Create universal search textfield (google and url) in iOS 7 - ios

Question

How do we create a universal search textfield like in iOS 7 safari. I know how to create a Google search field, but how can I create one textfield which has both Google search and URL search.
Google Searchfield:
-(void)SearchButtonClicked {
NSString *query = [maintext.text stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#" " withString:#"+"];
NSString *urlString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", query];
// remember to change the view controller class in storyboard
MyWebViewController *webViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"WebView"];
// urlString is a public property on MyWebViewController
webViewController.urlString = urlString;
[self presentViewController:webViewController animated:YES completion:nil];
}
- (IBAction)SearchButton:(id)sender {
NSString *query = [maintext.text stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#" " withString:#"+"];
NSString *urlString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"http://www.google.com/search?q=%#", query];
// remember to change the view controller class in storyboard
MyWebViewController *webViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"WebView"];
// urlString is a public property on MyWebViewController
webViewController.urlString = urlString;
[self presentViewController:webViewController animated:YES completion:nil];
}
My Webview controller:
#import "MyWebViewController.h"
#import "ViewController.h"
#import <Social/Social.h>
#import "SIAlertView.h"
#import "TTAlertView.h"
#import "ETActivityIndicatorView.h"
#implementation MyWebViewController {
}
#synthesize searchField;
#synthesize webView;
ETActivityIndicatorView * etActivity;
- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewWillAppear:animated];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:self.urlString];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
[self.webView loadRequest:request];
}
-(void)webView:(UIWebView *)webBlog didFailLoadWithError:(NSError *)error{
if ([error code] != -999) {
NSLog(#"Could not load the dumb webPage");
//show error alert, etc.
TTAlertView *alert = [[TTAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:#"Internet Error"
message:#"Searched cannot open the page because your iPhone is not connected to the internet."
delegate:self
cancelButtonTitle:#"Dismiss"
otherButtonTitles:nil];
[alert show];
[etActivity setHidden:YES];
}else{
NSLog(#"Could not load the dumb web page...just might blame user!");
}
}
//Called whenever the view starts loading something
- (void)webViewDidStartLoad:(UIWebView *)webView {
[etActivity startAnimating];
[etActivity setHidden:NO];
}
//Called whenever the view finished loading something
- (void)webViewDidFinishLoad:(UIWebView *)webView {
[etActivity stopAnimating];
[etActivity setHidden:YES];
}
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
[webView setDelegate:self];
self.searchField.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:255.0/255 green:255.0/255 blue:255.0/255 alpha:1.0f];
self.searchField.layer.cornerRadius = 3.0f;
self.searchField.placeholder = #"Search or enter address";
self.searchField.leftViewMode = UITextFieldViewModeAlways;
UIView* leftView1 = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 10, 10)];
self.searchField.leftView = leftView1;
//Setup handling of LEFT and RIGHT swipes
UISwipeGestureRecognizer *recognizer;
recognizer = [[UISwipeGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:#selector(handleSwipeFrom:)];
[recognizer setDirection:(UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirectionRight)];
[[self view] addGestureRecognizer:recognizer];
recognizer = [[UISwipeGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:#selector(handleSwipeFrom:)];
[recognizer setDirection:(UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirectionLeft)];
[[self view] addGestureRecognizer:recognizer];
self.searchField.delegate = self;
//ETActivityIndicatorView
etActivity = [[ETActivityIndicatorView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, 60.0f, 60.0f)];
etActivity.center=self.view.center;
//you can set your custom color for ETActivityIndicatorView
etActivity.color = [UIColor colorWithRed:13.0/255 green:136.0/255 blue:236.0/255 alpha:1.0f];
[self.view addSubview:etActivity];
}
-(void)handleSwipeFrom:(UISwipeGestureRecognizer *)recognizer {
if (recognizer.direction == UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirectionRight) {
NSLog(#"Swipe Right");
[webView goBack];
}
if (recognizer.direction == UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirectionLeft) {
NSLog(#"Swipe Left");
[webView goForward];
}
}
#pragma mark - RNGridMenuDelegate
- (void)gridMenu:(RNGridMenu *)gridMenu willDismissWithSelectedItem:(RNGridMenuItem *)item atIndex:(NSInteger)itemIndex {
if (itemIndex == 0) {
NSLog(#"Reload");
[self.webView reload];
}
if (itemIndex == 1) {
NSLog(#"Facebook");
if([SLComposeViewController isAvailableForServiceType:SLServiceTypeFacebook]) //check if Facebook Account is linked
{
mySLComposerSheet = [[SLComposeViewController alloc] init]; //initiate the Social Controller
mySLComposerSheet = [SLComposeViewController composeViewControllerForServiceType:SLServiceTypeFacebook]; //Tell him with what social plattform to use it, e.g. facebook or twitter
[mySLComposerSheet setInitialText:[NSString stringWithFormat:#""]]; //the message you want to post
[self presentViewController:mySLComposerSheet animated:YES completion:nil];
}
[mySLComposerSheet setCompletionHandler:^(SLComposeViewControllerResult result) {
switch (result) {
case SLComposeViewControllerResultCancelled:
break;
case SLComposeViewControllerResultDone:
break;
default:
break;
} //check if everything worked properly. Give out a message on the state.
}];
}
if (itemIndex == 2) {
if ([SLComposeViewController isAvailableForServiceType:SLServiceTypeTwitter])
{
SLComposeViewController *tweetSheet = [SLComposeViewController
composeViewControllerForServiceType:SLServiceTypeTwitter];
[tweetSheet setInitialText:#""];
[self presentViewController:tweetSheet animated:YES completion:nil];
}
}
if (itemIndex == 3) {
NSLog(#"Home");
MyWebViewController *MainView = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"MainView"];
[self presentViewController:MainView animated:NO completion:nil];
}
}
- (void)showList {
NSInteger numberOfOptions = 4;
NSArray *options = #[
#"Reload",
#"Facebook",
#"Twitter",
#"Home",
];
RNGridMenu *av = [[RNGridMenu alloc] initWithTitles:[options subarrayWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, numberOfOptions)]];
av.delegate = self;
av.itemFont = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:18];
av.itemSize = CGSizeMake(150, 55);
[av showInViewController:self center:CGPointMake(self.view.bounds.size.width/2.f, self.view.bounds.size.height/2.f)];
}
- (IBAction)onShowButton:(id)sender {
[self showList];
}
![enter image description here][1]

