Reputation:
Placeholder in UITextView
My application uses an UITextView. Now I want the UITextView to have a placeholder similar to the one you can set for an UITextField.
How to do this?
Upvotes: 754
Views: 392689
Answers (30)
Reputation: 12908
I recommend to use SZTextView.
https://github.com/glaszig/SZTextView
Add your default UITextView from storyboard and then change its custom class to SZTextView like below
Then you will see two new option in the Attribute Inspector
Upvotes: 22
Reputation: 425
After going through all answers, I realised I need something simple, and at the same time reusable so that I can add the same functionality to all UITextViews in my project. And I ended up with the following code:
extension UITextView {
// MARK: TextView PlaceHolderLabel Setup
func createPlaceHolderLabel(with text: String) {
let lbl = UILabel()
self.addSubview(lbl)
// Add your constraints here
lbl.text = text
lbl.textColor = .lightGray
}
// My Textview contains only one UILabel, and for my use case the below code works, tweak it according to your use case
// Lastly two methods to toggle between show and hide the placeholder label
func hidePlaceHolderLabel() {
guard let lbl = self.subviews.first(where: { $0 is UILabel }) else { return }
lbl.isHidden = true
}
func showPlaceHolderLabel() {
guard let lbl = self.subviews.first(where: { $0 is UILabel }) else { return }
lbl.isHidden = false
}
}
When UILabel is added as subView to UITextView, textView cursor position and UILabel position will mismatch, for that reason leave one space before your placeholder text
class ViewController: UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {
var textView: UITextView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
view.addSubview(textView)
// Also setup textView constraints as per your need
// Add placeholder to your textView
// Leave one space before placeholder string
textView.createPlaceHolderLabel(with: " Address")
textView.delegate = self
}
Then in textViewdidChange method add the following code
func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
if textView.text.isEmpty {
textView.showPlaceHolderLabel()
} else {
textView.hidePlaceHolderLabel()
}
}
It can be reused across all UITextViews.
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 4075
One more simple answer for this, using CATextLayer.
Add CATextLayer to UITextView's layer.
With UITextViewDelegate methods, simply change colour of CATextLayer.
func txtViewPlaceholder() {
let textlayer = CATextLayer()
textlayer.frame = CGRect(x: 5, y: 5, width: 200, height: 18)
textlayer.contentsScale = UIScreen.main.scale
textlayer.fontSize = 12
textlayer.alignmentMode = kCAAlignmentLeft
textlayer.string = "Enter here"
textlayer.isWrapped = true
textlayer.name = "placeholder"
textlayer.backgroundColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
textlayer.foregroundColor = UIColor.black.cgColor
yourTxtVw.layer.insertSublayer(textlayer, at: 0)
}
func removeAddPlaceholder(remove: Bool, textView: UITextView) {
for layers in textView.layer.sublayers! where layers.name == "placeholder" {
if remove {
(layers as! CATextLayer).foregroundColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
} else {
(layers as! CATextLayer).foregroundColor = UIColor.black.cgColor
}
}
}
extension YourViewController : UITextViewDelegate {
func textViewShouldBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) -> Bool {
removeAddPlaceholder(remove: true, textView: textView)
return true
}
func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
if textView.text.count <= 0 {
removeAddPlaceholder(remove: false, textView: textView)
}
}
}
Upvotes: 3
Reputation: 3742
Based on some of the great suggestions here already, I was able to put together the following lightweight, Interface-Builder-compatible subclass of UITextView, which:
- Includes configurable placeholder text, styled just like that of
UITextField. - Doesn't require any additional subviews or constraints.
- Doesn't require any delegation or other behaviour from the ViewController.
- Doesn't require any notifications.
- Keeps that text fully separated from any outside classes looking at the field's
textproperty.
Improvement suggestions are welcome.
Edit 1: Updated to reset placeholder formatting if actual text is set programmatically.
Edit 2: The placeholder text color can now be retrieved programmatically.
Swift v5:
import UIKit
@IBDesignable class TextViewWithPlaceholder: UITextView {
override var text: String! { // Ensures that the placeholder text is never returned as the field's text
get {
if showingPlaceholder {
return "" // When showing the placeholder, there's no real text to return
} else { return super.text }
}
set {
if showingPlaceholder {
removePlaceholderFormatting() // If the placeholder text is what's being changed, it's no longer the placeholder
}
super.text = newValue
}
}
@IBInspectable var placeholderText: String = ""
@IBInspectable var placeholderTextColor: UIColor = .placeholderText
private var showingPlaceholder: Bool = true // Keeps track of whether the field is currently showing a placeholder
override func didMoveToWindow() {
super.didMoveToWindow()
if text.isEmpty {
showPlaceholderText() // Load up the placeholder text when first appearing, but not if coming back to a view where text was already entered
}
}
override public func becomeFirstResponder() -> Bool {
// If the current text is the placeholder, remove it
if showingPlaceholder {
text = nil
removePlaceholderFormatting()
}
return super.becomeFirstResponder()
}
override public func resignFirstResponder() -> Bool {
// If there's no text, put the placeholder back
if text.isEmpty {
showPlaceholderText()
}
return super.resignFirstResponder()
}
private func showPlaceholderText() {
text = placeholderText
showingPlaceholder = true
textColor = placeholderTextColor
}
private func removePlaceholderFormatting() {
showingPlaceholder = false
textColor = nil // Put the text back to the default, unmodified color
}
}
Upvotes: 6
Reputation: 81
TextView PlaceHolder In swift
import UIKit
@IBDesignable
open class KMPlaceholderTextView: UITextView {
private struct Constants {
static let defaultiOSPlaceholderColor = UIColor(red: 0.0, green: 0.0, blue: 0.0980392, alpha: 0.22)
}
public let placeholderLabel: UILabel = UILabel()
private var placeholderLabelConstraints = [NSLayoutConstraint]()
@IBInspectable open var placeholder: String = "" {
didSet {
placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
}
}
@IBInspectable open var placeholderColor: UIColor = KMPlaceholderTextView.Constants.defaultiOSPlaceholderColor {
didSet {
placeholderLabel.textColor = placeholderColor
}
}
override open var font: UIFont! {
didSet {
if placeholderFont == nil {
placeholderLabel.font = font
}
}
}
open var placeholderFont: UIFont? {
didSet {
let font = (placeholderFont != nil) ? placeholderFont : self.font
placeholderLabel.font = font
}
}
override open var textAlignment: NSTextAlignment {
