How to create EditText with cross(x) button at end of it?

2020 solution via Material Design Components for Android:

Add Material Components to your gradle setup:

Look for latest version from here: https://maven.google.com/

implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.3.0'

or if you havent updated to using AndroidX libs, you can add it this way:

implementation 'com.android.support:design:28.0.0'

Then

<com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:hint="@string/hint_text"
    app:endIconMode="clear_text">

  <com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputEditText
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

</com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputLayout>

Pay attention to: app:endIconMode="clear_text"

As discussed here Material design docs

This is a kotlin solution. Put this helper method in some kotlin file-

fun EditText.setupClearButtonWithAction() {

    addTextChangedListener(object : TextWatcher {
        override fun afterTextChanged(editable: Editable?) {
            val clearIcon = if (editable?.isNotEmpty() == true) R.drawable.ic_clear else 0
            setCompoundDrawablesWithIntrinsicBounds(0, 0, clearIcon, 0)
        }

        override fun beforeTextChanged(s: CharSequence?, start: Int, count: Int, after: Int) = Unit
        override fun onTextChanged(s: CharSequence?, start: Int, before: Int, count: Int) = Unit
    })

    setOnTouchListener(View.OnTouchListener { _, event ->
        if (event.action == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP) {
            if (event.rawX >= (this.right - this.compoundPaddingRight)) {
                this.setText("")
                return@OnTouchListener true
            }
        }
        return@OnTouchListener false
    })
}

And then use it as following in the onCreate method and you should be good to go-

yourEditText.setupClearButtonWithAction()

BTW, you have to add R.drawable.ic_clear or the clear icon at first. This one is from google- https://fonts.google.com/icons?selected=Material%20Icons%20Outlined%3Aclear%3A

Android's support libarary has a SearchView class that does exactly this. (Not derrived from EditText though, so have to use a SearchView.OnQueryTextListener instead of a TextWatcher)

Use in XML like so:

  <android.support.v7.widget.SearchView
            android:id="@+id/searchView"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:iconifiedByDefault="false"
            android:queryHint="@string/SearchHint"
            app:iconifiedByDefault="false"
            app:queryHint="@string/SearchHint" />

Just put close cross like drawableEnd in your EditText:

<EditText
     ...
    android:drawableEnd="@drawable/ic_close"
    android:drawablePadding="8dp"
     ... />

and use extension to handle click (or use OnTouchListener directly on your EditText):

fun EditText.onDrawableEndClick(action: () -> Unit) {
    setOnTouchListener { v, event ->
        if (event.action == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP) {
            v as EditText
            val end = if (v.resources.configuration.layoutDirection == View.LAYOUT_DIRECTION_RTL)
                v.left else v.right
            if (event.rawX >= (end - v.compoundPaddingEnd)) {
                action.invoke()
                return@setOnTouchListener true
            }
        }
        return@setOnTouchListener false
    }
}

extension usage:

editText.onDrawableEndClick {
    // TODO clear action
    etSearch.setText("")
}

Clear text:

"Text field with a clear text trailing icon."

If set, an icon is displayed when text is present and pressing it clears the input text.

    ...
    app:endIconMode="clear_text">
​
    ...
​
</com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputLayout>

I leave it here:

material.io

Example

    <EditText
    android:id="@+id/idSearchEditText"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="@dimen/dimen_40dp"
    android:drawableStart="@android:drawable/ic_menu_search"
    android:drawablePadding="8dp"
    android:ellipsize="start"
    android:gravity="center_vertical"
    android:hint="Search"
    android:imeOptions="actionSearch"
    android:inputType="text"
    android:paddingStart="16dp"
    android:paddingEnd="8dp"
/>

EditText mSearchEditText = findViewById(R.id.idSearchEditText);
mSearchEditText.addTextChangedListener(this);
mSearchEditText.setOnTouchListener(this);


@Override
public void afterTextChanged(Editable aEditable) {
    int clearIcon = android.R.drawable.ic_notification_clear_all;
    int searchIcon = android.R.drawable.ic_menu_search;
    if (aEditable == null || TextUtils.isEmpty(aEditable.toString())) {
        clearIcon = 0;
        searchIcon = android.R.drawable.ic_menu_search;
    } else {
        clearIcon = android.R.drawable.ic_notification_clear_all;
        searchIcon = 0;
    }
    Drawable leftDrawable =  null;
    if (searchIcon != 0) {
        leftDrawable = getResources().getDrawable(searchIcon);
    }
    Drawable rightDrawable = null;
    if (clearIcon != 0) {
        rightDrawable = getResources().getDrawable(clearIcon);
    }

    mSearchEditText.setCompoundDrawablesWithIntrinsicBounds(leftDrawable, null, rightDrawable, null);
}


@Override
public boolean onTouch(View aView, MotionEvent aEvent) {
    if (aEvent.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP){
        if (aEvent.getX() > ( mSearchEditText.getWidth() - 
         mSearchEditText.getCompoundPaddingEnd())){
            mSearchEditText.setText("");
        }
    }
    return false;
}

Here is the simple complete solution in kotlin.

This whole layout will be your search bar

<RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="35dp"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:background="@drawable/your_desired_drawable">

        <EditText
            android:id="@+id/search_et"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
            android:layout_toStartOf="@id/clear_btn"
            android:background="@null"
            android:hint="search..."
            android:imeOptions="actionSearch"
            android:inputType="text"
            android:maxLines="1"
            android:paddingStart="15dp"
            android:paddingEnd="10dp" />

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/clear_btn"
            android:layout_width="20dp"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
            android:layout_centerInParent="true"
            android:layout_marginEnd="15dp"
            android:visibility="gone"
            android:src="@drawable/ic_baseline_clear_24"/>

    </RelativeLayout>

Now this is the functionality of clear button, paste this code in onCreate method.

search_et.addTextChangedListener(object: TextWatcher {
            override fun beforeTextChanged(s:CharSequence, start:Int, count:Int, after:Int) {
            }
            override fun onTextChanged(s:CharSequence, start:Int, before:Int, count:Int) {
            }
            override fun afterTextChanged(s: Editable) {
                if (s.isNotEmpty()){
                    clear_btn.visibility = VISIBLE
                    clear_btn.setOnClickListener {
                        search_et.text.clear()
                    }
                }else{
                    clear_btn.visibility = GONE
                }
            }
        })