set textCursorDrawable programmatically

Update 2019: There is no public API to set the cursor drawable. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/57555148/253468 for API available on 29 and above, before that conditionally you'll need to use reflection as described below.

Before API 29 you can set it programmatically by using reflection. The field mCursorDrawableRes hasn't changed so this should work on all devices, unless a manufacturer changed something or it is later changed.

Use reflection to set the cursor:

EditText yourEditText = new EditText(context);

...

try {
    // https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/kitkat-release/core/java/android/widget/TextView.java#L562-564
    Field f = TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawableRes");
    f.setAccessible(true);
    f.set(yourEditText, R.drawable.cursor);
} catch (Exception ignored) {
}

Define a cursor drawable in your app:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="rectangle" >
    
    <solid android:color="#ff000000" />
    
    <size android:width="1dp" />
    
</shape>

Another approach:

You can also set the cursor color with the following method:

public static void setCursorDrawableColor(EditText editText, int color) {
    try { 
        Field fCursorDrawableRes = TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawableRes");
        fCursorDrawableRes.setAccessible(true);
        int mCursorDrawableRes = fCursorDrawableRes.getInt(editText);
        Field fEditor = TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mEditor");
        fEditor.setAccessible(true);
        Object editor = fEditor.get(editText);
        Class<?> clazz = editor.getClass();
        Field fCursorDrawable = clazz.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawable");
        fCursorDrawable.setAccessible(true);
        Drawable[] drawables = new Drawable[2];
        drawables[0] = editText.getContext().getResources().getDrawable(mCursorDrawableRes);
        drawables[1] = editText.getContext().getResources().getDrawable(mCursorDrawableRes);
        drawables[0].setColorFilter(color, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);
        drawables[1].setColorFilter(color, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);
        fCursorDrawable.set(editor, drawables);
    } catch (Throwable ignored) {
    } 
} 

Using reflection for the cursor drawable is prohibited from Android Q.

Instead, there is a new setTextCursorDrawable API and we can use this.

the answer is ---------------------> It's unattainable.

Actually, I also met this problem in my work, but after checking google's doc and source code, I fond that you cannot set this attribute in java code.

In TextView class you can find the code below

case com.android.internal.R.styleable.TextView_textCursorDrawable:
    mCursorDrawableRes = a.getResourceId(attr, 0);
    break;

but the method textCursorDrawable() is only existed in R.attr, if you wanna set this attribute, you can only call the construct method below by including a editText in XML file.

public EditText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
    this(context, attrs, com.android.internal.R.attr.editTextStyle);
}