didSet {
placeholderLabel.textAlignment = textAlignment
}
}
override open var text: String! {
didSet {
textDidChange()
}
}
override open var attributedText: NSAttributedString! {
didSet {
textDidChange()
}
}
override open var textContainerInset: UIEdgeInsets {
didSet {
updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel()
}
}
override public init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
commonInit()
}
required public init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
commonInit()
}
private func commonInit() {
#if swift(>=4.2)
let notificationName = UITextView.textDidChangeNotification
#else
let notificationName = NSNotification.Name.UITextView.textDidChangeNotification
#endif
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
selector: #selector(textDidChange),
name: notificationName,
object: nil)
placeholderLabel.font = font
placeholderLabel.textColor = placeholderColor
placeholderLabel.textAlignment = textAlignment
placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
placeholderLabel.numberOfLines = 0
placeholderLabel.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear
placeholderLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
addSubview(placeholderLabel)
updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel()
}
private func updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel() {
var newConstraints = NSLayoutConstraint.constraints(withVisualFormat: "H:|-(\(textContainerInset.left + textContainer.lineFragmentPadding))-[placeholder]",
options: [],
metrics: nil,
views: ["placeholder": placeholderLabel])
newConstraints += NSLayoutConstraint.constraints(withVisualFormat: "V:|-(\(textContainerInset.top))-[placeholder]",
options: [],
metrics: nil,
views: ["placeholder": placeholderLabel])
newConstraints.append(NSLayoutConstraint(
item: placeholderLabel,
attribute: .width,
relatedBy: .equal,
toItem: self,
attribute: .width,
multiplier: 1.0,
constant: -(textContainerInset.left + textContainerInset.right + textContainer.lineFragmentPadding * 2.0)
))
removeConstraints(placeholderLabelConstraints)
addConstraints(newConstraints)
placeholderLabelConstraints = newConstraints
}
@objc private func textDidChange() {
placeholderLabel.isHidden = !text.isEmpty
self.layoutIfNeeded()
}
open override func layoutSubviews() {
super.layoutSubviews()
placeholderLabel.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = textContainer.size.width - textContainer.lineFragmentPadding * 2.0
}
deinit {
#if swift(>=4.2)
let notificationName = UITextView.textDidChangeNotification
#else
let notificationName = NSNotification.Name.UITextView.textDidChangeNotification
#endif
NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self,
name: notificationName,
object: nil)
}
}
Usage
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 408
In swift 5. Works fine.
class BaseTextView: UITextView {
// MARK: - Views
private var placeholderLabel: UIlabel!
// MARK: - Init
override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
setupUI()
startupSetup()
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
setupUI()
startupSetup()
}
deinit {
NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self)
}
}
// MARK: - Setup UI
private extension BaseTextView {
func setupUI() {
addPlaceholderLabel()
textColor = .textColor
}
func addPlaceholderLabel() {
placeholderLabel = BaseLabel(frame: .zero)
placeholderLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
insertSubview(placeholderLabel, at: 0)
placeholderLabel.alpha = 0
placeholderLabel.numberOfLines = 0
placeholderLabel.backgroundColor = .clear
placeholderLabel.textColor = .lightTextColor
placeholderLabel.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
placeholderLabel.isUserInteractionEnabled = false
placeholderLabel.font = UIFont.openSansSemibold.withSize(12)
placeholderLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: topAnchor, constant: 8).isActive = true
placeholderLabel.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: leftAnchor, constant: 5).isActive = true
placeholderLabel.rightAnchor.constraint(lessThanOrEqualTo: rightAnchor, constant: -8).isActive = true
placeholderLabel.bottomAnchor.constraint(lessThanOrEqualTo: bottomAnchor, constant: -8).isActive = true
}
}
// MARK: - Startup
private extension BaseTextView {
func startupSetup() {
addObservers()
textChanged(nil)
font = UIFont.openSansSemibold.withSize(12)
}
func addObservers() {
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(textChanged(_:)), name: UITextView.textDidChangeNotification, object: nil)
}
}
// MARK: - Actions
private extension BaseTextView {
@objc func textChanged(_ sender: Notification?) {
UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.2) {
self.placeholderLabel.alpha = self.text.count == 0 ? 1 : 0
}
}
}
// MARK: - Public methods
extension BaseTextView {
public func setPlaceholder(_ placeholder: String) {
placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
}
}
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 491
I found myself a very easy way to imitate a place-holder
- in the NIB or code set your textView's textColor to lightGrayColor (most of the time)
- make sure that your textView's delegate is linked to file's owner and implement UITextViewDelegate in your header file
- set the default text of your text view to (example: "Foobar placeholder")
- implement: (BOOL) textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView
Edit:
Changed if statements to compare tags rather than text. If the user deleted their text it was possible to also accidentally delete a portion of the place holder @"Foobar placeholder".This meant if the user re-entered the textView the following delegate method, -(BOOL) textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *) textView, it would not work as expected. I tried comparing by the color of the text in the if statement but found that light grey color set in interface builder is not the same as light grey color set in code with [UIColor lightGreyColor]
- (BOOL) textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
if(textView.tag == 0) {
textView.text = @"";
textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
textView.tag = 1;
}
return YES;
}
It is also possible to reset the placeholder text when the keyboard returns and the [textView length] == 0
EDIT:
Just to make the last part clearer - here's is how you can set the placeholder text back:
- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
if([textView.text length] == 0)
{
textView.text = @"Foobar placeholder";
textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
textView.tag = 0;
}
}
Upvotes: 56
Reputation: 14298
This is my version of UITextView with placeholder support. Swift 4.2 https://gist.github.com/hlung/c5dda3a0c2087e5ae6c1fce8822c4713
A UITextView subclass with placeholder text support. It uses another UILabel to show the placeholder, shown when text is empty.
