UISearchController: show results even when search bar is empty - ios

As I understand, the default behaviour of UISearchController is:
On tapping search bar, background is dimmed and 'cancel' button is shown. SearchResultsController is not shown till this point.
SearchResultsController is displayed only if search bar is not empty.
I want to display SearchResultsController even when search bar is empty but selected (i.e is case 1 above).
Simply put, instead of background dimming, I would like to show Search results.
Is there a way for doing this?
More Clarification:
I am not using UISearchController to filter results shown on the view on which it is shown, but some other unrelated results.
It will be like what facebook does on its 'News Feed'. Tapping on search bar shows search suggestions initially and then, when we start editing, it shows search results which might not be related to news feed.

You can simply implement the UISearchResultsUpdating protocol and set the results controller view to always show in updateSearchResultsForSearchController:
func updateSearchResultsForSearchController(searchController: UISearchController) {
// Always show the search result controller
searchController.searchResultsController?.view.hidden = false
// Update your search results data and reload data
..
}
This works because the method is called even when the search bar is activated, without any text.

If your searchBar is active but has no text, the underlying tableView results are shown. That's the built-in behavior, and the reason why searchResultsController is hidden for that state.
To change the behavior when search is active but not filtering, you're going to have to show the searchResultsController when it is normally still hidden.
There may be a good way to accomplish this via <UISearchResultsUpdating> and updateSearchResultsForSearchController:. If you can solve it via the protocol, that's the preferred way to go.
If that doesn't help, you're left with hacking the built-in behavior. I wouldn't recommend or rely on it, and it's going to be fragile, but here's an answer if you choose that option:
Make sure your tableViewController conforms to <UISearchControllerDelegate>, and add
self.searchController.delegate = self;
Implement willPresentSearchController:
- (void)willPresentSearchController:(UISearchController *)searchController
{
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
searchController.searchResultsController.view.hidden = NO;
});
}
This makes the searchResultsController visible after its UISearchController set it to hidden.
Implement didPresentSearchController:
- (void)didPresentSearchController:(UISearchController *)searchController
{
searchController.searchResultsController.view.hidden = NO;
}
For a better way to work around the built-in behavior, see malhal's answer.

Updated for iOS 13
From iOS13, we got system API support for this behaviour. You can set the property showsSearchResultsController = true
For iOS 12 and below
I am recently working on UISearchController. I want to show search history in searchResultsController when search bar is empty. So searchResultsController needs to show up whenever UISearchController gets presented.
Here, I use another solution to make the searchResultsController always visible by overriding the hidden property in a custom view.
for example, my searchResultsController is a UITableViewController. I create a VisibleTableView as a subclass of UITableView, and then change the UITableView custom class of searchResultsController to VisibleTableView in xib or storyboard. This way, my searchResultsController will never be hidden by UISearchController.
The good things here:
Easier to implement than KVO.
No delay to show searchResultsController. Flipping the hidden flag in "updateSearchResults" delegate method works, but there is a delay to show the searchResultsController.
It does't reset the hidden flag, so there is no UI gap/jumping between hidden and visible.
Swift 3 sample code:
class VisibleTableView: UITableView {
override var isHidden: Bool {
get {
return false
}
set {
// ignoring any settings
}
}
}

I have tried PetahChristian solution, the preload result did show up when we first focus the searchbar, but when we enter something then clear it, the preload results will not reappear.
I came up with another solution. We only need to add a delegate into SearchResultsController and call it when our searchController.searchBar.text is empty. Something like this:
SearchResultsController:
protocol SearchResultsViewControllerDelegate {
func reassureShowingList() -> Void
}
class FullSearchResultsViewController: UIViewController, UISearchResultsUpdating{
var delegate: SearchResultsViewControllerDelegate?
...
func updateSearchResultsForSearchController(searchController: UISearchController) {
let query = searchController.searchBar.text?.trim()
if query == nil || query!.isEmpty {
...
self.delegate?.reassureShowingList()
...
}
...
}
And in the controller contains the SearchController, we add our delegate:
self.searchResultsController.delegate = self
func reassureShowingList() {
searchController.searchResultsController!.view.hidden = false
}

