject query, either as selection args or inline
    String[] selArgs = null;
    if (selection != null) {    // use selection if provided
        selArgs = new String[] { query };
    } else {                    // no selection, use REST pattern
        uriBuilder.appendPath(query);
    }

    Uri uri = uriBuilder.build();

    if(!canRead(uri))
    {
        continue;
    }
    c = context.getApplicationContext().getContentResolver().query(uri, null,
             selection, selArgs, null);
    if(c != null)
    {

       c.registerContentObserver(new ChangeObserver(c));
       c.registerDataSetObserver(new MyDataSetObserver(si.getSuggestPackage(), c));
       c.setNotificationUri(context.getContentResolver(), uri);
       Thread.sleep(8000);

Answer 1

I adapted your code a little bit and now it works (for me). Keep in mind to set permissions to access data (Contacts, Bookmarks,...).

        if (searchableInfo.getSuggestPackage() == null)
            continue;

        Uri.Builder uriBuilder = new Uri.Builder();
        uriBuilder.authority(searchableInfo.getSuggestAuthority());
        uriBuilder.scheme(ContentResolver.SCHEME_CONTENT);

        String path = searchableInfo.getSuggestPath();
        if (path != null)
            uriBuilder.appendEncodedPath(path);
        else
            uriBuilder.appendPath(SearchManager.SUGGEST_URI_PATH_QUERY);

        // get the query selection, may be null
        String selection = searchableInfo.getSuggestSelection();

        // inject query, either as selection args or inline
        String[] selArgs = null;
        if (selection != null)
            // use selection if provided
            selArgs = new String[] { query };
        else
            // no selection, use REST pattern
            uriBuilder.appendPath(query);

        Uri uri = uriBuilder.build();