How to navigate through textfields (Next / Done Buttons)

Question

How can I navigate through all my text fields with the "Next" Button on the iPhone Keyboard?

The last text field should close the Keyboard.

I've setup the IB the Buttons (Next / Done) but now I'm stuck.

I implemented the textFieldShouldReturn action but now the Next and Done Buttons close the Keyboard.

Answer 1

I have implemented a dynamic solution for navigating through Responders in a view hierarchy. The idea is, to search the whole hierarchy for the next possible responder, forwards or backwards as needed.

UIView Extension for searching:

UIView+Cat.h

- (UIResponder *)getNextFirstResponder;
- (UIResponder *)getPreviousFirstResponder;

UIView+Cat.m

- (UIResponder *)getPreviousFirstResponder {
    if (!self.superview) {
        return nil;
    }
    
    BOOL hasreachedself = NO;
    for (NSInteger i = self.superview.subviews.count-1; i >= 0; i--) {
        UIView *v = [self.superview.subviews objectAtIndex:i];
        if (v == self) {
            hasreachedself = YES;
            continue;
        }
        if (!hasreachedself) continue;
        
        if ([v canBecomeFirstResponder] && !v.hidden) {
            return v;
        }
        UIResponder *subResponder = [self getNextFirstResponderInView:v];
        if (subResponder) {
            return subResponder;
        }
    }
    
    //search hierachicaly in superviews
    return [self.superview getPreviousFirstResponder];
}

- (UIResponder *)getNextFirstResponder {
    if (!self.superview) {
        return nil;
    }
    
    BOOL hasreachedself = NO;
    for (UIView *v in self.superview.subviews) {
        if (v == self) {
            hasreachedself = YES;
            continue;
        }
        if (!hasreachedself) continue;
        
        if ([v canBecomeFirstResponder] && !v.hidden) {
            return v;
        }
        UIResponder *subResponder = [self getNextFirstResponderInView:v];
        if (subResponder) {
            return subResponder;
        }
    }
    
    //search hierachicaly in superviews
    return [self.superview getNextFirstResponder];
}

- (UIResponder *)getNextFirstResponderInView:(UIView *)view {
    if ([view canBecomeFirstResponder] && !view.hidden) {
        return view;
    }
    for (UIView *v in view.subviews) {
        UIResponder *subResponder = [self getNextFirstResponderInView:v];
        if (subResponder) {
            return subResponder;
        }
    }
    return nil;
}

Usage: Add UIToolbar to UITextField / UITextView (in category or subclass):

- (void)addToolbarInputAccessoryView {
    UIToolbar *toolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];
    UIBarButtonItem *prev = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage systemImageNamed:@"chevron.up"] style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:self action:@selector(moveToPreviousFirstResponder)];
    UIBarButtonItem *next = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage systemImageNamed:@"chevron.down"] style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:self action:@selector(moveToNextFirstResponder)];
    UIBarButtonItem *space = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:nil action:nil];
    UIBarButtonItem *done = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemDone target:self action:@selector(hideKeyboard)];
    toolbar.items = @[prev, next, space, done];
    
    if ([[UITextField appearance] keyboardAppearance] == UIKeyboardAppearanceDark) {
        toolbar.barStyle = UIBarStyleBlack;
        toolbar.translucent = YES;
        [toolbar setBarTintColor:[UIColor blackColor]];
        [toolbar setTintColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];
    }
    
    [toolbar sizeToFit];
    
    self.inputAccessoryView = toolbar;
}

- (void)hideKeyboard {
    [self resignFirstResponder];
}

- (void)moveToNextFirstResponder {
    UIResponder *next = [self getNextFirstResponder];
    if (next) {
        [next becomeFirstResponder];
    }
    else {
        [self resignFirstResponder];
    }
}

- (void)moveToPreviousFirstResponder {
    UIResponder *prev = [self getPreviousFirstResponder];
    if (prev) {
        [prev becomeFirstResponder];
    }
    else {
        [self resignFirstResponder];
    }
}

Answer 2

A safer and more direct way, assuming:

• the text field delegates are set to your view controller
• all of the text fields are subviews of the same view
• the text fields have tags in the order you want to progress (e.g., textField2.tag = 2, textField3.tag = 3, etc.)
• moving to the next text field will happen when you tap the return button on the keyboard (you can change this to next, done, etc.)
• you want the keyboard to dismiss after the last text field

Swift 4.1:

extension ViewController: UITextFieldDelegate {
    func textFieldShouldReturn(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
        let nextTag = textField.tag + 1
        guard let nextTextField = textField.superview?.viewWithTag(nextTag) else {
            textField.resignFirstResponder()
            return false
        }

    nextTextField.becomeFirstResponder()

    return false

    }
}

Answer 3

In Cocoa for Mac OS X, you have the next responder chain, where you can ask the text field what control should have focus next. This is what makes tabbing between text fields work. But since iOS devices do not have a keyboard, only touch, this concept has not survived the transition to Cocoa Touch.

This can be easily done anyway, with two assumptions:

1. All "tabbable" UITextFields are on the same parent view.
2. Their "tab-order" is defined by the tag property.

Assuming this you can override textFieldShouldReturn: as this:

-(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField*)textField
{
  NSInteger nextTag = textField.tag + 1;
  // Try to find next responder
  UIResponder* nextResponder = [textField.superview viewWithTag:nextTag];
  if (nextResponder) {
    // Found next responder, so set it.
    [nextResponder becomeFirstResponder];
  } else {
    // Not found, so remove keyboard.
    [textField resignFirstResponder];
  }
  return NO; // We do not want UITextField to insert line-breaks.
}

Add some more code, and the assumptions can be ignored as well.

Swift 4.0

 func textFieldShouldReturn(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
    let nextTag = textField.tag + 1
    // Try to find next responder
    let nextResponder = textField.superview?.viewWithTag(nextTag) as UIResponder!

    if nextResponder != nil {
        // Found next responder, so set it
        nextResponder?.becomeFirstResponder()
    } else {
        // Not found, so remove keyboard
        textField.resignFirstResponder()
    }

    return false
}

If the superview of the text field will be a UITableViewCell then next responder will be

let nextResponder = textField.superview?.superview?.superview?.viewWithTag(nextTag) as UIResponder!

Answer 4

Here's one without delegation:

tf1.addTarget(tf2, action: #selector(becomeFirstResponder), for: .editingDidEndOnExit)
tf2.addTarget(tf3, action: #selector(becomeFirstResponder), for: .editingDidEndOnExit)

ObjC:

[tf1 addTarget:tf2 action:@selector(becomeFirstResponder) forControlEvents:UIControlEventEditingDidEndOnExit];
[tf2 addTarget:tf3 action:@selector(becomeFirstResponder) forControlEvents:UIControlEventEditingDidEndOnExit];

Works using the (mostly unknown) UIControlEventEditingDidEndOnExit UITextField action.

You can also easily hook this up in the storyboard, so no delegation or code is required.

Edit: actually I cannot figure out how to hook this up in storyboard. becomeFirstResponder does not seem to be a offered action for this control-event, which is a pity. Still, you can hook all your textfields up to a single action in your ViewController which then determines which textField to becomeFirstResponder based on the sender (though then it is not as elegant as the above programmatic solution so IMO do it with the above code in viewDidLoad).

Answer 5

Swift 4 for mxcl answer:

txtFirstname.addTarget(txtLastname, action: 
#selector(becomeFirstResponder), for: UIControlEvents.editingDidEndOnExit)

Answer 6

Here is an implementation of tabbing using a category on UIControl. This solution has all of the advantages of the methods from Michael and Anth0, but works for all UIControls, not just UITextFields. It also works seamlessly with Interface Builder and storyboards.