With tricky things like this I recommend the sledge hammer approach! That is to detect when something tries to make it hidden and when it does, change it back. This can be done via KVO (Key Value Observing). This will work no matter what, without having to handle all the intricacies of the search bar. Sorry the code is complicated but KVO is an older style API but my code follows recommend practice. In your SearchResultsViewController put this:
static int kHidden;
#implementation SearchResultsViewController
-(void)viewDidLoad{
[super viewDidLoad];
[self.view addObserver:self
forKeyPath:#"hidden"
options:(NSKeyValueObservingOptionNew |
NSKeyValueObservingOptionOld)
context:&kHidden];
}
- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath
ofObject:(id)object
change:(NSDictionary *)change
context:(void *)context {
// if it was our observation
if(context == &kHidden){
// if the view is hidden then make it visible.
if([[change objectForKey:NSKeyValueChangeNewKey] boolValue]){
self.view.hidden = NO;
}
}
else{
// if necessary, pass the method up the subclass hierarchy.
if([super respondsToSelector:#selector(observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:change:context:)]){
[super observeValueForKeyPath:keyPath
ofObject:object
change:change
context:context];
}
}
}
- (void)dealloc
{
[self.view removeObserver:self forKeyPath:#"hidden"];
}
// Here have the rest of your code for the search results table.
#end
This works in all cases including if the text is cleared.
Lastly, to prevent the table doing an ugly fade to grey then to white when the search activates, use this:
self.searchController.dimsBackgroundDuringPresentation = NO;

Swift 3 Version:
If your searchResultController is not nil and you are using a separate table view controller to show the search results, then you can make that table view controller conform to UISearchResultUpdating and in the updateSearchResults function, you can simply unhide the view.
func updateSearchResults(for searchController: UISearchController) {
view.hidden = false
}
Swift 4 Version:
func updateSearchResults(for searchController: UISearchController) {
view.isHidden = false
}

What is being hidden is the search results controller's view. Therefore it is sufficient to unhide it any time it might be hidden. Simply do as follows in the search results controller:
override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(animated)
self.view.isHidden = false
}
func updateSearchResults(for searchController: UISearchController) {
self.view.isHidden = false
// ... your other code goes here ...
}
Now the results view (i.e. the table view) is always visible, even when the search bar text is empty.
By the way, the iOS Mail app behaves like this, and I assume that's how it's implemented (unless Apple has access to some secret private UISearchController setting).
[Tested in iOS 10 and iOS 11; I didn't test on any earlier system.]

The Swift 2.3 version of #malhal's approach:
class SearchResultsViewController : UIViewController {
var context = 0
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Add observer
view.addObserver(self, forKeyPath: "hidden", options: [ .New, .Old ], context: &context)
}
deinit {
view.removeObserver(self, forKeyPath: "hidden")
}
override func observeValueForKeyPath(keyPath: String?, ofObject object: AnyObject?, change: [String : AnyObject]?, context: UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>) {
if context == &self.context {
if change?[NSKeyValueChangeNewKey] as? Bool == true {
view.hidden = false
}
} else {
super.observeValueForKeyPath(keyPath, ofObject: object, change: change, context: context)
}
}
}

Swift 4 version of malhals answer:
class SearchController: UISearchController {
private var viewIsHiddenObserver: NSKeyValueObservation?
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
viewIsHiddenObserver = self.searchResultsController?.view.observe(\.hidden, changeHandler: { [weak self] (view, _) in
guard let searchController = self else {return}
if view.isHidden && searchController.searchBar.isFirstResponder {
view.isHidden = false
}
})
}
}
Please note the [weak self]. Otherwise you would introduce a retain cycle.

I think you are mistaken.
SearchResultsController only appears when there are results. This is slightly different than your interpretation.
The results are loaded manually based on the text in the search bar. So you can intercept it if the search bar is empty and return your own set of results.

If you don't want to dim the results, set the dimsBackgroundDuringPresentation property to false.
This will make sure that the underlying content is not dimmed during a search.
You will also have to make sure you return results even when the searchText is empty otherwise an empty tableview will be displayed.

I spent a lot of time with this, and ultimately the solution I went with is like #malhals's, but the amount of code is significantly reduced by using facebook's KVOController: https://github.com/facebook/KVOController . Another advantage here is that if your searchResultsController is a UINavigationController then you don't need to subclass it just to add #malhal's code.
// always show searchResultsController, even if text is empty
[self.KVOController observe:self.searchController.searchResultsController.view keyPath:#"hidden" options:NSKeyValueObservingOptionNew block:^(id observer, UIView* view, NSDictionary *change) {
if ([change[NSKeyValueChangeNewKey] boolValue] == YES) {
view.hidden = NO;
}
}];
self.searchController.dimsBackgroundDuringPresentation = NO;