Answer 1

Google Chrome assumes the typed text is a URL in these cases:
Text contains no whitespaces (One word):
Starts with a valid and accepted URI scheme (Like http, https, and ftp).
Starts with a forward slash (/).
Ends with a valid TLD (See 1, 2, 3).
Ends with a forward slash (/).
Known hostnames (Like localhost).
Valid IP addresses.
Text contains whitespaces (Multiple words):
Starts with a forward slash (/).
Text contains a question mark (?) and the part before it can be assumed a URL.
In all other cases you can safely assume the typed text is a search term.
This isn't a complete list of rules, but I think it's more than enough for regular usage.
Main reference: Chromium - Omnibox design principles.
Update:
Here are some hints to help you convert the previous rules to a working code (the order is important):
(Rule 3) Replace the part of text that matches this regular expression:
\?.*$
with empty string #"", and then apply other rules.
(Rules 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, and 2.1) Match against this regular expression:
^((\/)|((https?|ftp):\S+$)|(\S+\/$)|(localhost$))
(Rule 1.3) You can collect some popular TLDs from the links above and form a one regular expression from them like this:
\S+\.(com|net|org|....)$
(Rule 1.6) Match against this regular expression:
^(([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\.){3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9‌​]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])$

Answer 2

Use this code. This basically checks the text entered into the textfield. If it's a complete url, then it redirects directly to it else the text entered is searched on google.
- (IBAction)SearchButton:(id)sender
{
MyWebViewController *webViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"WebView"];
NSString *urlString = maintext.text;
if([urlString rangeOfString:#"//"].location == NSNotFound)
{
// to resolve a url according to rfc 1808 (the most common form of URL), it must contain '//' in it.
// appending '//' in the url string to check for valid url
urlString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"//%#", urlString];
}
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:urlString];
if(url && (url.scheme || url.host) && ([urlString rangeOfString:#"."].location != NSNotFound))
{
// url is valid, it contains domain and host
webViewController.urlString = maintext.text;
}
else
{
NSString *query = [maintext.text stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#" " withString:#"+"];
NSString *urlString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"http://www.google.com/search?q=%#", query];
// urlString is a public property on MyWebViewController
webViewController.urlString = urlString;
}
[self presentViewController:webViewController animated:YES completion:nil];
}
For, extra checks, you can also check that the url is valid or not like pinging to it and checking for it whether it responds or not.

Answer 3

You can create a category:
#interface NSString (NSStringValidator)
- (BOOL)isValidEmail;
- (BOOL)isValidURL;
#end
#implementation NSString (NSStringValidator)
- (BOOL)isValidEmail {
NSString *regExpPattern = #"\\b([a-zA-Z0-9%_.+\\-]+)#([a-zA-Z0-9.\\-]+?\\.[a-zA-Z]{2,6})\\b";
NSError *errorNext = NULL;
NSRegularExpression *regexNext = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:regExpPattern
options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive
error:&errorNext];
NSRange range = [regexNext rangeOfFirstMatchInString:self
options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive
range:NSMakeRange(0, self.length)];
return NSEqualRanges(range, NSMakeRange(0, self.length));
}
- (BOOL)isValidURL {
NSString *regExpPattern = #"(?i)(?:(?:https?):\\/\\/)?(?:\\S+(?::\\S*)?#)?(?:(?:[1-9]\\d?|1\\d\\d|2[01]\\d|22[0-3])(?:\\.(?:1?\\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-5])){2}(?:\\.(?:[1-9]\\d?|1\\d\\d|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-4]))|(?:(?:[a-z\\u00a1-\\uffff0-9]+-?)*[a-z\\u00a1-\\uffff0-9]+)(?:\\.(?:[a-z\\u00a1-\\uffff0-9]+-?)*[a-z\\u00a1-\\uffff0-9]+)*(?:\\.(?:[a-z\\u00a1-\\uffff]{2,})))(?::\\d{2,5})?(?:\\/[^\\s]*)?";
NSError *errorNext = NULL;
NSRegularExpression *regexNext = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:regExpPattern
options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive
error:&errorNext];
NSRange range = [regexNext rangeOfFirstMatchInString:self
options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive
range:NSMakeRange(0, self.length)];
return NSEqualRanges(range, NSMakeRange(0, self.length));
}
#end
Then call category method:
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)theTextField
{
[theTextField resignFirstResponder];
if (theTextField.text.isValidURL) {
//open site
} else {
//search text
}
return YES;
}