Source and sample app: GitHub repository for UIControlsWithTabbing

Usage:

- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField
{
    [textField transferFirstResponderToNextControl];
    return NO;
}

Header:

//
// UIControl+NextControl.h
// UIControlsWithTabbing
//

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UIControl (NextControl)

@property (nonatomic, weak) IBOutlet UIControl *nextControl;

- (BOOL)transferFirstResponderToNextControl;

@end

Implementation:

#import "UIControl+NextControl.h"
#import <objc/runtime.h>

static char defaultHashKey;

@implementation UIControl (NextControl)

- (UIControl *)nextControl
{
    return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &defaultHashKey);
}

- (void)setNextControl:(UIControl *)nextControl
{
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &defaultHashKey, nextControl, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
}

- (BOOL)transferFirstResponderToNextControl
{
    if (self.nextControl)
    {
        [self.nextControl becomeFirstResponder];

        return YES;
    }

    [self resignFirstResponder];

    return NO;
}

@end

Answer 7

Swift 3 Solution, using ordered array of UITextField's

func nextTextField() {
    let textFields = // Your textfields array

    for i in 0 ..< textFields.count{
        if let textfield = textFields[i], textfield.isFirstResponder{
            textfield.resignFirstResponder()
            if i+1 < textFields.count, let nextextfield = textFields[i+1]{
                nextextfield.becomeFirstResponder()
                return
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 8

I have tried many codes and finally, this worked for me in Swift 3.0 Latest [March 2017]

The ViewController class should be inherited the UITextFieldDelegate for making this code working.

class ViewController: UIViewController,UITextFieldDelegate  

Add the Text field with the Proper Tag number and this tag number is used to take the control to appropriate text field based on incremental tag number assigned to it.

override func viewDidLoad() {
    userNameTextField.delegate = self
    userNameTextField.tag = 0
    userNameTextField.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyType.next
    passwordTextField.delegate = self
    passwordTextField.tag = 1
    passwordTextField.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyType.go
}

In the above code, the returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyType.next where will make the Key pad return key to display as Next you also have other options as Join/Go etc, based on your application change the values.

This textFieldShouldReturn is a method of UITextFieldDelegate controlled and here we have next field selection based on the Tag value incrementation

func textFieldShouldReturn(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
    if let nextField = textField.superview?.viewWithTag(textField.tag + 1) as? UITextField {
        nextField.becomeFirstResponder()
    } else {
        textField.resignFirstResponder()
        return true;
    }
    return false
 }

Answer 9

If someone wants like this. I think this is the closest to the requirements asked for in question

Here is how I have implemented this one

Add accessory view for each text field for which you want the setup, using

func setAccessoryViewFor(textField : UITextField)    {
    let toolBar = UIToolbar()
    toolBar.barStyle = .default
    toolBar.isTranslucent = true
    toolBar.sizeToFit()

    // Adds the buttons

    // Add previousButton
    let prevButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "<", style: .plain, target: self, action: #selector(previousPressed(sender:)))
    prevButton.tag = textField.tag
    if getPreviousResponderFor(tag: textField.tag) == nil {
        prevButton.isEnabled = false
    }

    // Add nextButton
    let nextButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: ">", style: .plain, target: self, action: #selector(nextPressed(sender:)))
    nextButton.tag = textField.tag
    if getNextResponderFor(tag: textField.tag) == nil {
        nextButton.title = "Done"
    }

    let spaceButton = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .flexibleSpace, target: nil, action: nil)
    toolBar.setItems([prevButton,spaceButton,nextButton], animated: false)
    toolBar.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
    textField.inputAccessoryView = toolBar
}

Use following functions to handle taps

func nextPressed(sender : UIBarButtonItem) {
    if let nextResponder = getNextResponderFor(tag: sender.tag) {
        nextResponder.becomeFirstResponder()
    } else {
        self.view.endEditing(true)
    }

}

func previousPressed(sender : UIBarButtonItem) {
    if let previousResponder = getPreviousResponderFor(tag : sender.tag)  {
        previousResponder.becomeFirstResponder()
    }
}

func getNextResponderFor(tag : Int) -> UITextField? {
    return self.view.viewWithTag(tag + 1) as? UITextField
}

func getPreviousResponderFor(tag : Int) -> UITextField? {
    return self.view.viewWithTag(tag - 1) as? UITextField
}

You will need to give the textFields tags in sequence in which you want the next/prev button to respond.