The easiest way is to use ReactiveCocoa with this extension https://github.com/ColinEberhardt/ReactiveTwitterSearch/blob/master/ReactiveTwitterSearch/Util/UIKitExtensions.swift
presentViewController(sc, animated: true, completion: {
sc.searchResultsController?.view.rac_hidden.modify({ value -> Bool in
return false
})
} )
where sc is your UISearchController

I really liked Simon Wang's answer and worked with it and this is what I did and it works perfectly:
I subclass the UISearchController in my custom class:
class CustomClass: UISearchController {
override var searchResultsController: UIViewController? {
get {
let viewController = super.searchResultsController
viewController?.view.isHidden = false
return viewController
}
set {
// nothing
}
}
}
Also make sure you don't have this anywhere in your code:
self.resultsSearchController.isActive = true
resultsSearchController is my UISearchController

Simply what I was using this case
func updateSearchResults(for searchController: UISearchController) {
if let inputText = searchController.searchBar.text, !inputText.isEmpty {
self.view.isHidden = false
}
}
where self.view is a view of "searchResultsController" during initialisation of UISearchController.
var searchController = UISearchController(searchResultsController: searchResultsController)

Related

Keyboard is appearing and immediately disappearing when UISearchBar.becomeFirstResponder() is getting called

I have UISearchController in the navigationItem.searchController and I want to make it focus when the user selects "Search" from the menu.
So shortly, when the user is tapping on the "Search" option in the menu (UITableViewCell) it's getting the view controller that have the searchController in it and calling:
guard let navigationVC = presentingViewController as? UINavigationController else { return }
guard let documentsVC = navigationVC.topViewController as? DocumentsViewController else { return }
documentsVC.searchController.searchBar.becomeFirstResponder()
Then, the UISearchBar is getting focus, the keyboard is appearing and then it's immediately disappearing, and I don't have any code that would make it disappear (like view.endEditing()).
1 GIF is worth more than 1,000 words:
So, after many tries I got some way to make it work, but I'm sure there is a much more elegant ways to do this, so if someone think that they have better way, please post it here and I may use it and mark your answer as the correct one.
Create the function focusOnSearchBar() in YourViewController:
func focusOnSearchBar() {
let searchBar = searchController.searchBar
if searchBar.canBecomeFirstResponder {
DispatchQueue.main.async {
searchBar.becomeFirstResponder()
}
} else {
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.1) {
self.focusOnSearchBar()
}
}
}
What it actually do is use itself recursively and check (every 0.1 sec) if searchBar.canBecomeFirstResponder. This is the problematic/not elegant thing.
Then, add this to viewDidAppear():
if focusOnSearch {
searchController.isActive = true
}
Don't forget to add extension to your ViewController for UISearchControllerDelegate (and of course, set searchController.delegate = self) and implement didPresentSearchController (that will be invoke by setting searchController.isActive = true):
extension YourViewController: UISearchControllerDelegate {
func didPresentSearchController(_ searchController: UISearchController) {
if focusOnSearch {
focusOnSearchBar()
}
}
}
Now all you have to do is to set focusOnSearch = true in the prepare(for segue:sender:).
*Note: if you want to focusOnSearchBar while you are in the same viewController of the searchBar, just set:
focusOnSearch = true
searchController.isActive = true
And it will work by itself.
Make your searchbar first responder in the viewDidLoad method. That will make sure everything is ready before focusing the search bar.

