Implementing a Search Text Box in Swift - ios

Question

Would someone be able to help with the following in swift:
I have created a textfield. When I click on the textfield it displays a table with a list
I have created a func that searches through the array and any matches will be added to the filtered array but how then do i add this to my table
-Also is there a way that when i now select a new value from the table it populates into my textfield?
I'm basically trying to create a dropdown
This is my code
import UIKit
var names = ["frank", "john", "harry", "mike", "jones"]
var filtered:[String] = []
class ViewController: UIViewController {
var searchActive : Bool = false
#IBOutlet weak var searchText: UITextField!
#IBOutlet weak var personTable: UITableView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
personTable.alpha = 0
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
#IBAction func searchTextClick(sender: AnyObject) {
if(personTable.alpha == 0){
personTable.alpha = 1
searchActive = true;
searchText(searchText, textDidChange: "")
}else{
personTable.alpha = 0
searchActive = false;
}
}
func tableView(personTable: UITableView!, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int
{
return names.count;
}
func tableView(personTable: UITableView!,
cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath!) -> UITableViewCell!
{
let cell:UITableViewCell = UITableViewCell(style:UITableViewCellStyle.Default, reuseIdentifier:"cell")
cell.textLabel!.text = names[indexPath.row]
return cell
}
func searchText(searchText: UITextField, textDidChange newSearch: String) {
let filteredArr = names.filter{$0.containsCharacters(searchText.text)}
self.personTable.reloadData()
}
}
extension String {
func containsCharacters(ch:String)-> Bool{
var err:NSError?
let reg = NSRegularExpression(pattern: ch, options: NSRegularExpressionOptions.CaseInsensitive, error: &err)
if let matches = reg?.matchesInString(self, options: NSMatchingOptions.WithoutAnchoringBounds, range: NSMakeRange(0,count(self))) where matches.count != 0 {
return true
}
return false
}
}
Thx

Answer 1

For good reasons drop down's does not exist in iOS.
You should use a UIPickerView or add add a search field to your tableview.
In the latter example you should implement the UISearchBarDelegate
and use one of it's delegate methods to do you actions. Could look something like this
func searchBar(searchBar: UISearchBar, textDidChange searchText: String) {
if searchText == "" {
self.filteredDkStationsKeys = self.allDkStationsKeys
}else{
self.filteredDkStationsKeys.removeAll(keepCapacity: false)
self.filteredDkStationsKeys = self.allDkStationsKeys.filter { ( $0.lowercaseString.hasPrefix(searchText.lowercaseString) ) }
}
self.tableView.reloadData()
}
Where you can replace the filter stuff with your own filter functions (I show the filteredDkStations in the table). This would give you a table which is getting smaller and smaller as less and less text matches the search input. It looks great!