Answer 10

Solution in Swift 3.1, After connecting your textfields IBOutlets set your textfields delegate in viewDidLoad, And then navigate your action in textFieldShouldReturn

class YourViewController: UIViewController,UITextFieldDelegate {

        @IBOutlet weak var passwordTextField: UITextField!
        @IBOutlet weak var phoneTextField: UITextField!

        override func viewDidLoad() {
            super.viewDidLoad()
            self.passwordTextField.delegate = self
            self.phoneTextField.delegate = self
            // Set your return type
            self.phoneTextField.returnKeyType = .next
            self.passwordTextField.returnKeyType = .done
        }

        func textFieldShouldReturn(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool{
            if textField == self.phoneTextField {
                self.passwordTextField.becomeFirstResponder()
            }else if textField == self.passwordTextField{
                // Call login api
                self.login()
            }
            return true
        }

    }

Answer 11

Here is a Swift 3 version of Anth0's answer. I'm posting it here to help any swift developers in wanting to take advantage of his great answer! I took the liberty of adding a return key type of "Next" when you set the associated object.

extension UITextField {

  @nonobjc static var NextHashKey: UniChar = 0

  var nextTextField: UITextField? {
    get {
      return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, 
        &UITextField.NextHashKey) as? UITextField
    }
    set(next) {
     self.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyType.next
     objc_setAssociatedObject(self,
      &UITextField.NextHashKey,next,.OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC)
    }
  }
}

Here is another extension that shows a possibility of using the above code to cycle through a list of UITextFields.

extension UIViewController: UITextFieldDelegate {
 public func textFieldShouldReturn(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
   guard let next = textField.nextTextField else {
     textField.resignFirstResponder()
     return true
   }

    next.becomeFirstResponder()
    return false
  }
}

And then in your ViewController or wherever, you can setup your textfields like so...

@IBOutlet fileprivate weak var textfield1: UITextField!
@IBOutlet fileprivate weak var textfield2: UITextField!
@IBOutlet fileprivate weak var textfield3: UITextField!

...

[textfield1, textfield2, textfield3].forEach{ $0?.delegate = self }

textfield1.nextTextField = textfield2
textfield2.nextTextField = textfield3
// We don't assign a nextTextField to textfield3 because we want 
// textfield3 to be the last one and resignFirstResponder when 
// the return button on the soft keyboard is tapped.

Answer 12

A swift extension that applies mxcl's answer to make this particularly easy (adapted to swift 2.3 by Traveler):

extension UITextField {
    class func connectFields(fields:[UITextField]) -> Void {
        guard let last = fields.last else {
            return
        }
        for i in 0 ..< fields.count - 1 {
            fields[i].returnKeyType = .Next
            fields[i].addTarget(fields[i+1], action: "becomeFirstResponder", forControlEvents: .EditingDidEndOnExit)
        }
        last.returnKeyType = .Done
        last.addTarget(last, action: #selector(UIResponder.resignFirstResponder), forControlEvents: .EditingDidEndOnExit)
    }
}

It's easy to use:

UITextField.connectFields([field1, field2, field3])

The extension will set the return button to "Next" for all but the last field and to "Done" for the last field, and shift focus / dismiss the keyboard when these are tapped.

Swift < 2.3

extension UITextField {
    class func connectFields(fields:[UITextField]) -> Void {
        guard let last = fields.last else {
            return
        }
        for var i = 0; i < fields.count - 1; i += 1 {
            fields[i].returnKeyType = .Next
            fields[i].addTarget(fields[i+1], action: "becomeFirstResponder", forControlEvents: .EditingDidEndOnExit)
        }
        last.returnKeyType = .Done
        last.addTarget(last, action: "resignFirstResponder", forControlEvents: .EditingDidEndOnExit)
    }
}

SWIFT 3: use like this -

UITextField.connectFields(fields: [field1, field2])

Extension:
    extension UITextField {
        class func connectFields(fields:[UITextField]) -> Void {
            guard let last = fields.last else {
                return
            }
            for i in 0 ..< fields.count - 1 {
                fields[i].returnKeyType = .next
                fields[i].addTarget(fields[i+1], action: #selector(UIResponder.becomeFirstResponder), for: .editingDidEndOnExit)
            }
            last.returnKeyType = .go
            last.addTarget(last, action: #selector(UIResponder.resignFirstResponder), for: .editingDidEndOnExit)
        }
    }

Answer 13

This is a simple solution in swift, with no tag using, no storyboard tricks...