Move keyboard above TabViewController TabBar

Is it possible to move the keyboard up so it doesn't cover the UITabViewController's TabBar?
Update after being given more context in comments
If your main concern is letting the user dismiss the keyboard, there are some well known patterns that are commonly applied on the platform:
Assumption regarding UI (derived from your comment):
- UITableView as main content
To make the keyboard dismissible, you can utilise a property on UIScrollView called .keyboardDismissMode. (UITableView is derived from UIScrollView, so it inherits the property.)
The default value for this property is .none. Change that to either .onDrag or .interactive. Consult the documentation for differences between the latter two options.
Behind the scenes, UIKit sets up a connection between the UIScrollView instance and any incoming keyboard. This allows the user to "swipe away" the keyboard by interacting with the scroll view.
Note that in order for this feature to work, your UIScrollView needs to be scrollable. To understand what 'scrollable' means in this context, please see this gist.
If your tableView has very few or no rows, it is likely not natively scrollable. To account for that, set tableView.alwaysBounceVertical = true. This will make sure your users can dismiss the keyboard regardless of the number of rows in the table.
Most of the popular apps handling keyboard dismissal also make it possible to dismiss the keyboard simply by tapping the content partially overlapped by it (in your case, the tableView). To enable this, you would simply have to install a UITapGestureRecognizer on your view and dismiss the keyboard in its action method:
class MyViewController: UIViewController {
func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
let tapRecognizer = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleTap))
view.addGestureRecognizer(tapRecognizer)
}
}
//MARK: - Tap handling
fileprivate extension MyViewController {
#objc func handleTap() {
if searchBar.isFirstResponder {
searchBar.resignFirstResponder()
}
// Alternative
// view.endEditing(true)
}
}
// -
Old answer
Yes, you can actually do this without using private API.
Disclaimer
You should really think about whether you actually want to do this. Opening the keyboard in virtually every use case should create a new "context" of editing which modally "blocks" other contexts (such as the navigation context provided by UITabBarController and its UITabBar). I guess one could make the point that users are able to leave an editing context by interacting with a potentially present UINavigationBar which is usually not blocked by keyboards. However, this is a known interaction throughout the system. Not blocking a UITabBar or UIToolbar while showing the keyboard on the other hand, is not. That being said, use the code below to move the keyboard up, but critically review the UX you are creating. I'm not to say it does never make sense to move the keyboard up, but you should really know what you're doing here. To be honest, it also looks kind of iffy, having the keyboard float above the tab bar.
Code
extension Sequence {
func last(where predicate: (Element) throws -> Bool) rethrows -> Element? {
return try reversed().first(where: predicate)
}
}
// Using `UIViewController` as an example. You could and actually should factor this logic out.
class MyViewController: UIViewController {
deinit {
NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self)
}
func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(keyboardWillShow(notification:)), name: .UIKeyboardWillShow, object: nil)
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(keyboardWillHide(notification:)), name: .UIKeyboardWillHide, object: nil)
}
}
//MARK: - Keyboard handling
extension MyViewController {
private var keyboardOffset: CGFloat {
// Using a fixed value of `49` here, since that's what `UITabBar`s height usually is.
// You should probably use something like `-tabBarController?.tabBar.frame.height`.
return -49
}
private var keyboardWindowPredicate: (UIWindow) -> Bool {
return { $0.windowLevel > UIWindowLevelNormal }
}
private var keyboardWindow: UIWindow? {
return UIApplication.shared.windows.last(where: keyboardWindowPredicate)
}
#objc fileprivate func keyboardWillShow(notification: Notification) {
if let keyboardWindow = keyboardWindow {
keyboardWindow.frame.origin.y = keyboardOffset
}
}
#objc fileprivate func keyboardWillHide(notification: Notification) {
if let keyboardWindow = keyboardWindow {
keyboardWindow.frame.origin.y = 0
}
}
}
// -
Caution
Note that if you are using the .UIKeyboardWillShow and .UIKeyboardWillHide notifications to account for the keyboard in your view (setting UIScrollView insets, for example), you would have to also account for any additional offset by which you move keyboard window.
This works and is tested with iOS 11. However, there is no guarantee that the UIKit team won't change the order of windows or something else that breaks this in future releases. Again, you are not using any private API, so AppStore review should not be in danger, but you are doing something that you're not really supposed to do with the framework, and that can always come around and bite you later on.

How to display empty tableview by default when using UISearchController in Swift? [duplicate]