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 13527
Simple Swift 3 solution
Add UITextViewDelegate to your class
Set yourTextView.delegate = self
Create placeholderLabel and position it inside yourTextView
Now just animate placeholderLabel.alpha on textViewDidChange:
func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
let newAlpha: CGFloat = textView.text.isEmpty ? 1 : 0
if placeholderLabel.alpha != newAlpha {
UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.3) {
self.placeholderLabel.alpha = newAlpha
}
}
}
you might have to play with placeholderLabel position to set it up right, but that shouldn't be too hard
Upvotes: 49
Reputation: 1341
Easy way, just create placeholder text in UITextView by using the following UITextViewDelegate methods:
- (void)textViewDidBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@"placeholder text here..."]) {
textView.text = @"";
textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor]; //optional
}
[textView becomeFirstResponder];
}
- (void)textViewDidEndEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@""]) {
textView.text = @"placeholder text here...";
textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional
}
[textView resignFirstResponder];
}
just remember to set myUITextView with the exact text on creation e.g.
UITextView *myUITextView = [[UITextView alloc] init];
myUITextView.delegate = self;
myUITextView.text = @"placeholder text here...";
myUITextView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional
and make the parent class a UITextViewDelegate before including these methods e.g.
@interface MyClass () <UITextViewDelegate>
@end
Code for Swift 3.1
func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView)
{
if (textView.text == "placeholder text here..." && textView.textColor == .lightGray)
{
textView.text = ""
textView.textColor = .black
}
textView.becomeFirstResponder() //Optional
}
func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView)
{
if (textView.text == "")
{
textView.text = "placeholder text here..."
textView.textColor = .lightGray
}
textView.resignFirstResponder()
}
just remember to set myUITextView with the exact text on creation e.g.
let myUITextView = UITextView.init()
myUITextView.delegate = self
myUITextView.text = "placeholder text here..."
myUITextView.textColor = .lightGray
and make the parent class a UITextViewDelegate before including these methods e.g.
class MyClass: UITextViewDelegate
{
}
Upvotes: 641
Reputation: 12615
Below is a Swift port of "SAMTextView" ObjC code posted as one of the first handful of replies to the question. I tested it on iOS 8. I tweaked a couple of things, including the bounds offset for the placement of the placeholder text, as the original was too high and too far right (used suggestion in one of the comments to that post).
I know there are a lot of simple solutions, but I like the approach of subclassing UITextView because it's reusable and I don't have to clutter classes utilizing it with the mechanisms.
Swift 2.2:
import UIKit
class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView {
@IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor = UIColor.lightGrayColor()
@IBInspectable var placeholderText: String = ""
override var font: UIFont? {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
override var contentInset: UIEdgeInsets {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
override var textAlignment: NSTextAlignment {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
override var text: String? {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
override var attributedText: NSAttributedString? {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
setUp()
}
override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
}
private func setUp() {
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(self, selector: #selector(PlaceholderTextView.textChanged(_:)),
name: UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification, object: self)
}
func textChanged(notification: NSNotification) {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
func placeholderRectForBounds(bounds: CGRect) -> CGRect {
var x = contentInset.left + 4.0
var y = contentInset.top + 9.0
let w = frame.size.width - contentInset.left - contentInset.right - 16.0
let h = frame.size.height - contentInset.top - contentInset.bottom - 16.0
if let style = self.typingAttributes[NSParagraphStyleAttributeName] as? NSParagraphStyle {
x += style.headIndent
y += style.firstLineHeadIndent
}
return CGRect(x: x, y: y, width: w, height: h)
}
override func drawRect(rect: CGRect) {
if text!.isEmpty && !placeholderText.isEmpty {
let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
paragraphStyle.alignment = textAlignment
let attributes: [ String: AnyObject ] = [
NSFontAttributeName : font!,
NSForegroundColorAttributeName : placeholderColor,
NSParagraphStyleAttributeName : paragraphStyle]
placeholderText.drawInRect(placeholderRectForBounds(bounds), withAttributes: attributes)
}
super.drawRect(rect)
}
}
Swift 4.2:
import UIKit
class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView {
@IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor = UIColor.lightGray
@IBInspectable var placeholderText: String = ""
override var font: UIFont? {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
override var contentInset: UIEdgeInsets {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
override var textAlignment: NSTextAlignment {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
override var text: String? {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
override var attributedText: NSAttributedString? {
didSet {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
setUp()
}
override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
}
private func setUp() {
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
selector: #selector(self.textChanged(notification:)),
name: Notification.Name("UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification"),
object: nil)
}
@objc func textChanged(notification: NSNotification) {
setNeedsDisplay()
}
func placeholderRectForBounds(bounds: CGRect) -> CGRect {
var x = contentInset.left + 4.0
var y = contentInset.top + 9.0
let w = frame.size.width - contentInset.left - contentInset.right - 16.0
let h = frame.size.height - contentInset.top - contentInset.bottom - 16.0
if let style = self.typingAttributes[NSAttributedString.Key.paragraphStyle] as? NSParagraphStyle {
x += style.headIndent
y += style.firstLineHeadIndent
}
return CGRect(x: x, y: y, width: w, height: h)
}
override func draw(_ rect: CGRect) {
if text!.isEmpty && !placeholderText.isEmpty {
let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
paragraphStyle.alignment = textAlignment
let attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [
NSAttributedString.Key(rawValue: NSAttributedString.Key.font.rawValue) : font!,
NSAttributedString.Key(rawValue: NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor.rawValue) : placeholderColor,
NSAttributedString.Key(rawValue: NSAttributedString.Key.paragraphStyle.rawValue) : paragraphStyle]
placeholderText.draw(in: placeholderRectForBounds(bounds: bounds), withAttributes: attributes)
}
super.draw(rect)
}
}
Upvotes: 22
Reputation: 19572
I followed the code from this link. There are only 7 easy steps. It adds a UILabel to the textView and hides/shows the label when text is entered or removed from the textView via the textView's textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) delegate method. I put the steps in the comments above the code.
