Swift textViewDidBeginEditing and textViewDidEndEditing Not Working - ios

Question

I'm trying to get my UITextView feedbackInput to delete the placeholder text when it's clicked inside of and then let the user type in the UITextView in a black font color. Also if the user clicks inside of the UITextView, but doesn't type anything and then clicks outside of it, the placeholder text should be redisplayed. Currently, my code loads the placeholder text correctly, but when the user clicks inside of the UITextView the placeholder text isn't immediately removed and the user can only type in the UITextView in the light gray placeholder text font color, not in black.
AddMeal View Code:
import SwiftUI
class AddMeal: UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {
#State var stars = -1
var feedbackInput = UITextView(frame: CGRect(x: 20, y: 440, width: 372, height: 100))
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
view.backgroundColor = .red
// Add Meal Title Label
let label = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 200, height: 50))
label.center = self.view.center
label.center.x = self.view.center.x
label.center.y = 75
label.font = label.font.withSize(30);
label.textAlignment = .center
label.textColor = .white
label.text = "Add Meal"
self.view.addSubview(label)
// Meal Title Label
let food = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 22, y: 100, width: 200, height: 50))
food.font = label.font.withSize(20);
food.textColor = .white
food.text = "Meal Title"
self.view.addSubview(food)
// Food Title Input Text Field
let sampleTextField = UITextField(frame: CGRect(x: 20, y: 150, width: 372, height: 40))
sampleTextField.placeholder = "Enter the Name of the Food or Drink..."
sampleTextField.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 15)
sampleTextField.borderStyle = UITextField.BorderStyle.roundedRect
sampleTextField.autocorrectionType = UITextAutocorrectionType.no
sampleTextField.keyboardType = UIKeyboardType.default
sampleTextField.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyType.done
sampleTextField.clearButtonMode = UITextField.ViewMode.whileEditing
sampleTextField.contentVerticalAlignment = UIControl.ContentVerticalAlignment.center
self.view.addSubview(sampleTextField)
// Meal Calories Label
let mealCalories = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 22, y: 200, width: 200, height: 50))
mealCalories.font = label.font.withSize(20);
mealCalories.textColor = .white
mealCalories.text = "Meal Calories"
self.view.addSubview(mealCalories)
// Calories Input Text Field
let sampleTextField2 = UITextField(frame: CGRect(x: 20, y: 250, width: 372, height: 40))
sampleTextField2.placeholder = "Enter the # of Calories..."
sampleTextField2.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 15)
sampleTextField2.borderStyle = UITextField.BorderStyle.roundedRect
sampleTextField2.autocorrectionType = UITextAutocorrectionType.no
sampleTextField2.keyboardType = UIKeyboardType.default
sampleTextField2.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyType.done
sampleTextField2.clearButtonMode = UITextField.ViewMode.whileEditing
sampleTextField2.contentVerticalAlignment = UIControl.ContentVerticalAlignment.center
self.view.addSubview(sampleTextField2)
// Meal Rating Label
let mealRating = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 22, y: 300, width: 200, height: 50))
mealRating.font = label.font.withSize(20);
mealRating.textColor = .white
mealRating.text = "Meal Rating"
self.view.addSubview(mealRating)
// Rating Stars
let stars = UIHostingController(rootView: StarsView())
self.view.addSubview(stars.view)
self.addChild(stars)
stars.view.backgroundColor = .clear
stars.view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
stars.view.sizeToFit()
stars.view.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: mealRating.bottomAnchor, constant: 5).isActive = true
stars.view.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.centerXAnchor).isActive = true
// Meal Feedback Label
let mealFeedback = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 22, y: 390, width: 200, height: 50))
mealFeedback.font = label.font.withSize(20);
mealFeedback.textColor = .white
mealFeedback.text = "Meal Feedback"
self.view.addSubview(mealFeedback)
// Feedback Input Field
feedbackInput.delegate = self
feedbackInput.text = "Enter Your Feedback on the Meal..."
feedbackInput.layer.cornerRadius = 5
feedbackInput.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 15)
feedbackInput.textColor = .lightGray
self.view.addSubview(feedbackInput)
}
}
func textViewDidBeginEditing(textView: UITextView) {
if textView.textColor == .lightGray {
textView.text = ""
textView.textColor = .black
}
}
func textViewDidEndEditing(textView: UITextView) {
if textView.text.isEmpty {
textView.text = "Enter Your Feedback on the Meal..."
textView.textColor = .lightGray
}
}
struct StarsView: View {
#State var stars = -1
var body: some View {
HStack {
ForEach(0..<5){ i in
Image(systemName: "star.fill")
.resizable().frame(width: 30, height:30)
.foregroundColor(self.stars >= i ? .yellow : .gray)
.onTapGesture {
self.stars = i
}
}
}
}
}
Image of Current Output:
How can I fix the issue of textViewDidBeginEditing and textViewDidEndEditing not being called correctly for my UITextView feedbackInput to work properly as I described above?

Answer 1

You need to set placeholder, not text.
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
...
mealFeedback.placeholder = "Meal Feedback"
feedbackInput.placeholder = "Enter Your Feedback on the Meal..."
}
func textViewDidBeginEditing(textView: UITextView) {
if textView.textColor == .lightGray {
textView.placeholder = ""
textView.textColor = .black
}
}
func textViewDidEndEditing(textView: UITextView) {
if textView.text.isEmpty {
textView.placeholder = "Enter Your Feedback on the Meal..."
textView.textColor = .lightGray
}
}

Answer 2

Your delegate callbacks are outside of your view controller context, but must be inside
class AddMeal: UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {
// #State var stars = -1 // << !! BTW, don't use state here - it will not work
// ... other code
func textViewDidBeginEditing(textView: UITextView) {
if textView.textColor == .lightGray {
textView.text = ""
textView.textColor = .black
}
}
func textViewDidEndEditing(textView: UITextView) {
if textView.text.isEmpty {
textView.text = "Enter Your Feedback on the Meal..."
textView.textColor = .lightGray
}
}
}