As I understand, the default behaviour of UISearchController is:
On tapping search bar, background is dimmed and 'cancel' button is shown. SearchResultsController is not shown till this point.
SearchResultsController is displayed only if search bar is not empty.
I want to display SearchResultsController even when search bar is empty but selected (i.e is case 1 above).
Simply put, instead of background dimming, I would like to show Search results.
Is there a way for doing this?
More Clarification:
I am not using UISearchController to filter results shown on the view on which it is shown, but some other unrelated results.
It will be like what facebook does on its 'News Feed'. Tapping on search bar shows search suggestions initially and then, when we start editing, it shows search results which might not be related to news feed.
You can simply implement the UISearchResultsUpdating protocol and set the results controller view to always show in updateSearchResultsForSearchController:
func updateSearchResultsForSearchController(searchController: UISearchController) {
// Always show the search result controller
searchController.searchResultsController?.view.hidden = false
// Update your search results data and reload data
..
}
This works because the method is called even when the search bar is activated, without any text.
If your searchBar is active but has no text, the underlying tableView results are shown. That's the built-in behavior, and the reason why searchResultsController is hidden for that state.
To change the behavior when search is active but not filtering, you're going to have to show the searchResultsController when it is normally still hidden.
There may be a good way to accomplish this via <UISearchResultsUpdating> and updateSearchResultsForSearchController:. If you can solve it via the protocol, that's the preferred way to go.
If that doesn't help, you're left with hacking the built-in behavior. I wouldn't recommend or rely on it, and it's going to be fragile, but here's an answer if you choose that option:
Make sure your tableViewController conforms to <UISearchControllerDelegate>, and add
self.searchController.delegate = self;
Implement willPresentSearchController:
- (void)willPresentSearchController:(UISearchController *)searchController
{
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
searchController.searchResultsController.view.hidden = NO;
});
}
This makes the searchResultsController visible after its UISearchController set it to hidden.
Implement didPresentSearchController:
- (void)didPresentSearchController:(UISearchController *)searchController
{
searchController.searchResultsController.view.hidden = NO;
}
For a better way to work around the built-in behavior, see malhal's answer.
Updated for iOS 13
From iOS13, we got system API support for this behaviour. You can set the property showsSearchResultsController = true
For iOS 12 and below
I am recently working on UISearchController. I want to show search history in searchResultsController when search bar is empty. So searchResultsController needs to show up whenever UISearchController gets presented.
Here, I use another solution to make the searchResultsController always visible by overriding the hidden property in a custom view.
for example, my searchResultsController is a UITableViewController. I create a VisibleTableView as a subclass of UITableView, and then change the UITableView custom class of searchResultsController to VisibleTableView in xib or storyboard. This way, my searchResultsController will never be hidden by UISearchController.
The good things here:
Easier to implement than KVO.
No delay to show searchResultsController. Flipping the hidden flag in "updateSearchResults" delegate method works, but there is a delay to show the searchResultsController.
It does't reset the hidden flag, so there is no UI gap/jumping between hidden and visible.
Swift 3 sample code:
class VisibleTableView: UITableView {
override var isHidden: Bool {
get {
return false
}
set {
// ignoring any settings
}
}
}
I have tried PetahChristian solution, the preload result did show up when we first focus the searchbar, but when we enter something then clear it, the preload results will not reappear.
I came up with another solution. We only need to add a delegate into SearchResultsController and call it when our searchController.searchBar.text is empty. Something like this:
SearchResultsController:
protocol SearchResultsViewControllerDelegate {
func reassureShowingList() -> Void
}
class FullSearchResultsViewController: UIViewController, UISearchResultsUpdating{
var delegate: SearchResultsViewControllerDelegate?
...
func updateSearchResultsForSearchController(searchController: UISearchController) {
let query = searchController.searchBar.text?.trim()
if query == nil || query!.isEmpty {
...
self.delegate?.reassureShowingList()
...
}
...
}
And in the controller contains the SearchController, we add our delegate:
self.searchResultsController.delegate = self
func reassureShowingList() {
searchController.searchResultsController!.view.hidden = false
}
With tricky things like this I recommend the sledge hammer approach! That is to detect when something tries to make it hidden and when it does, change it back. This can be done via KVO (Key Value Observing). This will work no matter what, without having to handle all the intricacies of the search bar. Sorry the code is complicated but KVO is an older style API but my code follows recommend practice. In your SearchResultsViewController put this:
static int kHidden;
#implementation SearchResultsViewController
-(void)viewDidLoad{
[super viewDidLoad];
[self.view addObserver:self
forKeyPath:#"hidden"
options:(NSKeyValueObservingOptionNew |
NSKeyValueObservingOptionOld)
context:&kHidden];
}
- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath
ofObject:(id)object
change:(NSDictionary *)change
context:(void *)context {
// if it was our observation
if(context == &kHidden){
