How would I grow <TextInput> height upon text wrapping? - react-native

Question

I'm trying to create a <TextInput> that can grow in height when the text wraps to the next line, similar to how Slack's message input grows with the text up to a point.
I have the multiline prop set, so it is wrapping but the docs don't seem to mention any event regarding wrapping, and the only thing I can think of is a really hacky strategy to character count to figure out when to increase height of the input. How would I accomplish this?
https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/textinput.html

Answer 1

Thanks to react-native doc: https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/textinput.html
You can do something like that:
class AutoExpandingTextInput extends React.Component {
state: any;
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {text: '', height: 0};
}
render() {
return (
<TextInput
{...this.props}
multiline={true}
onChange={(event) => {
this.setState({
text: event.nativeEvent.text,
height: event.nativeEvent.contentSize.height,
});
}}
style={[styles.default, {height: Math.max(35, this.state.height)}]}
value={this.state.text}
/>
);
}
}
0.46.1 or higher: (as explained by Nicolas de Chevigné)
class AutoExpandingTextInput extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {text: '', height: 0};
}
render() {
return (
<TextInput
{...this.props}
multiline={true}
onChangeText={(text) => {
this.setState({ text })
}}
onContentSizeChange={(event) => {
this.setState({ height: event.nativeEvent.contentSize.height })
}}
style={[styles.default, {height: Math.max(35, this.state.height)}]}
value={this.state.text}
/>
);
}
}

Answer 2

Since React Native 0.46.1 :
contentSize property was removed from TextInput.onChange event
If you use this version, you can deal with onContentSizeChange prop
From the Jérémy answer, we have
class AutoExpandingTextInput extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
text: '',
height: 0
};
}
render() {
return (
<TextInput
{...this.props}
multiline={true}
onChangeText={(text) => {
this.setState({ text })
}}
onContentSizeChange={(event) => {
this.setState({ height: event.nativeEvent.contentSize.height })
}}
style={[styles.default, {height: Math.max(35, this.state.height)}]}
value={this.state.text}
/>
);
}
}

Answer 3

You should just set a maxHeight property in the style:
<TextInput multiline style={{maxHeight: 80}} />
Demo here: https://snack.expo.io/#yairopro/multiline-input-with-max-height

Answer 4

My answer is to use onContentSizeChange and numberOfLines props in TextInput, of course turn on multiline, this is my solution:
let numOfLinesCompany = 0;
<TextInput
...
multiline={true}
numberOfLines={numOfLinesCompany}
onContentSizeChange={(e) => {
numOfLinesCompany = e.nativeEvent.contentSize.height / 18;
}}
/>
18 is the height of text, propably depends on fontSize

Answer 5

Shoutout to Jérémy Magrin for his answer. This is his code but refactored to use functional components and hooks.
Note, you might need to use minHight instead of height in some RN versions.
const AutoExpandingTextInput = ({...props})=> {
const [text, setText] = useState('');
const [height, setHeight] = useState();
return (
<TextInput
{...props}
multiline={true}
onChangeText={text => {
setText(text);
}}
onContentSizeChange={event => {
setHeight(event.nativeEvent.contentSize.height);
}}
style={[styles.default, {height: height}]}
value={text}
/>
);
}

Answer 6

<TextInput multiline style={{maxHeight: ...}} />

Answer 7

In the hooks.
const [inputHeight, setInputHeight] = React.useState(40);
<TextInput
multiline
style={{ inputHeight }}
onContentSizeChange={(event) => {
setInputHeight(event.nativeEvent.contentSize.height);
}}
/>

Answer 8

What I have done is set View for the Input max height, for example:
messageBox: {
maxHeight: 110,
width: '80%',
borderRadius: 10,
padding: 10,
backgroundColor: Color.White},
and set the Input to multiline:
<View style={[styles.messageBox, styles.managerMsg]}>
<Input
allowFontScaling={false}
name="notes"
blurOnSubmit={false}
onChangeText={notes => console.log(notes)}
returnKeyType="go"
onSubmitEditing={() => Keyboard.dismiss()}
multiline
/>
</View>
This "Input" is just a simple custom component that receives all Props.

Answer 9

You might as well try something like this.
<TextInput style={[styles.inputs,{height: Math.max(35, this.state.height)}]}
placeholder="Write a message..."
multiline={true}
onChangeText={(msg) => this.setState({ text: msg })}
onSubmitEditing={Keyboard.dismiss}
onContentSizeChange = {() => this.scrollView.scrollToEnd({animated:true})}
/>
style.inputs
inputs: {
minHeight:40,
marginLeft: 16,
paddingTop: 10,
overflow:'hidden',
padding: 15,
paddingRight: 25,
borderBottomColor: '#000000',
flex: 1,
position: 'absolute',
width: '100%',
},
When the text grows beyond one line, a scroll view is created within the text input field and scrolls automatically to the bottom. This actually doesn't increase the text input height when the content grows, instead, a scroll view is created within the input field. Serves the purpose.
I'm posting my solution as others didn't work for me(the text input size grew behind the keyboard, and there were text-overflow issues).
Hence, for anyone who faced a similar problem as I did, this would hopefully work for you.

Answer 10

<View style={{flex:1}}>
<TextInput
multiline={true} />
</View>

Answer 11

You can also use onChangeText to set the TextInput height like so.
const textHeight = 19 //fontsize of the text
<TextInput
style={[styles.input,
{height:Math.max(40,inputHeight)}]}
onChangeText= {text => {
const height = text.split("\n").length
setInputHeight(height * textHeight)
}}
multiline
/>

Answer 12

Just use multiline={true} no need to set height. check the following
<SafeAreaView style={{flex:1, backgroundColor:"#F8F8F9"}}>
<ScrollView style={{flex:1}}>
{
this.state.data && <CommentListView data={this.state.data} onReplyClick={this.onReplyClick}/>
}
</ScrollView>
<View style={{bottom:Platform.OS=="ios" ? this.state.keyboardHeight : 0, flexDirection:"row", alignItems:"flex-end", padding:10}}>
<TextInput
multiline={true}
style={{flex:3, backgroundColor:"#EFEFEF", borderRadius:5, padding:10}}
value={this.state.comment}
onChangeText={(text)=> this.setState({comment:text})}
/>
<TouchableOpacity style={{flex:1}} onPress={()=> this.submit()}>
<Text style={{padding:13, color:"#fff", textAlign:"center", fontWeight:"bold", backgroundColor:"#00394D", borderWidth:1, borderColor:"#00FFEE", borderRadius:5, overflow: "hidden"}}>Post</Text>
</TouchableOpacity>
</View>
</SafeAreaView>