Get Selected Text from TextView

I think what you’re looking for is TextView.setCustomSelectionActionModeCallback. This will allow you to create your own ActionMode.Callback for when the text is selected. Then you can use TextView.getSelectionStart and TextView.getSelectionEnd to retrieve the selected text when your MenuItem is selected. Here’s a quick example:

    mTextView.setCustomSelectionActionModeCallback(new Callback() {

        @Override
        public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
            // Remove the "select all" option
            menu.removeItem(android.R.id.selectAll);
            // Remove the "cut" option
            menu.removeItem(android.R.id.cut);
            // Remove the "copy all" option
            menu.removeItem(android.R.id.copy);
            return true;
        }

        @Override
        public boolean onCreateActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
            // Called when action mode is first created. The menu supplied
            // will be used to generate action buttons for the action mode

            // Here is an example MenuItem
            menu.add(0, DEFINITION, 0, "Definition").setIcon(R.drawable.ic_action_book);
            return true;
        }

        @Override
        public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) {
            // Called when an action mode is about to be exited and
            // destroyed
        }

        @Override
        public boolean onActionItemClicked(ActionMode mode, MenuItem item) {
            switch (item.getItemId()) {
                case DEFINITION:
                    int min = 0;
                    int max = mTextView.getText().length();
                    if (mTextView.isFocused()) {
                        final int selStart = mTextView.getSelectionStart();
                        final int selEnd = mTextView.getSelectionEnd();

                        min = Math.max(0, Math.min(selStart, selEnd));
                        max = Math.max(0, Math.max(selStart, selEnd));
                    }
                    // Perform your definition lookup with the selected text
                    final CharSequence selectedText = mTextView.getText().subSequence(min, max);
                    // Finish and close the ActionMode
                    mode.finish();
                    return true;
                default:
                    break;
            }
            return false;
        }

    });

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