// if the view is hidden then make it visible.
if([[change objectForKey:NSKeyValueChangeNewKey] boolValue]){
self.view.hidden = NO;
}
}
else{
// if necessary, pass the method up the subclass hierarchy.
if([super respondsToSelector:#selector(observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:change:context:)]){
[super observeValueForKeyPath:keyPath
ofObject:object
change:change
context:context];
}
}
}
- (void)dealloc
{
[self.view removeObserver:self forKeyPath:#"hidden"];
}
// Here have the rest of your code for the search results table.
#end
This works in all cases including if the text is cleared.
Lastly, to prevent the table doing an ugly fade to grey then to white when the search activates, use this:
self.searchController.dimsBackgroundDuringPresentation = NO;
Swift 3 Version:
If your searchResultController is not nil and you are using a separate table view controller to show the search results, then you can make that table view controller conform to UISearchResultUpdating and in the updateSearchResults function, you can simply unhide the view.
func updateSearchResults(for searchController: UISearchController) {
view.hidden = false
}
Swift 4 Version:
func updateSearchResults(for searchController: UISearchController) {
view.isHidden = false
}
What is being hidden is the search results controller's view. Therefore it is sufficient to unhide it any time it might be hidden. Simply do as follows in the search results controller:
override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(animated)
self.view.isHidden = false
}
func updateSearchResults(for searchController: UISearchController) {
self.view.isHidden = false
// ... your other code goes here ...
}
Now the results view (i.e. the table view) is always visible, even when the search bar text is empty.
By the way, the iOS Mail app behaves like this, and I assume that's how it's implemented (unless Apple has access to some secret private UISearchController setting).
[Tested in iOS 10 and iOS 11; I didn't test on any earlier system.]
The Swift 2.3 version of #malhal's approach:
class SearchResultsViewController : UIViewController {
var context = 0
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Add observer
view.addObserver(self, forKeyPath: "hidden", options: [ .New, .Old ], context: &context)
}
deinit {
view.removeObserver(self, forKeyPath: "hidden")
}
override func observeValueForKeyPath(keyPath: String?, ofObject object: AnyObject?, change: [String : AnyObject]?, context: UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>) {
if context == &self.context {
if change?[NSKeyValueChangeNewKey] as? Bool == true {
view.hidden = false
}
} else {
super.observeValueForKeyPath(keyPath, ofObject: object, change: change, context: context)
}
}
}
Swift 4 version of malhals answer:
class SearchController: UISearchController {
private var viewIsHiddenObserver: NSKeyValueObservation?
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
viewIsHiddenObserver = self.searchResultsController?.view.observe(\.hidden, changeHandler: { [weak self] (view, _) in
guard let searchController = self else {return}
if view.isHidden && searchController.searchBar.isFirstResponder {
view.isHidden = false
}
})
}
}
Please note the [weak self]. Otherwise you would introduce a retain cycle.
I think you are mistaken.
SearchResultsController only appears when there are results. This is slightly different than your interpretation.
The results are loaded manually based on the text in the search bar. So you can intercept it if the search bar is empty and return your own set of results.
If you don't want to dim the results, set the dimsBackgroundDuringPresentation property to false.
This will make sure that the underlying content is not dimmed during a search.
You will also have to make sure you return results even when the searchText is empty otherwise an empty tableview will be displayed.
I spent a lot of time with this, and ultimately the solution I went with is like #malhals's, but the amount of code is significantly reduced by using facebook's KVOController: https://github.com/facebook/KVOController . Another advantage here is that if your searchResultsController is a UINavigationController then you don't need to subclass it just to add #malhal's code.
// always show searchResultsController, even if text is empty
[self.KVOController observe:self.searchController.searchResultsController.view keyPath:#"hidden" options:NSKeyValueObservingOptionNew block:^(id observer, UIView* view, NSDictionary *change) {
if ([change[NSKeyValueChangeNewKey] boolValue] == YES) {
view.hidden = NO;
}
}];
self.searchController.dimsBackgroundDuringPresentation = NO;
The easiest way is to use ReactiveCocoa with this extension https://github.com/ColinEberhardt/ReactiveTwitterSearch/blob/master/ReactiveTwitterSearch/Util/UIKitExtensions.swift
presentViewController(sc, animated: true, completion: {
sc.searchResultsController?.view.rac_hidden.modify({ value -> Bool in
return false
})
} )
where sc is your UISearchController
I really liked Simon Wang's answer and worked with it and this is what I did and it works perfectly:
I subclass the UISearchController in my custom class:
class CustomClass: UISearchController {
override var searchResultsController: UIViewController? {
get {
let viewController = super.searchResultsController
viewController?.view.isHidden = false
return viewController
}
set {
// nothing
}
}
}
Also make sure you don't have this anywhere in your code:
self.resultsSearchController.isActive = true
resultsSearchController is my UISearchController
Simply what I was using this case
func updateSearchResults(for searchController: UISearchController) {
if let inputText = searchController.searchBar.text, !inputText.isEmpty {
self.view.isHidden = false
}
}
where self.view is a view of "searchResultsController" during initialisation of UISearchController.
var searchController = UISearchController(searchResultsController: searchResultsController)

