Enable copy and paste on UITextField without making it editable - ios

Question

I want the text in a UITextField (or ideally, a UILabel) to be non-editable, but at the same time give the user the ability to copy it to paste elsewhere.

Answer 1

My final solution was the following:
I created a subclass of UILabel (UITextField should work the same) that displays a UIMenuController after being tapped. CopyableLabel.m looks like this:
#implementation CopyableLabel
- (BOOL)canPerformAction:(SEL)action withSender:(id)sender {
if(action == #selector(copy:)) {
return YES;
}
else {
return [super canPerformAction:action withSender:sender];
}
}
- (BOOL)canBecomeFirstResponder {
return YES;
}
- (BOOL)becomeFirstResponder {
if([super becomeFirstResponder]) {
self.highlighted = YES;
return YES;
}
return NO;
}
- (void)copy:(id)sender {
UIPasteboard *board = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard];
[board setString:self.text];
self.highlighted = NO;
[self resignFirstResponder];
}
- (void)touchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
if([self isFirstResponder]) {
self.highlighted = NO;
UIMenuController *menu = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];
[menu setMenuVisible:NO animated:YES];
[menu update];
[self resignFirstResponder];
}
else if([self becomeFirstResponder]) {
UIMenuController *menu = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];
[menu setTargetRect:self.bounds inView:self];
[menu setMenuVisible:YES animated:YES];
}
}
#end

Answer 2

This question is pretty old and I'm surprised nobody has posted a solution without subclassing. The idea presented in #mrueg's answer is correct, but you shouldn't need to subclass anything. I just came across this problem and solved it like this:
In my view controller:
- (void)viewDidLoad {
self.textField.delegate = self;
self.textField.text = #"Copyable, non-editable string.";
}
- (BOOL)canBecomeFirstResponder {
return YES;
}
- (void)copyTextFieldContent:(id)sender {
UIPasteboard* pb = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard];
pb.string = self.textField.text;
}
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField {
// UIKit changes the first responder after this method, so we need to show the copy menu after this method returns.
dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(0.3*NSEC_PER_SEC)), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
[self becomeFirstResponder];
UIMenuController* menuController = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];
UIMenuItem* copyItem = [[UIMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Copy"
action:#selector(copyTextFieldContent:)];
menuController.menuItems = #[copyItem];
CGRect selectionRect = textField.frame;
[menuController setTargetRect:selectionRect inView:self.view];
[menuController setMenuVisible:YES animated:YES];
});
return NO;
}
If you want to make this work for a UILabel, it should work the same way with just adding a tap gesture recognizer instead of using the delegate method.

Answer 3

This will do everything you need. Will be copyable. But not editable, and won't show a keyboard or a cursor.
class ViewController: UIViewController {
#IBOutlet weak var copyableUneditableTextfield: UITextField!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
copyableUneditableTextfield.delegate = self
copyableUneditableTextfield.inputView = UIView() //prevents keyboard
copyableUneditableTextfield.tintColor = .clear //prevents cursor
copyableUneditableTextfield.text = "Some Text You Want User To Copy But Not Edit"
}
}
extension ViewController: UITextFieldDelegate {
func textField(_ textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {
return false //prevents editing
}
}

Answer 4

Try UITextView instead (I suspect it would work like a UILabel for you). I tested this with its editable property set to NO, and double-tapping-to-copy worked for me.

Answer 5

Another solution is keeping the UITextField enabled but programmatically preventing it from being edited. This is done with the following delegate method:
- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string
{
return NO;
}
I'm not aware of possible limitations though, currently suits my needs.

Answer 6

The following code saved me.
textField.addTarget(target, action: "textFieldEditingDidEndAction:", forControlEvents: [.EditingDidEnd])
It seems Paste is a single and complete edit event.