// 1. make sure to include the UITextViewDelegate
class YourClass: UITextViewDelegate {
@IBOutlet weak var textView : UITextView!
// 2. create placeholder textLabel
let placeHolderTextLabel: UILabel = {
let placeholderLabel = UILabel()
placeholderLabel.text = "Placeholder text..."
placeholderLabel.sizeToFit()
placeholderLabel.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
return placeholderLabel
}()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// 3. set textView delegate
textView.delegate = self
configurePlaceholderTextLabel()
}
func configurePlaceholderTextLabel() {
// 4. add placeholder label to textView, set it's frame and font
textView.addSubview(placeHolderTextLabel)
placeHolderTextLabel.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: (textView.font?.pointSize)! / 2)
placeHolderTextLabel.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: (textView.font?.pointSize)!)
// 5. decide wether the placeHolderTextLabel is hidden or not depending on if there is or isn't text inside the textView
placeHolderTextLabel.isHidden = !textView.text.isEmpty
}
// 6. implement textView delegate method to update the placeHolderTextLabel when the text is changed
func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
// 7. decide wether the placeHolderTextLabel is hidden or not depending on if there is or isn't text inside the textView when text in textView is changed
placeHolderTextLabel.isHidden = !textView.text.isEmpty
}
}
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 14904
If someone needs a Solution for Swift:
Add UITextViewDelegate to your class
var placeHolderText = "Placeholder Text..."
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
textView.delegate = self
}
func textViewShouldBeginEditing(textView: UITextView) -> Bool {
self.textView.textColor = .black
if(self.textView.text == placeHolderText) {
self.textView.text = ""
}
return true
}
func textViewDidEndEditing(textView: UITextView) {
if(textView.text == "") {
self.textView.text = placeHolderText
self.textView.textColor = .lightGray
}
}
override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) {
if(currentQuestion.answerDisplayValue == "") {
self.textView.text = placeHolderText
self.textView.textColor = .lightGray
} else {
self.textView.text = "xxx" // load default text / or stored
self.textView.textColor = .black
}
}
Upvotes: 46
Reputation: 11184
Another solution
import UIKit
protocol PlaceholderTextViewDelegate: class {
func placeholderTextViewDidChangeText(_ text: String)
func placeholderTextViewDidEndEditing(_ text: String)
}
final class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView {
weak var notifier: PlaceholderTextViewDelegate?
var ignoreEnterAction: Bool = true
var placeholder: String? {
didSet {
text = placeholder
selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
}
}
var placeholderColor = UIColor.lightGray {
didSet {
if text == placeholder {
textColor = placeholderColor
}
}
}
var normalTextColor = UIColor.lightGray
var placeholderFont = UIFont.sfProRegular(28)
fileprivate var placeholderLabel: UILabel?
// MARK: - LifeCycle
override var text: String? {
didSet {
if text == placeholder {
textColor = placeholderColor
} else {
textColor = normalTextColor
}
}
}
init() {
super.init(frame: CGRect.zero, textContainer: nil)
awakeFromNib()
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
}
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
self.delegate = self
}
}
extension PlaceholderTextView: UITextViewDelegate {
// MARK: - UITextViewDelegate
func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
if text == "" && textView.text == placeholder {
return false
}
if let placeholder = placeholder,
textView.text == placeholder,
range.location <= placeholder.count {
textView.text = ""
}
if ignoreEnterAction && text == "\n" {
textView.resignFirstResponder()
return false
}
return true
}
func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
if let placeholder = placeholder {
textView.text = textView.text.replacingOccurrences(of: placeholder, with: "")
}
if let placeholder = placeholder,
text?.isEmpty == true {
text = placeholder
textColor = placeholderColor
selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
} else {
textColor = normalTextColor
}
notifier?.placeholderTextViewDidChangeText(textView.text)
}
func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
if let placeholder = placeholder,
text == placeholder {
selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
}
}
func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
notifier?.placeholderTextViewDidEndEditing(textView.text)
if let placeholder = placeholder,
text?.isEmpty == true {
text = placeholder
textColor = placeholderColor
selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
} else {
textColor = normalTextColor
}
}
}
result:
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 1413
I recommend use pod 'UITextView+Placeholder'
pod 'UITextView+Placeholder'
on your code
#import "UITextView+Placeholder.h"
////
UITextView *textView = [[UITextView alloc] init];
textView.placeholder = @"How are you?";
textView.placeholderColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
Upvotes: 6
Reputation: 81
I have created a swift 3 version of highest ranked answer
You just need to do subclassing of UITextView.
import UIKit
class UIPlaceHolderTextView: UITextView {
//MARK: - Properties
@IBInspectable var placeholder: String?
@IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor?
var placeholderLabel: UILabel?
//MARK: - Initializers
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
// Use Interface Builder User Defined Runtime Attributes to set
// placeholder and placeholderColor in Interface Builder.
if self.placeholder == nil {
self.placeholder = ""
}
if self.placeholderColor == nil {
self.placeholderColor = UIColor.black
}
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(textChanged(_:)), name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange, object: nil)
}
func textChanged(_ notification: Notification) -> Void {
if self.placeholder?.count == 0 {
return
}
UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.25) {
if self.text.count == 0 {
self.viewWithTag(999)?.alpha = 1
}
else {
self.viewWithTag(999)?.alpha = 0
}
}
}
// Only override draw() if you perform custom drawing.
// An empty implementation adversely affects performance during animation.
override func draw(_ rect: CGRect) {
super.draw(rect)
if (self.placeholder?.count ?? 0) > 0 {
if placeholderLabel == nil {
placeholderLabel = UILabel.init()
placeholderLabel?.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
placeholderLabel?.numberOfLines = 0
placeholderLabel?.font = self.font
placeholderLabel?.backgroundColor = self.backgroundColor
placeholderLabel?.textColor = self.placeholderColor
placeholderLabel?.alpha = 0
placeholderLabel?.tag = 999
self.addSubview(placeholderLabel!)
placeholderLabel?.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
placeholderLabel?.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor, constant: 7).isActive = true
placeholderLabel?.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.leftAnchor, constant: 4).isActive = true
placeholderLabel?.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
placeholderLabel?.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.rightAnchor).isActive = true
}
placeholderLabel?.text = self.placeholder
placeholderLabel?.sizeToFit()
self.sendSubview(toBack: self.placeholderLabel!)
