Changing UITextField Placeholder font - ios

Question

I'm changing the placeholder text color with the following code, but when I try to add NSFontAttribute I get the compiler error "too many arguments to method call, expect 2 have 3"
UIColor *color = [UIColor blackColor];
_nameField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:#"Your Name" attributes:#{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color},#{NSFontAttributeName:#"Roboto-Bold"}];
This Works Fine:
UIColor *color = [UIColor blackColor];
_nameField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:#"Your Name" attributes:#{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color}];

Answer 1

Objective-C:
UIColor *color = [UIColor blackColor];
someUITextField.attributedPlaceholder =
[[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:#"Placeholder Text"
attributes:#{
NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color,
NSFontAttributeName : [UIFont fontWithName:#"Roboto-Bold" size:17.0]
}
];
(There are no brackets between literal dictionary key-value pairs.)
Swift:
let attributes = [
NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.blackColor(),
NSFontAttributeName : UIFont(name: "Roboto-Bold", size: 17)! // Note the !
]
someUITextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder Text", attributes:attributes)

Answer 2

Update for Swift 4.x:
textField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder Text", attributes: [
.foregroundColor: UIColor.lightGray,
.font: UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 14.0)
])

Answer 3

For the convenience of swift people:
someTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "someString",
attributes:[NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.lightGrayColor(), NSFontAttributeName: PlaceHolderFont])

Answer 4

You should subclass UITextField, and override the method of：
- (void)drawPlaceholderInRect:(CGRect)rect;
Here is the implementation below:
- (void)drawPlaceholderInRect:(CGRect)rect {
NSDictionary *attributes = #{
NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor lightGrayColor],
NSFontAttributeName : [UIFont italicSystemFontOfSize:self.font.pointSize]
};
// center vertically
CGSize textSize = [self.placeholder sizeWithAttributes:attributes];
CGFloat hdif = rect.size.height - textSize.height;
hdif = MAX(0, hdif);
rect.origin.y += ceil(hdif/2.0);
[[self placeholder] drawInRect:rect withAttributes:attributes];
}
For more you can find click here

Answer 5

Appreciate #ddevaz answer.
UITextField Subclass solution
Above answer works perfect for UITextField. But when i use UITextField subclass and try to execute this method in it. Then its not working.
I found other solution only when you subclass UITextField. Override below method in your UITextField subclass and it will do job for you.
- (void) drawPlaceholderInRect:(CGRect)rect {
NSDictionary *attrDictionary = #{
NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor lightGrayColor],
NSFontAttributeName : [UIFont fontWithName:#"Menlo" size:17.0]
};
[[self placeholder] drawInRect:rect withAttributes:attrDictionary];
}

Answer 6

Working version for Swift 4
let attributes = [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.black,
.font : UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 14, weight: .regular)]
someTextfield.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder text", attributes:attributes)

Answer 7

Update for Swift 4
let attributes = [
NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: .black,
NSAttributedStringKey.font : UIFont(name: "Your font name", size: 14)!
]
someTextfield.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder text", attributes:attributes)

Answer 8

Update for Swift 4.2 +
let attributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.black,
.font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 14)]
searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder text",
attributes: attributes)
Reference for more attribute Keys - NSAttributedString.Key

Answer 9

If you want to support both iOS 6 and previous versions then:
UIColor *placeholderColor = [UIColor lightTextColor];
UIFont *placeholderFont = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:[UIFont systemFontSize]];
if ([textField respondsToSelector:#selector(attributedPlaceholder)]) {
#ifdef __IPHONE_6_0
textField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc]
initWithString:textField.placeholder attributes: // NOTE: textField.placeholder can't be nil
#{ NSForegroundColorAttributeName : placeholderColor,
NSFontAttributeName : placeholderFont }];
#endif
} else { // for pre-iOS6
[textField setValue:placeholderColor forKeyPath:#"_placeholderLabel.textColor"];
[textField setValue:placeholderFont forKeyPath:#"_placeholderLabel.font"];
}

Answer 10

You can use below code
First find name of system accepted font for your Custom font
for (NSString *familyName in [UIFont familyNames]) {
for (NSString *fontName in [UIFont fontNamesForFamilyName:familyName]) {
NSLog(#"%#", fontName);
}
}
and then use below code make your placeholder with custom font
searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:#"Where are you shopping?" attributes:#{NSFontAttributeName : font }];
Else there can be chance to get nil object[1] for font not found

Answer 11

let attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey : Any] = [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.black,
NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "Menlo", size: 17.0) ?? UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 17.0) ]
textField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder Text", attributes: attributes)
Note: when we use UIFont(name: "Menlo", size: 17.0) method, if the font name can't get it in ios , so it will be nil, so we need to provide the default font. It was explained above.
You can use below code First find name of system accepted font for your Custom font
for (NSString *familyName in [UIFont familyNames]) {
for (NSString *fontName in [UIFont fontNamesForFamilyName:familyName]) {
NSLog(#"%#", fontName);
}
}

Answer 12

Swift 4: Placeholder Color change using UITextField subclass
override func drawPlaceholder(in rect: CGRect) {
let color = UIColor(red: 210/255, green: 210/255, blue: 210/255, alpha: 1.0)
if (placeholder?.responds(to: #selector(NSString.draw(in:withAttributes:))))! {
let fontS = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 12)
let attributes = [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: color, NSAttributedStringKey.font: fontS] as [NSAttributedStringKey : Any]
let boundingRect: CGRect = placeholder!.boundingRect(with: rect.size, options: [], attributes: attributes, context: nil)
placeholder?.draw(at: CGPoint(x: 0, y: (rect.size.height / 2) - boundingRect.size.height / 2), withAttributes: attributes)
}
}

Answer 13

if you have problem same me. I solve by set Font because some time font can't change when set Font in stroryboard or set in self.emailTextField.placeholder .
self.emailTextField.font = UIFont(..custom you font....)

Answer 14

You can change the font size of the text and placeholder by simply doing this.
field.font = .systemFont(ofSize: 16)