Just use this extension :

extension UITextField{

    func nextTextFieldField() -> UITextField?{
        //field to return
        var returnField : UITextField?
        if self.superview != nil{
            //for each view in superview
            for (_, view) in self.superview!.subviews.enumerate(){
                //if subview is a text's field
                if view.isKindOfClass(UITextField){
                    //cast curent view as text field
                    let currentTextField = view as! UITextField
                    //if text field is after the current one
                    if currentTextField.frame.origin.y > self.frame.origin.y{
                        //if there is no text field to return already
                        if returnField == nil {
                            //set as default return
                            returnField = currentTextField
                        }
                            //else if this this less far than the other
                        else if currentTextField.frame.origin.y < returnField!.frame.origin.y{
                            //this is the field to return
                            returnField = currentTextField
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        //end of the mdethod
        return returnField
    }

}

And call it like this (for example) with your textfield delegate:

func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
    textField.resignFirstResponder()
    textField.nextTextFieldField()?.becomeFirstResponder()
    return true
}

Answer 14

This worked for me in Xamarin.iOS / Monotouch. Change the keyboard button to Next, pass the control to the next UITextField and hide the keyboard after the last UITextField.

private void SetShouldReturnDelegates(IEnumerable<UIView> subViewsToScout )
{
  foreach (var item in subViewsToScout.Where(item => item.GetType() == typeof (UITextField)))
  {
    (item as UITextField).ReturnKeyType = UIReturnKeyType.Next;
    (item as UITextField).ShouldReturn += (textField) =>
    {
        nint nextTag = textField.Tag + 1;
        var nextResponder = textField.Superview.ViewWithTag(nextTag);
        if (null != nextResponder)
            nextResponder.BecomeFirstResponder();
        else
            textField.Superview.EndEditing(true); 
            //You could also use textField.ResignFirstResponder(); 

        return false; // We do not want UITextField to insert line-breaks.
    };
  }
}

Inside the ViewDidLoad you'll have:

If your TextFields haven't a Tag set it now:

txtField1.Tag = 0;
txtField2.Tag = 1;
txtField3.Tag = 2;
//...

and just the call

SetShouldReturnDelegates(yourViewWithTxtFields.Subviews.ToList());
//If you are not sure of which view contains your fields you can also call it in a safer way:
SetShouldReturnDelegates(txtField1.Superview.Subviews.ToList());
//You can also reuse the same method with different containerViews in case your UITextField are under different views.

Answer 15

There is a much more elegant solution which blew me away the first time I saw it. Benefits:

• Closer to OSX textfield implementation where a textfield knows where the focus should go next
• Does not rely on setting or using tags -- which are, IMO fragile for this use case
• Can be extended to work with both UITextField and UITextView controls -- or any keyboard entry UI control
• Doesn't clutter your view controller with boilerplate UITextField delegate code
• Integrates nicely with IB and can be configured through the familiar option-drag-drop to connect outlets.

Create a UITextField subclass which has an IBOutlet property called nextField. Here's the header:

@interface SOTextField : UITextField

@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *nextField; 

@end

And here's the implementation:

@implementation SOTextField

@end

In your view controller, you'll create the -textFieldShouldReturn: delegate method:

- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField {
    if ([textField isKindOfClass:[SOTextField class]]) {
        UITextField *nextField = [(SOTextField *)textField nextField];

        if (nextField) {
            dispatch_async(dispatch_get_current_queue(), ^{
                [nextField becomeFirstResponder];
            });
        }
        else {
            [textField resignFirstResponder];
        }
    }

    return YES;
}

In IB, change your UITextFields to use the SOTextField class. Next, also in IB, set the delegate for each of the 'SOTextFields'to 'File's Owner' (which is right where you put the code for the delegate method - textFieldShouldReturn). The beauty of this design is that now you can simply right-click on any textField and assign the nextField outlet to the next SOTextField object you want to be the next responder.

