Prevent TalkBack from announcing TextView title aloud

[Alexander Pavlov]

I am developing an accessible android application where people would be using Explore by Touch and TalkBack accessibility services to use my application.

This is my Android XML code:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/LinearLayout" 
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/forename"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="20dip"
        android:layout_marginLeft="15dip"
        android:textSize="20sp"
        android:text="@string/forenameText" 
        android:contentDescription="@null"/>

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/EditTextForename"
        android:layout_width="285dp"
        android:layout_height="65dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="10dip"
        android:layout_marginLeft="15dip"
        android:hint="@string/forenameHint"
        android:inputType="textPersonName"
        android:lines="1"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:textSize="20sp" >
    </EditText>

</LinearLayout>

strings.xml

<string name="forenameText">Forename</string>
<string name="forenameHint">Enter your forename here</string>

TextView displays the title "Forename" and EditText allows me to enter some details in the form field. The problem I have is that when I drag my finger across the screen by using Explore by Touch, TalkBack picks up the title of the TextView and announces it aloud as "Forename". I want the TextView to only display text and not provide any audible feedback.

I have set contentDescription to @null as you can see from the code above, but TalkBack still announces "Forename" when my finger is located over the TextView.

I have also tried setting contentDescription in my Java class:

TextView forename=(TextView)findViewById(R.id.forename);
forename.setContentDescription("");

However, I still get the same problem. Is there any other way to set contentDescription to null/empty and prevent TalkBack from announcing it aloud?

[Sabrina Alfonso]

whitespace seems to be removed or collapsed, so TalkBack treats it as not set, and if a TextView's contentDescription's not set, it defaults to reading the text.
but I had success setting a nonbreak whitespace character.
I did it in code with unicode code point for the character:

aTextView.setContentDescription("\u00A0");

you can use the same codepoint in xml as well