Store values from UITextFields in NSArray programmatically iOS - ios

Question

I would like to start by saying that I am fairly new to iOS programming, so excuse my ignorance.
I have three UITextFields in my CustomLayout. I am asking users to fill in their name, age and sex. I would like two things, if possible. First I would like, as soon as a user hits the return button from the keyboard, the input string to be stored in an NSArray. In addition, the secondary objective is to iterate through the UITextFields when the user hits the same button.
// CustomLayout.h
#interface CustomLayout : UIView {
UITextField *nameField;
UITextField *ageField;
UITextField *sexField;
UILabel *nameLabel;
UILabel *ageLabel;
UILabel *sexLabel;
UIButton *startButton;
}
#property (nonatomic, strong) UITextField *nameField;
#property (nonatomic, strong) UITextField *ageField;
#property (nonatomic, strong) UITextField *sexField;
#property (nonatomic, strong) UILabel *nameLabel;
#property (nonatomic, strong) UILabel *ageLabel;
#property (nonatomic, strong) UILabel *sexLabel;
#property (nonatomic, strong) UIButton *startButton;
-(void)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField*)textField;
#end
In the implementation file
//CustomLayout.m
#implementation CustomLayout
#synthesize nameField, ageField, sexField;
#synthesize nameLabel, ageLabel, sexLabel;
#synthesize startButton;
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
if (self) {
[self setBackgroundColor:[tkStyle viewBackgroundColor]];
NSString *startButtonLabel = #"Start Experiment";
//alocate and position views
CGRect viewRect;//placeholder rect, reused for each view
//nameLabel and nameField
nameLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(120, 95, 150, 40)];
nameLabel.textColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:106/256.0 green:180/256.0 blue:150/256.0 alpha:1.0];
nameLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:#"Helvetica-Bold" size:25];
nameLabel.backgroundColor=[tkStyle viewBackgroundColor];
nameLabel.text=#"Enter Name:";
nameField = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(280, 90, 200, 40)];
nameField.textColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:0/256.0 green:84/256.0 blue:129/256.0 alpha:1.0];
nameField.font = [UIFont fontWithName:#"Helvetica-Bold" size:25];
nameField.borderStyle = UITextBorderStyleRoundedRect;
nameField.backgroundColor=[tkStyle viewBackgroundColor];
textFieldShouldReturn:nameField.text;
// same for ageField and sexField
//startButton
viewRect = CGRectMake(250, sexField.frame.origin.y+75, 200, 40);
startButton = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:viewRect];
[startButton setTitle:startButtonLabel forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[startButton setTitleEdgeInsets:UIEdgeInsetsMake(4, 0, 0, 0)];
[startButton setButtonIsActive:true];
//[startButton setOSCAddress:OSCStopPressedString];
[startButton addTarget:self action:#selector(buttonAction:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
//and so on adjust your view size according to your needs
[self addSubview:nameField];
[self addSubview:ageField];
[self addSubview:sexField];
[self addSubview:nameLabel];
[self addSubview:ageLabel];
[self addSubview:sexLabel];
[self addSubview:startButton];
}
return self;
}
// that should allow for users to hit 'return' button to move through textfields
-(void)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField*)textField;
{
//[(NSArray *) userInfoArray addObject:textField.text];
}
// that should change Views as soon as the user presses 'Start Experiment'
-(void)buttonAction:(id)sender
{
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:#"startTest" object:self];
}
#end
Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

NSDictionary will be a good approach. you can have unique key for each textfield value.

Answer 2

-(void)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField*)textField;
should be:
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField*)textField;
Also, don't forget to return TRUE or FALSE (or YES or NO).
To make this work, implement the UITextFieldDelegate protocol in your class.
Put the following line of code in your .m file, above the #implementation:
#interface CustomLayout () <UITextFieldDelegate>
#end
then, set the delegate in your UITextFields with:
nameField.delegate = self;
ageField.delegate = self;
sexField.delegate = self;
This way the textFieldShouldReturn: method will be called when the user presses 'enter'

Answer 3

A couple of things:
Given your delegate methods, I assume you've actually specified the delegate for your three UITextField controls to be the object in which you've implemented these various delegate methods.
If you want to control the behavior of the return key, implement the textFieldShouldReturn method:
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField
{
if (textField == self.nameField) {
[self.ageField becomeFirstResponder];
} else if (textField == self.ageField) {
[self.sexField becomeFirstResponder];
} else if (textField == self.sexField) {
[textField resignFirstResponder];
[self saveResults];
}
return NO;
}
I'd generally be inclined to do something like the above, where pressing return takes me to the next field, and pressing return on the last one dismisses the keyboard and tries to save the results.
BTW, in IB, I'd make sure that the "return key" setting for the first two control would be "Next", and for the last one, either "Go" or "Done".
Your save routine would simply populate an object with the contents of the three controls:
- (void)saveResults
{
Person *person = [[Person alloc] init];
person.name = self.nameField.text;
if (self.ageField.text) {
person.age = #([self.ageField.text integerValue]);
}
person.sex = self.sexField.text;
// now do whatever you want with this object
}
This obviously assumes that you have a Person class:
#interface Person : NSObject
#property (nonatomic, copy) NSString *name;
#property (nonatomic, strong) NSNumber *age;
#property (nonatomic, copy) NSString *sex;
#end
#implementation Person
#end
If you'd rather use a NSDictionary or NSArray, that's fine, too (make sure you check the text fields are not nil, though), though I personally prefer a well-defined model object like above.
As a refinement, you might want to make sure you only enter numeric values for age (if that's how you want to store the age):
- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string
{
if (textField == self.ageField) {
NSCharacterSet *invalid = [[NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:#"1234567890"] invertedSet];
NSRange range = [string rangeOfCharacterFromSet:invalid];
return range.location == NSNotFound; // if non-numeric character not found, return true
}
return YES;
}