Moreover, you can do cool things like loop the textFields so that after the last one loses focus, the first one will receive focus again.

This can easily be extended to automatically assign the returnKeyType of the SOTextField to a UIReturnKeyNext if there is a nextField assigned -- one less thing manually configure.

Answer 16

I've just created new Pod when dealing with this stuff GNTextFieldsCollectionManager. It automatically handles next/last textField problem and is very easy to use:

[[GNTextFieldsCollectionManager alloc] initWithView:self.view];

Grabs all textfields sorted by appearing in view hierarchy (or by tags), or you can specify your own array of textFields.

Answer 17

A more consistent and robust way is to use NextResponderTextField You can configure it totally from interface builder with no need for setting the delegate or using view.tag.

All you need to do is

1. Set the class type of your UITextField to be NextResponderTextField
2. Then set the outlet of the nextResponderField to point to the next responder it can be anything UITextField or any UIResponder subclass. It can be also a UIButton and the library is smart enough to trigger the TouchUpInside event of the button only if it's enabled.

Here is the library in action:

Answer 18

you can use IQKeyboardManager library to do this. it handle every thing, you don't need any additional setup.IQKeyboardManager is available through CocoaPods, to install it simply add the following line to your Podfile:

pod 'IQKeyboardManager'

or Just drag and drop IQKeyBoardManager directory from demo project to your project. That's it. you can find IQKeyBoardManager directory from https://github.com/hackiftekhar/IQKeyboardManager

Answer 19

I am surprised by how many answers here fail to understand one simple concept: navigating through controls in your app is not something the views themselves should do. It's the controller's job to decide which control to make the next first responder.

Also most answers only applied to navigating forward, but users may also want to go backwards.

So here's what I've come up with. Your form should be managed by a view controller, and view controllers are part of the responder chain. So you're perfectly free to implement the following methods:

#pragma mark - Key Commands

- (NSArray *)keyCommands
{
    static NSArray *commands;

    static dispatch_once_t once;
    dispatch_once(&once, ^{
        UIKeyCommand *const forward = [UIKeyCommand keyCommandWithInput:@"\t" modifierFlags:0 action:@selector(tabForward:)];
        UIKeyCommand *const backward = [UIKeyCommand keyCommandWithInput:@"\t" modifierFlags:UIKeyModifierShift action:@selector(tabBackward:)];

        commands = @[forward, backward];
    });

    return commands;
}

- (void)tabForward:(UIKeyCommand *)command
{
    NSArray *const controls = self.controls;
    UIResponder *firstResponder = nil;

    for (UIResponder *const responder in controls) {
        if (firstResponder != nil && responder.canBecomeFirstResponder) {
            [responder becomeFirstResponder]; return;
        }
        else if (responder.isFirstResponder) {
            firstResponder = responder;
        }
    }

    [controls.firstObject becomeFirstResponder];
}

- (void)tabBackward:(UIKeyCommand *)command
{
    NSArray *const controls = self.controls;
    UIResponder *firstResponder = nil;

    for (UIResponder *const responder in controls.reverseObjectEnumerator) {
        if (firstResponder != nil && responder.canBecomeFirstResponder) {
            [responder becomeFirstResponder]; return;
        }
        else if (responder.isFirstResponder) {
            firstResponder = responder;
        }
    }

    [controls.lastObject becomeFirstResponder];
}

Additional logic for scrolling offscreen responders visible beforehand may apply.

Another advantage of this approach is that you don't need to subclass all kinds of controls you may want to display (like UITextFields) but can instead manage the logic at controller level, where, let's be honest, is the right place to do so.

Answer 20

I've been using Michael G. Emmons' answer for about a year now, works great. I did notice recently that calling resignFirstResponder and then becomeFirstResponder immediately can cause the keyboard to "glitch", disappearing and then appearing immediately. I changed his version slightly to skip the resignFirstResponder if the nextField is available.

- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField
{ 

    if ([textField isKindOfClass:[NRTextField class]])
    {
        NRTextField *nText = (NRTextField*)textField;
        if ([nText nextField] != nil){
            dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(),
                           ^ { [[nText nextField] becomeFirstResponder]; });

        }
        else{
            [textField resignFirstResponder];
        }
    }
    else{
        [textField resignFirstResponder];
    }

    return true;

}

Answer 21

First set keyboard return key in xib, otherwise you can write code in viewdidload:

passWord.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyNext;

-(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField
{
    if(textField == eMail) {
        [textField resignFirstResponder];
        [userName becomeFirstResponder];
    }
    if (textField==userName) {
        [textField resignFirstResponder];
        [passWord becomeFirstResponder];
    }
    if (textField==passWord) {
        [textField resignFirstResponder];
        [country becomeFirstResponder];
    }
    if (textField==country) {
        [textField resignFirstResponder];
    }
    return YES;
}

Answer 22

Without usings tags and without adding a property for nextField/nextTextField, you can try this to emulate TAB, where "testInput" is your current active field:

if ([textInput isFirstResponder])
    [textInput.superview.subviews enumerateObjectsAtIndexes:
     [NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndexesInRange:
      NSMakeRange([textInput.superview.subviews indexOfObject:textInput]+1,
                  [textInput.superview.subviews count]-[textInput.superview.subviews indexOfObject:textInput]-1)]
                                                    options:0 usingBlock:^(UIView *obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
                                                        *stop = !obj.hidden && [obj becomeFirstResponder];
                                                    }];
if ([textInput isFirstResponder])
    [textInput.superview.subviews enumerateObjectsAtIndexes:
     [NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndexesInRange:
      NSMakeRange(0,
                  [textInput.superview.subviews indexOfObject:textInput])]
                                                    options:0 usingBlock:^(UIView *obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
                                                        *stop = !obj.hidden && [obj becomeFirstResponder];
                                                    }];

Answer 23

This is an old post, but has a high page rank so I'll chime in with my solution.

I had a similar issue and ended up creating a subclass of UIToolbar to manage the next/previous/done functionality in a dynamic tableView with sections: https://github.com/jday001/DataEntryToolbar

You set the toolbar as inputAccessoryView of your text fields and add them to its dictionary. This allows you to cycle through them forwards and backwards, even with dynamic content. There are delegate methods if you want to trigger your own functionality when textField navigation happens, but you don't have to deal with managing any tags or first responder status.

There are code snippets & an example app at the GitHub link to help with the implementation details. You will need your own data model to keep track of the values inside the fields.

Answer 24

I had about 10+ UITextField in my story board and the way I enabled next functionality was by creating an array of UITextField and making the next UITextField the firstResponder. Here's the implementation file:

#import "RegistrationTableViewController.h"

@interface RegistrationTableViewController ()
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *fullNameTextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *addressTextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *address2TextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *cityTextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *zipCodeTextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *urlTextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *usernameTextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *emailTextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *passwordTextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *confirmPWTextField;

@end
NSArray *uiTextFieldArray;
@implementation RegistrationTableViewController

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    NSLog(@"view did load");
    uiTextFieldArray = @[self.fullNameTextField,self.addressTextField,self.address2TextField,self.cityTextField,self.zipCodeTextField,self.urlTextField,self.usernameTextField,self.emailTextField,self.passwordTextField,self.confirmPWTextField];
    for(UITextField *myField in uiTextFieldArray){
        myField.delegate = self;
    }


}
-(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField{
    long index = [uiTextFieldArray indexOfObject:textField];
    NSLog(@"%ld",index);
    if(index < (uiTextFieldArray.count - 1)){
        [uiTextFieldArray[++index] becomeFirstResponder];
    }else{
        [uiTextFieldArray[index] resignFirstResponder];
    }
    return YES;
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning {
    [super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
    // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}

@end

Answer 25

if (cell == nil)
{
    cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:cellIdentifier];
    txt_Input = [[ UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 10, 150, 30)];
    txt_Input.tag = indexPath.row+1;
    [self.array_Textfields addObject:txt_Input]; // Initialize mutable array in ViewDidLoad
}