}
if self.text.count == 0 && (self.placeholder?.count ?? 0) > 0 {
self.viewWithTag(999)?.alpha = 1
}
}
}
Upvotes: 4
Reputation: 182
Here is code for swift 3.1
Original code by Jason George in first answer.
Don't forget to set your custom class for TextView in interface builder to UIPlaceHolderTextView and then set placeholder and placeHolder properties.
import UIKit
@IBDesignable
class UIPlaceHolderTextView: UITextView {
@IBInspectable var placeholder: String = ""
@IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor = UIColor.lightGray
private let uiPlaceholderTextChangedAnimationDuration: Double = 0.05
private let defaultTagValue = 999
private var placeHolderLabel: UILabel?
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
self,
selector: #selector(textChanged),
name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange,
object: nil
)
}
override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
self,
selector: #selector(textChanged),
name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange,
object: nil
)
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
self,
selector: #selector(textChanged),
name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange,
object: nil
)
}
deinit {
NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(
self,
name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange,
object: nil
)
}
@objc private func textChanged() {
guard !placeholder.isEmpty else {
return
}
UIView.animate(withDuration: uiPlaceholderTextChangedAnimationDuration) {
if self.text.isEmpty {
self.viewWithTag(self.defaultTagValue)?.alpha = CGFloat(1.0)
}
else {
self.viewWithTag(self.defaultTagValue)?.alpha = CGFloat(0.0)
}
}
}
override var text: String! {
didSet{
super.text = text
textChanged()
}
}
override func draw(_ rect: CGRect) {
if !placeholder.isEmpty {
if placeHolderLabel == nil {
placeHolderLabel = UILabel.init(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 8, width: bounds.size.width - 16, height: 0))
placeHolderLabel!.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
placeHolderLabel!.numberOfLines = 0
placeHolderLabel!.font = font
placeHolderLabel!.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear
placeHolderLabel!.textColor = placeholderColor
placeHolderLabel!.alpha = 0
placeHolderLabel!.tag = defaultTagValue
self.addSubview(placeHolderLabel!)
}
placeHolderLabel!.text = placeholder
placeHolderLabel!.sizeToFit()
self.sendSubview(toBack: placeHolderLabel!)
if text.isEmpty && !placeholder.isEmpty {
viewWithTag(defaultTagValue)?.alpha = 1.0
}
}
super.draw(rect)
}
}
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 2196
I know there are already a lot of answers to this one, but I didn't really find any of them sufficient (at least in Swift). I needed the "placeholder" functionality of the UITextField in my UITextView (I wanted the exact behavior, including text display attributes, animations, etc, and didn't want to have to maintain this over time). I also wanted a solution that provided the same exact border as a UITextField (not an approximated one that looks sort of like it looks right now, but one that looks exactly like it and will always look exactly like it). So while I was not initially a fan of jamming an extra control into the mix, it seemed that in order to meet my goals I had to use an actual UITextField and let it do the work.
This solution handles positioning the placeholder and keeping the font in sync between the two controls so that the placeholder text is the exact font and position as text entered into the control (something a lot of the other solutions don't address).
// This class is necessary to support "inset" (required to position placeholder
// appropriately in TextView)
//
class TextField: UITextField
{
var inset: UIEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 0, bottom: 0, right: 0);
override func textRectForBounds(bounds: CGRect) -> CGRect
{
return UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(bounds, inset);
}
override func placeholderRectForBounds(bounds: CGRect) -> CGRect
{
return UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(bounds, inset);
}
}
// This class implements a UITextView that has a UITextField behind it, where the
// UITextField provides the border and the placeholder text functionality (so that the
// TextView looks and works like a UITextField).
//
class TextView : UITextView, UITextViewDelegate
{
var textField = TextField();
required init?(coder: NSCoder)
{
super.init(coder: coder);
}
override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?)
{
super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer);
self.delegate = self;
// Create a background TextField with clear (invisible) text and disabled
self.textField.borderStyle = UITextBorderStyle.RoundedRect;
self.textField.textColor = UIColor.clearColor();
self.textField.userInteractionEnabled = false;
// Align the background TextView to where text appears in the TextField, so
// that any placeholder will be in the correct position.
self.textField.contentVerticalAlignment = UIControlContentVerticalAlignment.Top;
self.textField.inset = UIEdgeInsets(
top: self.textContainerInset.top,
left: self.textContainerInset.left + self.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding,
bottom: self.textContainerInset.bottom,
right: self.textContainerInset.right
);
// The background TextField should use the same font (for the placeholder)
self.textField.font = self.font;
self.addSubview(textField);
self.sendSubviewToBack(textField);
}
convenience init()
{
self.init(frame: CGRectZero, textContainer: nil)
}
override var font: UIFont?
{
didSet
{
// Keep the font of the TextView and background textField in sync
self.textField.font = self.font;
}
}
var placeholder: String? = nil
{
didSet
{
self.textField.placeholder = self.placeholder;
}
}
override func layoutSubviews()
{
super.layoutSubviews()
// Do not scroll the background textView
self.textField.frame = CGRectMake(0, self.contentOffset.y, self.frame.width, self.frame.height);
}
// UITextViewDelegate - Note: If you replace delegate, your delegate must call this
func scrollViewDidScroll(scrollView: UIScrollView)
{
// Do not scroll the background textView
self.textField.frame = CGRectMake(0, self.contentOffset.y, self.frame.width, self.frame.height);
}
// UITextViewDelegate - Note: If you replace delegate, your delegate must call this
func textViewDidChange(textView: UITextView)
{
// Updating the text in the background textView will cause the placeholder to
// appear/disappear (including any animations of that behavior - since the
// textView is doing this itself).
self.textField.text = self.text;
}
}
Upvotes: 3
Reputation: 9382
Sorry to add another answer, But I just pulled something like this off and this created the closest-to-UITextField kind of placeholder.
