I am building a forms based application and i have noticed that while in the simulator using the hardware mac keyboard i am able to tab between form fields in a table using the standard tab key.
Is there a way i can call this functionality from my TextView when the didReturn method is fired? I have seen numerous threads on here with various ways to achieve something similar but they all seem overly complex and bulky using view tags for big loops which is not ideal compared to perhaps just firing a TAB keyboard command?
All you need to do is set a nextButton on your view, or inputAccessoryView for all the textFields and on selector of that button write code to make nextTextField a first responder.
By this way you can implement that tab feature. As you know there's no tab button on your iPhone ;).
You can do it via UITextField delegate method:
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField {
NSInteger nextTag = textField.tag+1;
UIResponder* nextResponder = [textField.superview viewWithTag:nextTag];
if (nextResponder) {
[nextResponder becomeFirstResponder];
}
else {
// Do what ever want to do for last textfield
[textField resignFirstResponder];
}
return NO;
}
Set you textfields tag, sequentially & set delegate. Pressing return key in for moving to next textfield.
Hope this helps.. :)
Related
When a UITextField is selected and has a keyboard shown, if I tap other parts of the view the keyboard disappears.
If I tap another UITextField, the keyboard stays up, the first textfield is deselected, and nothing happens. Then I need to tap on the other UITextFIeld again for selection to happen and a keyboard to appear.
Is there a way to make a second UITextField immediately accessible when a first UITextField is selected?
If you reload the tableview in textFieldDidEndEditing, you'll break selection in this way. Don't do that.
try it, press another view should call below fn.
-(void)disappearKey{
[self.view endEditing:YES];
}
after keyboard disappear, Tap any textfield, will appear keyboard.
First of all I think its a bug that the keyboard is not dismissed and opened again when tapping on another UITextField or UITextView. It should be reported and Apple should fix it.
Using the textfield delegate methods and registering for keyboard notification it should be possible to manually keep track if the user tapped on another textfield and the keyboard did not close and reopen. At the very least you should be able to detect when this is happening and close the keyboard manually by [textField resignFirstResponder];
The keyboard notification are as follows:
UIKeyboardWillShowNotification
UIKeyboardDidShowNotification
UIKeyboardWillHideNotification
UIKeyboardDidHideNotification
I'm''pretty sure you know the UITextfield and textview delegate methods
– textFieldShouldBeginEditing:
– textFieldDidBeginEditing:
– textFieldShouldEndEditing:
– textFieldDidEndEditing:
I am not in an active project at the moment so I'm not sure if I just ignored the problem but I can't recall this happening to me.
you can use BSKeyboardControls. just see the demo and decide to
use or not.
or you can do you have to set tag in sequence to the each textfield
in uiview. then use the below code.
-(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField*)textField
{
NSInteger nextTag = textField.tag + 1;
UIResponder* nextResponder = [textField.superview viewWithTag:nextTag];
if (nextResponder) {
[nextResponder becomeFirstResponder];
} else {
[textField resignFirstResponder];
}
return NO;
}
I am using a subclass of a scrollview that moves the keyboard out of the way. (TPKeyboardAvoidingScrollView)
I think this is conflicting with my implementation of the next and previous buttons. I have built an inputaccessoryview
I have a category that sets the next and previous textfields for each field
when i edit a textfield, i set the current, previous and next textfields
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField{
_currentTextField = textField;
_prevTextField = [textField prevTextField];
_nextTextField = [textField nextTextField];
return YES;
}
when they click next or previous i call this method
- (void)selectAdjacentResponder:(id)sender{
UISegmentedControl *segmented = sender;
if(segmented.selectedSegmentIndex == 0){
[_prevTextField becomeFirstResponder];
} else {
[_nextTextField becomeFirstResponder];
}
}
this works fine.. but when i close the keyboard. my scrollview is messed up. if i add the line
[_currentTextField resignFirstResponder];
to the first line of my selectadjacent method it solves the problem. but the problem is it makes the screen focus in a funky way since i'm dismissing and accessing the next textfield at the same time.
i have tried resigning first responder when i close the keyboard. but i think my scrollview is calculated before that point.. any idea what to do =/
i am using a uitableview with one section and five cells, and two different uitextfields on each tableCell.
my problem is: when a user tabs on first textfield on first table row, keyboard comes up, then the user taps on the second textfield. the keyboard DISMISS and SHOW.
so how can i keep the keyboard up instead of DISMISS and SHOW when the user switching focus on textfields?
thanks.
first edit:
sorry for the late response on this, the code is a bit complicated to show in here. i do not resignFirstResponder/becomeFirstResponder in any of the textField delegate methods. could you please throw in any ideas on top of your head. thanks for all your help.
second edit:
sorry for my bad mistake, i totally misunderstood my problem. i will relink the new post in here in a minute.
third edit:
this is my new question
This should work for you... Just a guess work from my side as you had not posted any code:
-(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField
{
if(textField == firstTextfield)
{
if([[firstTextfield stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]] length] == 0)
return NO;
[firstTextfield resignFirstResponder];
[secondTextField becomeFirstResponder];
return YES;
}
else if(textField == secondTextField)
{
//Anything u want here
return YES;
}
return NO;
}
Normally the keyboard doesn't dismiss on its own when you switch fields.
