I think one way to do this is to paint your hint directly onto the EditField. That way, the EditField never sees it. And you can paint it in a light color to make it clear this is not actually input.
Here is some sample code, note that I have cut/pasted this from a working application, but changed a few things that I think are not related - but this might have screwed it up completely.....
private BasicEditField _searchField = new BasicEditField("", "" ) {
String emptyString = "Enter search characters";
protected void paintBackground( Graphics g ) {
g.setBackgroundColor(0x00FFFFFF);
g.clear();
}
protected void paint( Graphics g ) {
int oldColor = g.getColor();
try {
g.setColor( 0x00000000 );
String test = super.getText();
if ( test == null || test.length() < 1 ) {
g.setColor( 0x00808080 );
g.drawText(emptyString, 0, 0);
}
super.paint(g);
} finally {
g.setColor( oldColor );
}
}
};
I just over-ride the paint(), and everything falls into place..no changing the fliter at all..!!