Hope this helps someone.
-(void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView{
if(textView.textColor == [UIColor lightGrayColor]){
textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor]; // look at the comment section in this answer
textView.text = [textView.text substringToIndex: 0];// look at the comment section in this answer
}else if(textView.text.length == 0){
textView.text = @"This is some placeholder text.";
textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0);
}
}
-(void)textViewDidChangeSelection:(UITextView *)textView{
if(textView.textColor == [UIColor lightGrayColor] && (textView.selectedRange.location != 0 || textView.selectedRange.length != 0)){
textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0);
}
}
Upvotes: 10
Reputation: 504
Swift 3.1
After trying all swift answers, this answer would have saved me 3 hours of research. Hope this helps.
Make sure your textField (no matter the custom name you have) is pointing to its delegate in Storyboard and has an @IBOutlet with
yourCustomTextFieldAdd to
viewDidLoad()the following, it will appear when loading the view:
Show me what looks to be a placeholder:
yourCustomTextField = "Start typing..."
yourCustomTextField.textColor = .lightGray
- Outside the viewDidLoad but inside the same class add the following declarations:
UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate, UINavigationControllerDelegate
This code will make yourCustomTextField go away when typing in the textField:
func textViewDidBeginEditing (_ textView: UITextView) {
if (textView.text == "Start typing...") {
textView.text = ""
textView.textColor = .black
}
textView.becomeFirstResponder()
}
func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
if (textView.text == "") {
textView.text = "Start typing..."
textView.textColor = .lightGray
}
textView.resignFirstResponder()
}
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 12615
Simulating Native Placeholders
A common gripe is that iOS doesn't provide a native placeholder feature for textviews. The UITextView extension below attempts to address that concern by offering the convenience one would expect from a native feature, requiring only one line of code to add a placeholder to a textview instance.
The downside of this solution is, because it daisy chains delegate calls, it is vulnerable to (unlikely) changes to the UITextViewDelegate protocol in an iOS update. Specifically, if iOS adds new protocol methods and you implement any of them in the delegate for a text view with a placeholder, those methods won't be called unless you've also updated the extension to forward those calls.
Alternatively, the Inline Placeholder answer is a rock-solid and about as simple as can be.
Usage examples:
• If the text view gaining the placeholder doesn't use a UITextViewDelegate:
/* Swift 3 */
class NoteViewController : UIViewController {
@IBOutlet weak var noteView: UITextView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
noteView.addPlaceholder("Enter some text...", color: UIColor.lightGray)
}
}
-- OR --
• If the text view gaining the placeholder does use a UITextViewDelegate:
/* Swift 3 */
class NoteViewController : UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {
@IBOutlet weak var noteView: UITextView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
noteView.addPlaceholder("Phone #", color: UIColor.lightGray, delegate: self)
}
}
Implementation (UITextView extension):
/* Swift 3 */
extension UITextView: UITextViewDelegate
{
func addPlaceholder(_ placeholderText : String,
color : UIColor? = UIColor.lightGray,
delegate : UITextViewDelegate? = nil) {
self.delegate = self // Make receiving textview instance a delegate
let placeholder = UITextView() // Need delegate storage ULabel doesn't provide
placeholder.isUserInteractionEnabled = false //... so we *simulate* UILabel
self.addSubview(placeholder) // Add to text view instance's view tree
placeholder.sizeToFit() // Constrain to fit inside parent text view
placeholder.tintColor = UIColor.clear // Unused in textviews. Can host our 'tag'
placeholder.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: 0) // Don't cover I-beam cursor
placeholder.delegate = delegate // Use as cache for caller's delegate
placeholder.font = UIFont.italicSystemFont(ofSize: (self.font?.pointSize)!)
placeholder.text = placeholderText
placeholder.textColor = color
}
func findPlaceholder() -> UITextView? { // find placeholder by its tag
for subview in self.subviews {
if let textview = subview as? UITextView {
if textview.tintColor == UIColor.clear { // sneaky tagging scheme
return textview
}
}
}
return nil
}
/*
* Safely daisychain to caller delegate methods as appropriate...
*/
public func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) { // ← need this delegate method
if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
placeholder.isHidden = !self.text.isEmpty // ← ... to do this
placeholder.delegate?.textViewDidChange?(textView)
}
}
/*
* Since we're becoming a delegate on behalf of this placeholder-enabled
* text view instance, we must forward *all* that protocol's activity expected
* by the instance, not just the particular optional protocol method we need to
* intercept, above.
*/
public func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
placeholder.delegate?.textViewDidEndEditing?(textView)
}
}
public func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
placeholder.delegate?.textViewDidBeginEditing?(textView)
}
}
public func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
placeholder.delegate?.textViewDidChangeSelection?(textView)
}
}
public func textViewShouldEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) -> Bool {
if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textViewShouldEndEditing?(textView) else {
return true
}
return retval
}
return true
}
public func textViewShouldBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) -> Bool {
if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textViewShouldBeginEditing?(textView) else {
return true
}
return retval
}
return true
}
public func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textView?(textView, shouldChangeTextIn: range, replacementText: text) else {
return true
}
return retval
}
return true
}
public func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldInteractWith URL: URL, in characterRange: NSRange, interaction: UITextItemInteraction) -> Bool {
if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textView?(textView, shouldInteractWith: URL, in: characterRange, interaction:
interaction) else {
return true
}
return retval
}
return true
}
public func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldInteractWith textAttachment: NSTextAttachment, in characterRange: NSRange, interaction: UITextItemInteraction) -> Bool {
if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textView?(textView, shouldInteractWith: textAttachment, in: characterRange, interaction: interaction) else {
return true
}
return retval
}
return true
}
}
1. As an extension of an essential iOS class like UITextView, it's important to know that this code has no interaction with any textviews that don't activate a placeholder, e.g textview instances that haven't been initialized with a call addPlaceholder()
2. Placeholder-enabled text views transparently become a UITextViewDelegate to track character count, in order to control placeholder visibility. If a delegate is passed to addPlaceholder(), this code daisy-chains (i.e. forwards) delegate callbacks to that delegate.