If you are using a textfield delegate and are responding to "editingDidEnd" by resigningFirstResponder, then you will see that behavior.
If that is the case, after you leave the field, it is calling one of the methods and resigning the keyboard, then when you touch the other field, it is calling the firstResponder.
So, look for some code where you are setting a textfield delegate to call one of the textfield selector methods. Find the method that is being called and see if it is resigingFirstResponder.
If it is, then you may need to remove it or wrap it in some appropriate logic.
I have a modal set up like this:
Despite appearances, the first two fields are UITextFields that become first responders and display the keyboard. The third 'Department' item is a table view and pushes another view.
I have implemented a scroll view so that while either of the fields is being edited, the user can scroll around and reach the department cell:
When it is selected, before the push, I would like to hide the keyboard. It's a small detail, but try adding a new event on Apple's 'Calendar' app. It opens with the first text field as first responder (so keyboard is present). If you select the start/end cell, the keyboard hides as the next view is pushed.
How do I achieve this? As a test I tried:
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
NSLog(#"hiding keyboard");
if ([ingredientName isFirstResponder]) {
NSLog(#"resigning name field");
[ingredientName resignFirstResponder];
}
else if ([ingredientAmount isFirstResponder]){
NSLog(#"resigning amount field");
[ingredientAmount resignFirstResponder];
}
}
The logging confirms that these are getting called. But the keyboard does not hide. It simply stays in place as the view slides out. And on return, the previous field still has focus (and the keyboard is out).
Any ideas?
resignFrstResponder will not dismiss the keyboard when you're using a modal view.
Another dev found a workaround for this behavior here: http://viraj-workstuff.blogspot.com/2010/12/resignfirstresponder-does-not-hide.html
Not terribly elegant, but try stealing the firstresponder status with an ad-hoc, invisible UITextField:
-(void)dismissKeyboard {
UITextField *textField;
textField=[[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];
[self.view addSubview:textField];
[textField becomeFirstResponder];
[textField resignFirstResponder];
[textField removeFromSuperview];
// [textField release] // uncomment if not using ARC
}
Two things:
Are you using a segue for pushing that other VC? If so, resign the keyboard in the prepareForSegue method.
If not, try using willSelectRowForIndexPath instead of didSelectRowAtIndexPath
Is there a way (either in IB or code) to set the tab order between text fields in a view?
Note that I'm not talking about the next form field after the return (or "Next") button is pressed -- many bluetooth keyboards have a tab key, which seems to cycle through the fields in completely different order. In my particular case, this order doesn't correspond to the fields' position in the view or even the order in which the fields were added. Modifying the xib file by hand to change the NSNextKeyView doesn't seem to make a difference either.
Does anyone know how to change this order?
#sprocket's answer was only somewhat helpful. Just because something works out of the box doesn't mean you should stop thinking about a better way -- or even the right way -- of doing something. As he noticed the behavior is undocumented but fits our needs most of the time.
This wasn't enough for me though. Think of a RTL language and tabs would still tab left-to-right, not to mention the behavior is entirely different from simulator to device (device doesn't focus the first input upon tab). Most importantly though, Apple's undocumented implementation seems to only consider views currently installed in the view hierarchy.
Think of a form in form of (no pun intended) a table view. Each cell holds a single control, hence not all form elements may be visible at the same time. Apple would just cycle back up once you reached the bottommost (on screen!) control, instead of scrolling further down. This behavior is most definitely not what we desire.
