How can I prevent a Jetpack Compose BasicTextField to get focused on long press? I want it to get focused on a normal tap. But not by a long press or a swipe gesture, for example. I am using the newest version of BasicTextField.

                    BasicTextField(
                        value = TextFieldValue(
                            text = "TEST TEST",
                            selection = TextRange("TEST TEST".length)
                        ),
                        onValueChange = { newText ->  },
                        singleLine = true,
                        textStyle = MaterialTheme.typography.body1
                    )

To give some context on why I need this: The BasicTextField is part of a lazylist item. Each item can be reordered by longpressing it. Each item can also be deleted by a swipe to dismiss gesture. So I don't want these user inputs to trigger the edit mode of the text field.

I already tried all the answers from ChatGPT, Claude and so on. Trying to ignore the longpress with emtpy pointerInput modifiers does not work. I also played around with pointerInteropFilter and focusRequester, but to no avail.

How can I prevent a Jetpack Compose BasicTextField to get focused on long press? I want it to get focused on a normal tap. But not by a long press or a swipe gesture, for example. I am using the newest version of BasicTextField.

                    BasicTextField(
                        value = TextFieldValue(
                            text = "TEST TEST",
                            selection = TextRange("TEST TEST".length)
                        ),
                        onValueChange = { newText ->  },
                        singleLine = true,
                        textStyle = MaterialTheme.typography.body1
                    )

To give some context on why I need this: The BasicTextField is part of a lazylist item. Each item can be reordered by longpressing it. Each item can also be deleted by a swipe to dismiss gesture. So I don't want these user inputs to trigger the edit mode of the text field.

I already tried all the answers from ChatGPT, Claude and so on. Trying to ignore the longpress with emtpy pointerInput modifiers does not work. I also played around with pointerInteropFilter and focusRequester, but to no avail.

• android
• android-jetpack-compose

• Have you tried this solution? stackoverflow.com/a/69551654/11512499 – Adnan Habib Commented Jan 28 at 1:11
• Although you claim to use the newest version of BasicTextField you are still using the old one with a TextFieldValue instead of a TextFieldState. Have you tried out the new version? Does it behave the same? Regardless, it would help if you added a little bit more context, like the LazyList and how your handle the item's longpress and swipe gestures so we can reproduce the issue. – tyg Commented Jan 28 at 1:40

2 Answers 2

i think there is no direct way to do it so this might be helpful if it fits your usecase.

@Composable
fun DraggableTextField(
    initialText: String = "Custom text",
    longPressDurationMs: Long = 300,
) {
    var textFieldValue by remember { mutableStateOf(TextFieldValue(initialText)) }
    val interactionSource = remember { MutableInteractionSource() }
    val isPressed by interactionSource.collectIsPressedAsState()
    var canFocus by remember { mutableStateOf(true) }
    var pressStartTime by remember { mutableStateOf<Long?>(null) }
    var position by remember { mutableStateOf(Offset.Zero) }

   // Handle press duration logic
   LaunchedEffect(isPressed) {
        if (isPressed) {
            pressStartTime = System.currentTimeMillis()
        } else {
            pressStartTime?.let { startTime ->
                val duration = System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime
                if (duration > longPressDurationMs) {
                    canFocus = false
                } else {
                    canFocus = true
                }
            }
            pressStartTime = null
        }
    }

    // making text selection appears transparent 
    val customTextSelectionColors = remember {
        TextSelectionColors(
            handleColor = Color.Transparent,
            backgroundColor = Color.Transparent
        )
    }

    CompositionLocalProvider(
        LocalTextSelectionColors provides customTextSelectionColors,
        LocalTextToolbar provides EmptyTextToolbar
    ) {
        BasicTextField(
            value = textFieldValue,
            onValueChange = { textFieldValue = it },
            interactionSource = interactionSource,
            modifier = Modifier
                .graphicsLayer(
                    translationX = position.x,
                    translationY = position.y
                )
                .fillMaxWidth()
                .background(Color.Cyan)
                .padding(vertical = 5.dp)
                .focusProperties { this.canFocus = canFocus },
                //decoration box needs to be used in order to be able to detect drag gesture
                decorationBox = { innerTextField ->
                Row(
                    Modifier
                        .pointerInput(Unit) {
                            detectDragGestures { change, dragAmount ->
                                change.consume()
                                position += dragAmount
                        }
                        }
                        .border(1.dp, Color.Gray, shape = RectangleShape)
                        .padding(16.dp)
                        .fillMaxWidth().
                ) {
                    innerTextField()
                }
            }
        )
    }
}

//to remove copy/paste toolbar that appears on long press
object EmptyTextToolbar: TextToolbar {
   override val status: TextToolbarStatus = TextToolbarStatus.Hidden

   override fun hide() {  }

   override fun showMenu(
       rect: Rect,
       onCopyRequested: (() -> Unit)?,
       onPasteRequested: (() -> Unit)?,
       onCutRequested: (() -> Unit)?,
      onSelectAllRequested: (() -> Unit)?,
   ) {
   }
}

Since your BasicTextField is inside a LazyList item that supports drag reordering and swipe to dismiss, it is preventing the textfield from getting focus due to long press, but still allow normal taps to focus