-(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField
{

    int tag = ( int) textField.tag ;
    UITextField * txt = [  self.array_Textfields objectAtIndex:tag ] ;
    [ txt becomeFirstResponder] ;
    return YES ;
}

Answer 26

I rather prefer to:

@interface MyViewController : UIViewController
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutletCollection(UIView) NSArray *inputFields;
@end

In the NIB file I hook the textFields in the desired order into this inputFields array. After that I do a simple test for the index of the UITextField that reports that the user tapped return:

// for UITextField
-(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField*)textField {
    NSUInteger index = [_inputFields indexOfObject:textField];
    index++;
    if (index < _inputFields.count) {
        UIView *v = [_inputFields objectAtIndex:index];
        [v becomeFirstResponder];
    }
    return NO;
}

// for UITextView
-(BOOL)textView:(UITextView*)textView shouldChangeTextInRange:(NSRange)range replacementText:(NSString*)text {
    if ([@"\n" isEqualToString:text]) {
        NSUInteger index = [_inputFields indexOfObject:textView];
        index++;
        if (index < _inputFields.count) {
            UIView *v = [_inputFields objectAtIndex:index];
            [v becomeFirstResponder];
        } else {
            [self.view endEditing:YES];
        }
        return NO;
    }
    return YES;
}

Answer 27

I tried to solve this problem using a more sophisticated approach based on assigning each cell (or UITextField) in a UITableView a unique tag value that can be later retrieved: activate-next-uitextfield-in-uitableview-ios

I hope this helps!

Answer 28

Hi to everyone please see this one

- (void)nextPrevious:(id)sender
{

  UIView *responder = [self.view findFirstResponder];   

  if (nil == responder || ![responder isKindOfClass:[GroupTextField class]]) {
    return;
  }

  switch([(UISegmentedControl *)sender selectedSegmentIndex]) {
    case 0:
      // previous
      if (nil != ((GroupTextField *)responder).previousControl) {
        [((GroupTextField *)responder).previousControl becomeFirstResponder];
        DebugLog(@"currentControl: %i previousControl: %i",((GroupTextField *)responder).tag,((GroupTextField *)responder).previousControl.tag);
      }
      break;
    case 1:
      // next
      if (nil != ((GroupTextField *)responder).nextControl) {
        [((GroupTextField *)responder).nextControl becomeFirstResponder];
        DebugLog(@"currentControl: %i nextControl: %i",((GroupTextField *)responder).tag,((GroupTextField *)responder).nextControl.tag);
      }     
      break;    
  }
}

Answer 29

I have added to PeyloW's answer in case you're looking to implement a previous/next button functionality:

- (IBAction)moveThroughTextFields:(UIBarButtonItem *)sender 
{
    NSInteger nextTag;
    UITextView *currentTextField = [self.view findFirstResponderAndReturn];

    if (currentTextField != nil) {
        // I assigned tags to the buttons.  0 represent prev & 1 represents next
        if (sender.tag == 0) {
            nextTag = currentTextField.tag - 1;

        } else if (sender.tag == 1) {
            nextTag = currentTextField.tag + 1;
        }
    }
    // Try to find next responder
    UIResponder* nextResponder = [self.view viewWithTag:nextTag];
    if (nextResponder) {
        // Found next responder, so set it.
        // I added the resign here in case there's different keyboards in place.
        [currentTextField resignFirstResponder];
        [nextResponder becomeFirstResponder];
    } else {
        // Not found, so remove keyboard.
        [currentTextField resignFirstResponder];

    }
}

Where you subclass the UIView like this:

@implementation UIView (FindAndReturnFirstResponder)
- (UITextView *)findFirstResponderAndReturn
{
    for (UITextView *subView in self.subviews) {
        if (subView.isFirstResponder){
            return subView;
        }
    }
    return nil;
}
@end

Answer 30

 -(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField
{
   [[self.view viewWithTag:textField.tag+1] becomeFirstResponder];
   return YES;
}