Make UISearchController search bar automatically active - ios

Question

I've implemented a UISearchController with its search bar in a navigatiom bar and I would like to make the search bar active when the view is loaded. When I say active, I mean that the keyboard appears and the user can type his/her search without tap the search bar.
I initialised the UISearchController with the following code:
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
self.searchController = [[UISearchController alloc] initWithSearchResultsController:nil];
[self.searchController setSearchResultsUpdater:self];
[self.searchController setDimsBackgroundDuringPresentation:NO];
[self.searchController setHidesNavigationBarDuringPresentation:NO];
[self.navigationItem setTitleView:self.searchController.searchBar];
[self setDefinesPresentationContext:YES];
[self.searchController.searchBar setDelegate:self];
[self.searchController.searchBar setShowsCancelButton:YES];
[self.searchController.searchBar setPlaceholder:#"City or Airfield"];
[self.searchController.searchBar sizeToFit];
}
I've tried to make my search controller active, call [self.searchController.searchBar becomeFirstResponder] and directly call searchBarSearchButtonClicked but nothing works.

Answer 1

Try calling
[self.searchController setActive:YES]
before
[self.searchController.searchBar becomeFirstResponder]
If the above is not working, try something like this:
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
...
[self initializeSearchController];
....
}
- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewDidAppear:animated];
[self.searchController setActive:YES];
[self.searchController.searchBar becomeFirstResponder];
}
- (void)initializeSearchController {
self.searchController = [[UISearchController alloc] initWithSearchResultsController:nil];
self.searchController.searchResultsUpdater = self;
self.searchController.dimsBackgroundDuringPresentation = NO;
self.searchController.delegate = self;
self.searchController.searchBar.delegate = self;
[self.searchController.searchBar sizeToFit];
[self.tableView setTableHeaderView:self.searchController.searchBar];
self.definesPresentationContext = YES;
}

Answer 2

To activate the search bar:
- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewDidAppear:animated];
[self.searchController setActive:YES];
}
"becomeFistResponder" can be called to make the keyboard appear only when UISearchController is loaded .
- (void)didPresentSearchController:(UISearchController *)searchController
{
[searchController.searchBar becomeFirstResponder];
}

Answer 3

Besides doing what the other users suggested, I also did the following, and it worked:
searchController.definesPresentationContext = YES;

Answer 4

For those looking for a solution in 2022
I have tried the solution provided here with no luck.
So, here are the three approaches in swift that each seems to work.
Using delegate, make Searchcontroller active in the main queue.
class ViewController: UIViewController {
private lazy var searchController = UISearchController()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
searchController.delegate = self
navigationItem.searchController = searchController
}
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewDidAppear(animated)
// If this is not called in main queue, the searchbar is not being active
DispatchQueue.main.async {
self.searchController.isActive = true
}
}
}
extension ViewController: UISearchControllerDelegate {
func didPresentSearchController(_ searchController: UISearchController) {
DispatchQueue.main.async {
searchController.searchBar.becomeFirstResponder()
}
}
}
Making the searchbar firstResponder after some delay.
class ViewController: UIViewController {
private lazy var searchController = UISearchController()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
navigationItem.searchController = searchController
}
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewDidAppear(animated)
delay(0.1) { self.searchController.searchBar.becomeFirstResponder() }
}
func delay(_ delay: Double, closure: #escaping ()-> Void) {
let when = DispatchTime.now() + delay
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: when, execute: closure)
}
}
Or just making the searchbar firstResponder in main queue.
class ViewController: UIViewController {
private lazy var searchController = UISearchController()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
navigationItem.searchController = searchController
}
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewDidAppear(animated)
DispatchQueue.main.async { // must call from main thread
self.searchController.searchBar.becomeFirstResponder()
}
}
}