3. The author is investigating ways to inspect the UITextViewDelegate protocol and proxy it automatically without having to hardcode each method. That would inoculate the code from method signature changes and new methods being added to the protocol.
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 1209
I have wrote a class in swift. You can import this class whenever required.
import UIKit
public class CustomTextView: UITextView {
private struct Constants {
static let defaultiOSPlaceholderColor = UIColor(red: 0.0, green: 0.0, blue: 0.0980392, alpha: 0.22)
}
private let placeholderLabel: UILabel = UILabel()
private var placeholderLabelConstraints = [NSLayoutConstraint]()
@IBInspectable public var placeholder: String = "" {
didSet {
placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
}
}
@IBInspectable public var placeholderColor: UIColor = CustomTextView.Constants.defaultiOSPlaceholderColor {
didSet {
placeholderLabel.textColor = placeholderColor
}
}
override public var font: UIFont! {
didSet {
placeholderLabel.font = font
}
}
override public var textAlignment: NSTextAlignment {
didSet {
placeholderLabel.textAlignment = textAlignment
}
}
override public var text: String! {
didSet {
textDidChange()
}
}
override public var attributedText: NSAttributedString! {
didSet {
textDidChange()
}
}
override public var textContainerInset: UIEdgeInsets {
didSet {
updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel()
}
}
override public init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
commonInit()
}
required public init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
commonInit()
}
private func commonInit() {
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(self,
selector: #selector(textDidChange),
name: UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification,
object: nil)
placeholderLabel.font = font
placeholderLabel.textColor = placeholderColor
placeholderLabel.textAlignment = textAlignment
placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
placeholderLabel.numberOfLines = 0
placeholderLabel.backgroundColor = UIColor.clearColor()
placeholderLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
addSubview(placeholderLabel)
updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel()
}
private func updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel() {
var newConstraints = NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("H:|-(\(textContainerInset.left + textContainer.lineFragmentPadding))-[placeholder]",
options: [],
metrics: nil,
views: ["placeholder": placeholderLabel])
newConstraints += NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("V:|-(\(textContainerInset.top))-[placeholder]",
options: [],
metrics: nil,
views: ["placeholder": placeholderLabel])
newConstraints.append(NSLayoutConstraint(
item: placeholderLabel,
attribute: .Width,
relatedBy: .Equal,
toItem: self,
attribute: .Width,
multiplier: 1.0,
constant: -(textContainerInset.left + textContainerInset.right + textContainer.lineFragmentPadding * 2.0)
))
removeConstraints(placeholderLabelConstraints)
addConstraints(newConstraints)
placeholderLabelConstraints = newConstraints
}
@objc private func textDidChange() {
placeholderLabel.hidden = !text.isEmpty
}
public override func layoutSubviews() {
super.layoutSubviews()
placeholderLabel.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = textContainer.size.width - textContainer.lineFragmentPadding * 2.0
}
deinit {
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().removeObserver(self,
name: UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification,
object: nil)
}
}
Upvotes: 4
Reputation: 196
The easiest method to modify the placeholder text color is through the XCode storyboard interface builder. Select the UITextField of interest and open the identity inspector on the right. Click on the plus symbol in the User Defined Runtime Attributes and add a new row with Key Path as _placeholderLabel.textColor, Type as Color and Value to your desired color.
Upvotes: -1
Reputation: 5473
This mimics UITextField's placeholder perfectly, where the place holder text stays until you actually type something.
private let placeholder = "Type here"
@IBOutlet weak var textView: UITextView! {
didSet {
textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
textView.text = placeholder
textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
}
}
extension ViewController: UITextViewDelegate {
func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
// Move cursor to beginning on first tap
if textView.text == placeholder {
textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
}
}
func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
if textView.text == placeholder && !text.isEmpty {
textView.text = nil
textView.textColor = UIColor.black
textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
}
return true
}
func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
if textView.text.isEmpty {
textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
textView.text = placeholder
}
}
}
Upvotes: 7
Reputation: 61774
Simply create @IBDesignable subclass of your UITextView:
@IBDesignable class AttributedTextView: UITextView {
private let placeholderLabel = UILabel()
@IBInspectable var placeholder: String = "" {
didSet {
setupPlaceholderLabelIfNeeded()
textViewDidChange()
}
}
override var text: String! {
didSet {
textViewDidChange()
}
}
//MARK: - Initialization
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
setupPlaceholderLabelIfNeeded()
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(textViewDidChange), name: .UITextViewTextDidChange, object: nil)
}
//MARK: - Deinitialization
deinit {
NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self)
}
//MARK: - Internal
func textViewDidChange() {
placeholderLabel.isHidden = !text.isEmpty
layoutIfNeeded()
}
//MARK: - Private
private func setupPlaceholderLabelIfNeeded() {
placeholderLabel.removeFromSuperview()
placeholderLabel.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 8, width: frame.size.width, height: 0)
placeholderLabel.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
placeholderLabel.sizeToFit()
insertSubview(placeholderLabel, at: 0)
}
}
and then simply setup your placeholder in identity inspector:
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 1823
I read through all of these, but came up with a very short, Swift 3, solution that has worked in all of my tests. It could stand a little more generality, but the process is simple. Here's the entire thing which I call "TextViewWithPlaceholder".
import UIKit
class TextViewWithPlaceholder: UITextView {
public var placeholder: String?
public var placeholderColor = UIColor.lightGray
private var placeholderLabel: UILabel?
// Set up notification listener when created from a XIB or storyboard.
// You can also set up init() functions if you plan on creating
// these programmatically.
