UITextField inputView - Can the selected view reference the textfield? - ios

Question

If I have a set up like so:
- (void)textFieldDidBeginEditing:(UITextField* )textField {
if (textField.tag == 603) {
datePicker = [[UIDatePicker alloc]init];
[datePicker setDatePickerMode:UIDatePickerModeDate];
[datePicker setDate:[NSDate date]];
[datePicker addTarget:self action:#selector(showDate:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
textField.inputView = datePicker;
}
}
in the setDate method, can I reference which textField the UIPickerDate is the inputView of? That sounds confusing but like something like this:
- (void) showDate: (UIDatePicker*) myDatePicker {
NSDate* selected = [myDatePicker date];
NSString* date = [selected description];
myTextField = myDatePicker.view //I know this is not a property
}
kind of in the same sense that a UITapGestureRecognizer knows what view is calling it...
Explanation for Woz: I could but it would make the app less dynamic. This is a big form for the installation of medical devices. To create the form I store all the element properties in a dictionary (label, type (text, checkbox, segmented control), form section, etc.) and then each dict in an array in the proper order. I programatically build everything while in the array loop. I guess I could subclass UITextField...but you got to admit it would be nice to know which textfield initiated the inputView

Answer 1

I just subclassed UITextField and got it to work:
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
if (self) {
self.textColor = [colorManager setColor:66.0 :66.0 :66.0];
self.font = [UIFont fontWithName:#"Helvetica" size:18.0];
self.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
self.borderStyle = UITextBorderStyleRoundedRect;
self.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyDone;
self.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
datePicker = [[UIDatePicker alloc]init];
[datePicker setDatePickerMode:UIDatePickerModeDate];
[datePicker setDate:[NSDate date]];
[datePicker addTarget:self action:#selector(setDate:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
self.inputView = datePicker;
}
return self;
}
- (void) setDate : (UIDatePicker*) myDatePicker {
NSDateFormatter* myDateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[myDateFormatter setDateFormat:#"MM/dd/yyyy"];
NSString* dateString = [myDateFormatter stringFromDate:myDatePicker.date];
self.text = dateString;
}

Answer 2

The UITextField that triggered the UIDatePicker would be the current firstResponder. You can use this info to identify the textfield that is associated with the currently active UIDatePicker.

Answer 3

Add a tag to UIDatePicker and use the tag to find textField from view.
- (void)textFieldDidBeginEditing:(UITextField* )textField {
if (textField.tag == 603) {
datePicker = [[UIDatePicker alloc]init];
[datePicker setTag:textField.tag];
[datePicker setDatePickerMode:UIDatePickerModeDate];
[datePicker setDate:[NSDate date]];
[datePicker addTarget:self action:#selector(showDate:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
textField.inputView = datePicker;
}
}
- (void) showDate: (UIDatePicker*) myDatePicker {
NSDate* selected = [myDatePicker date];
NSString* date = [selected description];
UITextField *textField = (UITextField *)[self.view viewWithTag:myDatePicker.tag];
}