So here's what I've come up with. Your form should be managed by a view controller, and view controllers are part of the responder chain. So you're perfectly free to implement the following methods:
#pragma mark - Key Commands
- (NSArray *)keyCommands
{
static NSArray *commands;
static dispatch_once_t once;
dispatch_once(&once, ^{
UIKeyCommand *const forward = [UIKeyCommand keyCommandWithInput:#"\t" modifierFlags:0 action:#selector(tabForward:)];
UIKeyCommand *const backward = [UIKeyCommand keyCommandWithInput:#"\t" modifierFlags:UIKeyModifierShift action:#selector(tabBackward:)];
commands = #[forward, backward];
});
return commands;
}
- (void)tabForward:(UIKeyCommand *)command
{
NSArray *const controls = self.controls;
UIResponder *firstResponder = nil;
for (UIResponder *const responder in controls) {
if (firstResponder != nil && responder.canBecomeFirstResponder) {
[responder becomeFirstResponder]; return;
}
else if (responder.isFirstResponder) {
firstResponder = responder;
}
}
[controls.firstObject becomeFirstResponder];
}
- (void)tabBackward:(UIKeyCommand *)command
{
NSArray *const controls = self.controls;
UIResponder *firstResponder = nil;
for (UIResponder *const responder in controls.reverseObjectEnumerator) {
if (firstResponder != nil && responder.canBecomeFirstResponder) {
[responder becomeFirstResponder]; return;
}
else if (responder.isFirstResponder) {
firstResponder = responder;
}
}
[controls.lastObject becomeFirstResponder];
}
Additional logic for scrolling offscreen responders visible beforehand may apply.
Another advantage of this approach is that you don't need to subclass all kinds of controls you may want to display (like UITextFields) but can instead manage the logic at controller level, where, let's be honest, is the right place to do so.
I'm interested in solving the same problem, although so far the default order, which appears to be left to right, then top to bottom, is the one I want.
I tested the hypothesis that the cursor moves in depth-first order through the tree of subviews and superview, but that is not true. Changing the order of subviews without changing their location didn't change the order of fields traversed by tab presses.
One possibly useful feature is that the text field delegate's textFieldShouldBeginEditing method appears to be called for every text field in the application's window. If that returns NO, then the text field won't be chosen, so if you can define your desired order and make only the right one return YES, that might solve your problem.
This is how you set the tab order on iOS:
http://weaklyreferenced.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/responding-to-the-tab-and-shift-tab-keys-on-ios-5-ios-6-with-an-external-keyboard/
The Tab key behaviour in ios will be as follows:-
when u press tab on external keyboard- the control traverses across all the textfields in that screen by calling only shouldBeginEditing method where its return value is also determined by Apple which cant be override.
After scanning all the fields it calculates nearest x positioned Textfield relative to view offset from the current Textfield and then nearest Y Positioned Field.
Also can't be done anything until control comes to textFieldDidBeginEditing method.
Reason for apple's restriction might be to let devs to follow the guidelines of UI where next responder of field should be it's closest positioned Field rather than any other field .
Register a UIKeyCommand to detect the tab key pressed. I did this in my current view controller.
self.addKeyCommand(UIKeyCommand(input: "\t", modifierFlags: [], action: #selector(tabKeyPressed)))
Inside the key tabKeyPressed handler find your current active field then set your next responder. orderedTextFields is an array of UITextField in the tab order I want.
func tabKeyPressed(){
let activeField = getActiveField()
if(activeField == nil){
return
}
let nextResponder = getNextTextField(activeField!)
nextResponder?.becomeFirstResponder()
}
func getActiveField() -> UITextField? {
for textField in orderedTextFields {
if(textField.isFirstResponder()){
return textField
}
}
return nil
}
func getNextTextField(current: UITextField) -> UITextField? {
let index = orderedTextField.indexOf(current)
if(orderedTextField.count-1 <= index!){
return nil
}
return orderedTextField[index! + 1]
}
You can do this by setting the tag for each textfield and handling this in the textfieldShouldReturn method.
See this blogpost about it:
http://iphoneincubator.com/blog/windows-views/how-to-create-a-data-entry-screen
The only way I've found to uniquely detect a Tab keystroke from a physical keyboard, is implementing the UIKeyInput protocol's insertText: method on a custom object that canBecomeFirstResponder.
- (void)insertText:(NSString *)text {
NSLog(#"text is equal to tab character: %i", [text isEqualToString:#"\t"]);
}
I didn't get this to work while subclassing UITextField, unfortunately, as UITextField won't allow the insertText: protocol method to get called.
Might help you on the way, though..
I solved this by subclassing UITextField as NextableTextField. That subclass has a property of class UITextField with IBOutlet a hookup.
Build the interface in IB. Set the class of your text field to NextableTextField. Use the connections Inspector to drag a connection to the 'next' field you want to tab to.
In your text field delegate class, add this delegate method...
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *) textField
{
BOOL didResign = [textField resignFirstResponder];
if (!didResign) return NO;
if ([textField isKindOfClass:[NextableTextField class]])
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_current_queue(), ^{ [[(NextableTextField *)textField nextField] becomeFirstResponder]; });
return YES;
}
BTW - I didn't come up with this; just remember seeing someone else's idea.