Slide UIInputView with UIViewController like Slack

I'd like to use the UIViewController's input accessory view like this:
override func canBecomeFirstResponder() -> Bool {
return true
}
override var inputAccessoryView: UIView! {
return self.bar
}
but the issue is that I have a drawer like view and when I slide the view open, the input view stays on the window. How can I keep the input view on the center view like Slack does it.
Where my input view stays at the bottom, taking up the full screen (the red is the input view in the image below):
There are two ways to do this exactly like Slack doing it, Meiwin has a medium post here A Stickler for Details: Implementing Sticky Input Field in iOS to show how he managed to do this which he actually puts an empty UIView as an inputAccessoryView then track it’s coordinates on screen to know where to put his custom view in relation with the empty view, this way can be helpful if you are going to support SplitViewController on iPad, but if you are not interested in this way, you can see how I managed to do this like this image
Here is before swiping
Here is after
All I did was actually taking a snapshot from the inputAccessoryView window and putting it on the NavigationController of the TableViewController
I am using SideMenu from Jon Kent and it’s pretty easy to do it with the UISideMenuNavigationControllerDelegate
var isInputAccessoryViewEnabled = true {
didSet {
self.inputAccessoryView?.isHidden = !self.isInputAccessoryViewEnabled
if self.isInputAccessoryViewEnabled {self.becomeFirstResponder()}
}
}
func sideMenuWillAppear(menu: UISideMenuNavigationController, animated: Bool) {
let inputWindow = UIApplication.shared.windows.filter({$0.className == "UITextEffectsWindow"}).first
self.inputAccessoryViewSnapShot = inputWindow?.snapshotView(afterScreenUpdates: false)
if let snapShotView = self.inputAccessoryViewSnapShot, let navView = self.navigationController?.view {
navView.addSubview(snapShotView)
}
self.isInputAccessoryViewEnabled = false
}
func sideMenuDidDisappear(menu: UISideMenuNavigationController, animated: Bool) {
self.inputAccessoryViewSnapShot?.removeFromSuperview()
self.isInputAccessoryViewEnabled = true
}
I hope that helps :)