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
selector: #selector(TextViewWithPlaceholder.textDidChangeHandler(notification:)),
name: .UITextViewTextDidChange,
object: self)
placeholderLabel = UILabel()
placeholderLabel?.alpha = 0.85
placeholderLabel?.textColor = placeholderColor
}
// By using layoutSubviews, you can size and position the placeholder
// more accurately. I chose to hard-code the size of the placeholder
// but you can combine this with other techniques shown in previous replies.
override func layoutSubviews() {
super.layoutSubviews()
placeholderLabel?.textColor = placeholderColor
placeholderLabel?.text = placeholder
placeholderLabel?.frame = CGRect(x: 6, y: 4, width: self.bounds.size.width-16, height: 24)
if text.isEmpty {
addSubview(placeholderLabel!)
bringSubview(toFront: placeholderLabel!)
} else {
placeholderLabel?.removeFromSuperview()
}
}
// Whenever the text changes, just trigger a new layout pass.
func textDidChangeHandler(notification: Notification) {
layoutSubviews()
}
}
Upvotes: 4
Reputation: 1279
After looking through (and trying out) most of the proposed solutions to this seemingly obvious - but missing - feature of UITextView, the 'best' closest I found was that from BobDickinson. But I didnt like having to resort to a whole new subclass [I prefer drop-in categories for such simple functional additions], nor that it intercepted UITextViewDelegate methods, which is probably going to mess up your existing UITextView handling code. So here's my take on a drop-in category that'll work on any existing UITextView instance...
#import <objc/runtime.h>
// Private subclass needed to override placeholderRectForBounds: to correctly position placeholder
@interface _TextField : UITextField
@property UIEdgeInsets insets;
@end
@implementation _TextField
- (CGRect)placeholderRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds
{
CGRect rect = [super placeholderRectForBounds:bounds];
return UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(rect, _insets);
}
@end
@implementation UITextView (Placeholder)
static const void *KEY;
- (void)setPlaceholder:(NSString *)placeholder
{
_TextField *textField = objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &KEY);
if (!textField) {
textField = [_TextField.alloc initWithFrame:self.bounds];
textField.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight;
textField.userInteractionEnabled = NO;
textField.font = self.font;
textField.contentVerticalAlignment = UIControlContentVerticalAlignmentTop;
textField.insets = UIEdgeInsetsMake(self.textContainerInset.top,
self.textContainerInset.left + self.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding,
self.textContainerInset.bottom,
self.textContainerInset.right);
[self addSubview:textField];
[self sendSubviewToBack:textField];
objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &KEY, textField, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN);
[NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter addObserver:self selector:@selector(updatePlaceholder:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
}
textField.placeholder = placeholder;
}
- (NSString*)placeholder
{
UITextField *textField = objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &KEY);
return textField.placeholder;
}
- (void)updatePlaceholder:(NSNotification *)notification
{
UITextField *textField = objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &KEY);
textField.font = self.font;
[textField setAlpha:self.text.length? 0 : 1];
}
@end
Its simple to use, just the obvious
UITextView *myTextView = UITextView.new;
...
myTextView.placeholder = @"enter text here";
It works by adding a UITextField - in the right location - behind your UITextView, and exploiting it's placeholder instead (hence you dont have to worry about getting the color right, etc), then listening for notifications whenever your UITextView is changed to show/hide this UITextField (and hence it doesnt interfere with your existing UITextViewDelegate calls). And there's no magic numbers involved... :-)
The objc_setAssociatedObject()/objc_getAssociatedObject() is to avoid having to subclass UITextView. [Unfortunately, to position the UITextField correctly, it was necessary to introduce a 'private' subclass, to override placeholderRectForBounds:]
Adapted from BobDickinson's Swift answer.
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 1313
Simple class to support icon attribted placeholders in UITextView PlaceholderTextView
@IBOutlet weak var tvMessage: PlaceholderTextView!
// TODO: - Create Icon Text Attachment
let icon: NSTextAttachment = NSTextAttachment()
icon.image = UIImage(named: "paper-plane")
let iconString = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: NSAttributedString(attachment: icon))
tvMessage.icon = icon
// TODO: - Attributes
let textColor = UIColor.gray
let lightFont = UIFont(name: "Helvetica-Light", size: tvMessage.font!.pointSize)
let italicFont = UIFont(name: "Helvetica-LightOblique", size: tvMessage.font!.pointSize)
// TODO: - Placeholder Attributed String
let message = NSAttributedString(string: " " + "Personal Message", attributes: [ NSFontAttributeName: lightFont!, NSForegroundColorAttributeName: textColor])
iconString.append(message)
// TODO: - Italic Placeholder Part
let option = NSAttributedString(string: " " + "Optional", attributes: [ NSFontAttributeName: italicFont!, NSForegroundColorAttributeName: textColor])
iconString.append(option)
tvMessage.attributedPlaceHolder = iconString
tvMessage.layoutSubviews()
Upvotes: -1
Reputation: 7129
I've just found that as of iOS 10 you can now actually cast an UITextView to a method as an UITextField and set inside the method the placeholder. Just tried and it works without having to subclass UITextView.
This is an example of what worked for me:
-(void)customizeTextField:(UITextField *)textField placeholder:(NSString *)pText withColor:(UIColor *)pTextColor{
textField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc]
initWithString:pText
attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName:pTextColor}];
}
And to use it for a UITextView you just have to pass it to the method using a cast like this:
[self customizeTextField:(UITextField*)_myTextView placeholder:@"Placeholder" withColor:[UIColor blackColor]];
N.B: After a test I've found out that the solution works fine also on iOS9.x but causes a crash on iOS8.x
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 1370
First take a label in .h file.
Here I take
UILabel * lbl;
Then in .m under viewDidLoad declare it
lbl = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8.0, 0.0,250, 34.0)];
lbl.font=[UIFont systemFontOfSize:14.0];
[lbl setText:@"Write a message..."];
[lbl setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
[lbl setTextColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
[textview addSubview:lbl];
textview is my TextView.
Now declare
-(void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView {
if (![textView hasText]){
lbl.hidden = NO;
}
else{
lbl.hidden = YES;
}
}
And your Textview placeholder is ready !
Upvotes: 6
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