Add UITapGestureRecognizer to UITextView without blocking textView touches - ios

Question

How can I add a UITapGestureRecognizer to a UITextView but still have the touches getting through to the UITextView as normal?
Currently as soon as I add a custom gesture to my textView it blocks the tap for UITextView default actions like positioning the cursor.
var tapTerm:UITapGestureRecognizer = UITapGestureRecognizer()
override func viewDidLoad() {
tapTerm = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: "tapTextView:")
textView.addGestureRecognizer(tapTerm)
}
func tapTextView(sender:UITapGestureRecognizer) {
println("tapped term – but blocking the tap for textView :-/")
…
}
How can I process taps but keep any textView behaviour like cursor positioning as is?

Answer 1

To do that make your view controller adopt to UIGestureRecognizerDelegate and override should recognize simultaneously with gesture recognizer method like:
override func viewDidLoad() {
tapTerm = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: "tapTextView:")
tapTerm.delegate = self
textView.addGestureRecognizer(tapTerm)
}
func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWith otherGestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer) -> Bool {
return true
}

Answer 2

In case anyone came here looking for #Zell B.'s answer in Objective C, here's the code:
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
UITapGestureRecognizer *tap = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc]initWithTarget:self action:#selector(textViewTapped:)];
tap.delegate = self;
tap.numberOfTapsRequired = 1;
[self.textView addGestureRecognizer:tap];
}
- (void)textViewTapped:(UITapGestureRecognizer *)tap {
//DO SOMTHING
}
#pragma mark - Gesture recognizer delegate
- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWithGestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)otherGestureRecognizer {
return YES;
}
PS: Don't forget < UIGestureRecognizerDelegate >

Answer 3

Swift 4.2
The following steps allows me to escape a full-screen UITextView with a tap, whilst allowing to scroll the contents of the UITextView:
Disconnected the UIGestureRecognizer from the UITableView.
Made a CustomTextView: UITextView.
Added a 'sender' var to the particular UIViewController with the CustomTextView.
Trap for 'Touches Ended...'
Call for an excape function within the sender UIViewController.
class CustomTextView: UITextView {
var sender: DocViewController?
override func touchesEnded(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
if let controller = sender {
controller.handleSwipeGesture()
}
}
}
I can either scroll the contents of the UITextView or merely tap to exit.
The 'sender' is set from the hosting UIViewController at creation.

Answer 4

Somehow I could not assign a delegate inside UIView so I came up with a button solution.
I insert a button that completely covers the textView and when tapped on textViewButton I do resign the button so textView shows.
#IBAction func textViewTapped(_ sender: UIButton) {
self.placeholderLabel.isHidden = true
self.textViewButton.resignFirstResponder()
}