Conditional display in InstantSearch Android

This guide describes what to do when there are no results, when there’s no query, or when there are errors. If results haven’t loaded, the search may still be in progress or the device may be offline. For more information, see No hits or is the search still in progress? If you want to feature content in your search results based on a set of conditions, you can use Algolia Rules to:

Feature specific data from within your records to, for example, show promotional prices during a sales period
Display advertisements or promotional banners.

To learn how to suppress InstantSearch’s initial search query, check out the conditional requests guide.

Handle searches without results

When a query doesn’t return results, display a message and suggest changing the query or clearing filters.

Display a message

To display a fallback message when a query doesn’t return results, use the Searcher’s response event and show your “no results” UI.

Kotlin

searcher.response.subscribe {
    if (it == null || it.hitsOrNull.isNullOrEmpty()) {
        showNoResultsUI()
    } else {
        hideNoResultsUI()
    }
}

Handle empty queries

By default, InstantSearch sends search requests even when the query is empty. To hide results until users enter a query, implement your own SearchBoxView instead of calling onQueryChanged or onQuerySubmitted. This hides the results without preventing search requests.

Kotlin

public class SearchBoxNoEmptyQuery(
    public val searchView: SearchView
) : SearchBoxView {

    override var onQueryChanged: Callback<String?>? = null
    override var onQuerySubmitted: Callback<String?>? = null

    init {
        searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(object : SearchView.OnQueryTextListener {

            override fun onQueryTextSubmit(query: String?): Boolean {
                query?.isNotEmpty()?.let { onQuerySubmitted?.invoke(query) }
                return false
            }

            override fun onQueryTextChange(query: String?): Boolean {
                query?.isNotEmpty()?.let { onQuerySubmitted?.invoke(query) }
                return false
            }
        })
    }

    override fun setText(text: String?) {
        searchView.setQuery(text, false)
    }
}

Handle search errors

If an error occurs, you can display a specific piece of content to help users return to the standard state. Subscribe to the Searcher’s error event to be notified of errors.

Kotlin

searcher.error.subscribe {
    if (it != null) {
        Log.e("TAG", "Error on search $query: ${it.message}")
    }
}

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Conditional display in InstantSearch Android

Handle searches without results

Display a message

Handle empty queries

Handle search errors

​Handle searches without results

​Display a message

​Handle empty queries

​Handle search errors

Handle searches without results

Display a message

Handle empty queries

Handle search errors