iOS8 Cannot hide cancel button on search bar in UISearchController

My goal is to prevent the cancel button from appearing in a search bar in a UISearchController. I started with Apple's Table Search with UISearchController sample code and hid the cancel button as seen in the code snip below. However, when the user taps in the text field, the cancel button still appears. Any help?
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
resultsTableController = ResultsTableController()
searchController = UISearchController(searchResultsController: resultsTableController)
searchController.searchResultsUpdater = self
searchController.searchBar.sizeToFit()
tableView.tableHeaderView = searchController.searchBar
searchController.searchBar.delegate = self
//Hide cancel button - added by me
searchController.searchBar.showsCancelButton = false
...
I think there are three ways of achieving that:
Override searchDisplayControllerDidBeginSearch and use the following code:
searchController.searchBar.showsCancelButton = false
Subclass UISearchBar and override the layoutSubviews to change that var when the system attempts to draw it.
Register for keyboard notification UIKeyboardWillShowNotification and apply the code in point 1.
Of course can always implement your search bar.
For iOS 8, and UISearchController, use this delegate method from UISearchControllerDelegate:
func didPresentSearchController(searchController: UISearchController) {
searchController.searchBar.showsCancelButton = false
}
Don't forget to set yourself as the delegate: searchController.delegate = self
Simply subclass UISearchController & UISearchBar.
class NoCancelButtonSearchController: UISearchController {
let noCancelButtonSearchBar = NoCancelButtonSearchBar()
override var searchBar: UISearchBar { return noCancelButtonSearchBar }
}
class NoCancelButtonSearchBar: UISearchBar {
override func setShowsCancelButton(_ showsCancelButton: Bool, animated: Bool) { /* void */ }
}
The following github project subclasses UISearchBar which is presented as solution 2:
https://github.com/mechaman/CustomSearchControllerSwift
On top of it, it also subclasses UISearchController to enable one to put the search bar in places other than the tableView header!
Hope this helps.
This was the simplest solution I could come up with in Swift.
Custom search controller:
class CustomSearchController: UISearchController {
var _searchBar: CustomSearchBar
override init(nibName nibNameOrNil: String?, bundle nibBundleOrNil: NSBundle?) {
self._searchBar = CustomSearchBar()
super.init(nibName: nibNameOrNil, bundle: nibBundleOrNil)
}
override init(searchResultsController: UIViewController?) {
self._searchBar = CustomSearchBar()
super.init(searchResultsController: searchResultsController)
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
}
override var searchBar: UISearchBar {
return self._searchBar
}
}
Custom search bar:
class CustomSearchBar: UISearchBar {
override func setShowsCancelButton(showsCancelButton: Bool, animated: Bool) {
// do nothing
}
}
The most important piece of this was to only create the _searchBar object once in init vs. creating it inside of the stored property.
Just subclass your UISearchController and do the following:
class CustomSearchController: UISearchController {
override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
super.viewDidLayoutSubviews()
searchBar.showsCancelButton = false
}
}
This was the easiest solution I could came up with in order to solve the flashing cancel-button issue.
TL;DR:
Subclassing UISearchBar and overriding setShowsCancelButton: and setShowsCancelButton:animated: hides the cancel button.
SOLUTION
I set active to NO if the search bar is not the first responder (keyboard is not active and displayed), since that is effectively a cancel command.
FJSearchBar
Marking searchController.searchBar.showsCancelButton = NO doesn't seem to work in iOS 8. I haven't tested iOS 9.
FJSearchBar.h
Empty, but placed here for completeness.
#import UIKit;
#interface FJSearchBar : UISearchBar
#end
FJSearchBar.m
#import "FJSearchBar.h"
#implementation FJSearchBar
- (void)setShowsCancelButton:(BOOL)showsCancelButton {
// do nothing
}
- (void)setShowsCancelButton:(BOOL)showsCancelButton animated:(BOOL)animated {
// do nothing
}
#end
FJSearchController
Here's where you want to make the real changes. I split the UISearchBarDelegate into its own category because, IMHO, the categories make the classes cleaner and easier to maintain. If you want to keep the delegate within the main class interface/implementation, you're more than welcome to do so.
FJSearchController.h
#import UIKit;
#interface FJSearchController : UISearchController
#end
#interface FJSearchController (UISearchBarDelegate) <UISearchBarDelegate>
#end
FJSearchController.m
#import "FJSearchController.h"
#import "FJSearchBar.h"
#implementation FJSearchController {
#private
FJSearchBar *_searchBar;
BOOL _clearedOutside;
}
- (UISearchBar *)searchBar {
if (_searchBar == nil) {
// if you're not hiding the cancel button, simply uncomment the line below and delete the FJSearchBar alloc/init
// _searchBar = [[UISearchBar alloc] init];
_searchBar = [[FJSearchBar alloc] init];
_searchBar.delegate = self;
}
return _searchBar;
}
#end
#implementation FJSearchController (UISearchBarDelegate)
- (BOOL)searchBarShouldBeginEditing:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
// if we cleared from outside then we should not allow any new editing
BOOL shouldAllowEditing = !_clearedOutside;
_clearedOutside = NO;
return shouldAllowEditing;
}
- (void)searchBarSearchButtonClicked:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
// hide the keyboard since the user will no longer add any more input
[searchBar resignFirstResponder];
}
- (void)searchBar:(UISearchBar *)searchBar textDidChange:(NSString *)searchText {
if (![searchBar isFirstResponder]) {
// the user cleared the search while not in typing mode, so we should deactivate searching
self.active = NO;
_clearedOutside = YES;
return;
}
// update the search results
[self.searchResultsUpdater updateSearchResultsForSearchController:self];
}
#end
Some parts to note:
I've put the search bar and the BOOL as private variables instead of properties because
They're more lightweight than private properties.
They don't need to be seen or modified by the outside world.
We check whether the searchBar is the first responder. If it's not, then we actually deactivate the search controller because the text is empty and we're no longer searching. If you really want to be sure, you can also ensure that searchText.length == 0.
searchBar:textDidChange: is invoked before searchBarShouldBeginEditing:, which is why we handled it in this order.
I update the search results every time the text changes, but you may want to move the [self.searchResultsUpdater updateSearchResultsForSearchController:self]; to searchBarSearchButtonClicked: if you only want the search performed after the user presses the Search button.
Swift:
The following worked for me, added under viewDidLoad, because I never wanted that button:
let searchBarStyle = searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField
searchBarStyle?.clearButtonMode = .never
Make sure to add the ID for the searchBar in the storyboard.
Use UISearchControllerDelegate.
func willPresentSearchController(_ searchController: UISearchController) {
searchController.searchBar.setValue("", forKey:"_cancelButtonText")
}

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