Get tapped word in a UITextview - ios

Question

I have added a uitextview which is initially non editable. I added a tap gesture which enable the editing to true. In the tap gesture selector I get the word that is being tapped. I have tried a lot many solution but none worked for me as a complete solution. Every solution worked if the textview is not scrolled. But if I scroll the textview the exact word is not retrieved. Here is my code for getting the tapped word:
#objc func handleTap(_ sender: UITapGestureRecognizer) {
notesTextView.isEditable = true
notesTextView.textColor = UIColor.white
if let textView = sender.view as? UITextView {
var pointOfTap = sender.location(in: textView)
print("x:\(pointOfTap.x) , y:\(pointOfTap.y)")
let contentOffsetY = textView.contentOffset.y
pointOfTap.y += contentOffsetY
print("x:\(pointOfTap.x) , y:\(pointOfTap.y)")
word(atPosition: pointOfTap)
}
func word(atPosition: CGPoint) -> String? {
if let tapPosition = notesTextView.closestPosition(to: atPosition) {
if let textRange = notesTextView.tokenizer.rangeEnclosingPosition(tapPosition , with: .word, inDirection: 1) {
let tappedWord = notesTextView.text(in: textRange)
print("Word: \(tappedWord)" ?? "")
return tappedWord
}
return nil
}
return nil
}
EDITED:
Here is the demo project with the problem.
https://github.com/amrit42087/TextViewDemo

Answer 1

The best and easiest way in Swift 4
METHOD 1:
Step 1: Add Tap Gesture on the textview
let tap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(tapResponse(recognizer:)))
textViewTC.addGestureRecognizer(tap)
Step 2: Implement Tap Gesture
#objc func tapResponse(recognizer: UITapGestureRecognizer) {
let location: CGPoint = recognizer.location(in: textViewTC)
let position: CGPoint = CGPoint(x: location.x, y: location.y)
let tapPosition: UITextPosition = textViewTC.closestPosition(to: position)!
guard let textRange: UITextRange = textViewTC.tokenizer.rangeEnclosingPosition(tapPosition, with: UITextGranularity.word, inDirection: 1) else {return}
let tappedWord: String = textViewTC.text(in: textRange) ?? ""
print("tapped word ->", tappedWord)
}
And yes thats it. Go for it.
METHOD 2:
The alternate way is that you can enable links for textview and then set the same as an attribute. Here is an example
var foundRange = attributedString.mutableString.range(of: "Terms of Use") //mention the parts of the attributed text you want to tap and get an custom action
attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.link, value: termsAndConditionsURL, range: foundRange)
set this attribute text to Textview and textView.delegate = self
Now you just need to handle the response in
func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldInteractWith URL: URL, in characterRange: NSRange, interaction: UITextItemInteraction) -> Bool {
Hope it helps you. All the best.

Answer 2

You don't need to add the content offset of the text view. When you convert location into a scrollview it will already take its content offset into account.
Removing:
let contentOffsetY = textView.contentOffset.y
pointOfTap.y += contentOffsetY
should work.

Answer 3

Please Try This
//add UITextViewDelegate
let termsAndConditionsURL = "someText"
let privacyURL = "SampleText"
#IBOutlet weak var terms: UITextView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
self.terms.delegate = self
// Adding Attributed text to TextView
let str = "By registering, you agree to the Terms and the User Privacy Statement."
let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: str)
var foundRange = attributedString.mutableString.range(of: "Terms")
attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor, value: UIColor.blue, range: foundRange)
attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.underlineStyle , value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue, range: foundRange)
attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.link, value: termsAndConditionsURL, range: foundRange)
foundRange = attributedString.mutableString.range(of: "User Privacy Statement")
attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor, value: UIColor.blue, range: foundRange)
attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.underlineStyle , value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue, range: foundRange)
attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.link, value: privacyURL, range: foundRange)
terms.attributedText = attributedString
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
}
func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldInteractWith URL: URL, in characterRange: NSRange) -> Bool
{
if (URL.absoluteString == termsAndConditionsURL)
{
// Perform Terms Action here
} else if (URL.absoluteString == privacyURL)
{
// Perform Terms Action here
}
return false
}