iOS - Dynamically display custom keyboards? - objective-c

I've rolled my own keyboard view for an ipad app, mimicking the dimensions of the standard docked keyboard. I noticed that if the user last used a split keyboard, it tries to display my custom view at the position and dimensions of the split keyboard, with suboptimal results. So, I've created a split keyboard version of the view, and would like to display the standard or split version dynamically.
The issue, however is setting the textField's inputView in time - the soonest it seems I can examine the keyboard's properties is from a UIKeyboardWillChangeFrame or UIKeyboardWillShow notification - however, this is too late as the keyboard view already seems to have been loaded.

Related

Keep textfield above keyboard

I am trying to figure out how to keep the textfield about the keyboard in IOS. I tried the different code on stackoverflow but none works perfectly. Like if the textfield is above the keyboard and I click on the field, it does not move up. How can I show the textfield above the keyboard at all times? thanks!
lakesh's link is an excellent resource to look at.
There are essentially two ways to handle the situation.
Method 1:
You can encapsulate your view inside a UIScrollView and when the keyboard pops up, you should scroll your entire view up an equal distance to account for the space taken up by the keyboard.
Method 2:
Take the ultimate parent UIView inside your current UIViewController and change its frame (ideally with an animation) so that it moves off the top of the screen and makes way for the keyboard.
As a general guide, Method 1 is the preferred method. This is because you can still access the UI 'higher up' in the UIScrollView by scrolling up to it (consider say, a form with multiple fields). In Method 2 the user cannot return to the other elements in the view without the keyboard first being dismissed. Of course, it may be that you don't need to see the rest of the view while accepting keyboard input, but that decision is up to you.

iOS 6 AppStore apps list UIScrollView behaviour

Does anyone know how to implement the behaviour of scrollview in iOS 6 AppStore app lists? Particularly, paging of 3,5 icons (half of icon in the right side), and when the list ends - half of the icon in the left side.
Tried so far:
1. Custom gesture recognizer (looks a bit hacky + a lot of math in the code)
2. Different configurations of scrollview and its subviews (insets, frame, content size, etc.), but it's still not working as expected
I am not 100% sure if the App Store app actually uses UIScrollView - it used to be mainly HTML based.
Regardless, you should be able to use the relatively new delegate method scrollViewWillEndDragging:withVelocity:targetContentOffset:, introduced in iOS 5. This method is designed for you to move the scroll view to a custom position once the user lifts their finger without needing to worry about deceleration / velocity (i.e, custom paging offsets). You'll need to make sure your scroll view is set not to page for this delegate method to be triggered.
Once it is triggered (when the user lifts their finger off the screen) you can calculate the required content offset and set the passed in targetContentOffset property. The scroll view will then automatically decelerate to the appropriate content offset you supplied.

How do I properly move a scrollview when assigning a first responder?

I have a form in a UIView which consist of multiple textfields, couple of textviews and two fields that are interacted with by the means of an invisible button overlaid on them. When you click on a textfield, the keyboard pops up for text entry and I added a toolbar on it for navigating to the previous and next data entry (whatever the data entry is, be it a textfield, textview or one of the two special cases that are interacted with a button). Now, when I navigate with between textfields with those buttons everything works fine. My scrollview's content moves along the element that becomes the firstresponder (with the help of a piece of code from stackoverflow that scrolls the view while taking into account the height of the keyboard that hides a good portion of it). Here is a visual example.
The problem arises when I want to switch out of a specific data entry (date) that interacts with a hidden button. I'll give some context first. Those data entries show datepickers (one for the date, another for the time) in action sheets, and those action sheets also have navigating button in a toolbar, like so.
The code from stackoverflow that readjust the view do so in the didBeginEditing delegate methods of the textfields and textviews, so when I assign them first responder the scrollview adjust itself while taking into account the keyboard.
This means that, in the case that I switch into a special data entry, I manually move the scrollview's content so I can view the next element. When I switch from a special entry into a textfield I assume that the previously mentioned code from stackoverflow kicks in and adjust the view. It actually does when I move from the hour data entry (which uses a datepicker in an actionsheet) into the next element which is a textfield. However, when I'm at the date data entry (which is directly before the hour data entry) and press previous to assign the first responder to the textfield above it, the scrollview goes way ahead the text field, like so.
What's important to note is that this problem only occurs when the textfield is not in view. This makes me suspect that I'm incorrectly using the code that readjust the view. For instance, there is a constant in the code that represents the height of the keyboard. I tried changing it from 216 to 260 (so it takes into account my toolbar added on top of the keyboard) but this results in strange black artifacts near the buttom that only occasionally appears.
I'm kind of lost in this bug, and my post is already pretty long. I've prepared an example of my problem in a new project, if any of you could take a look into it I'd be very appreciative.
Here it is

Could the view to be pushed up when the keyboard occur?

I have created some textfields at the bottom that required users to entry. Is there any method that can push up the view automatically when the keyboard occur?
See Apple's Moving Content That Is Located Under the Keyboard, or this implementation based in Calculating Area Covered by Keyboard.
Basically you have to mount your view on a UIScrollView and add a bottom content inset with the same height than the keyboard. Then scroll using setContentOffset:animated:. This is a generic solution that you can reuse.
A more simple but non generic way is, if you have enough space at the bottom of your view without editable controls, you just scroll to a fixed position for each edit box.
use the -contentoffset property of your view.

iPad UIButtons responding to external keyboard input

I'm writing an app based around a calculator-like UI. On an iPad, I'd like the number UIButtons on my calculator UI to respond to the numbers on the external keyboard. I have no text input anywhere in the app, and I'd never want an on-screen keyboard to appear. How do I get my UIButtons to respond to specific key presses as if they'd been touched?
I'd say create a hidden UITextField with the delegate set, make it become the first responder upon viewDidLoad. The keyboard won't appear when a bluetooth keyboard is connected as far as I know, then just check what characters are typed in the shouldChangecharactersInRange and activate the right buttons accordingly.
EDIT: a quick example I just made, https://github.com/benjaminq42/buttonTest , if you wish to have a highlight animation of some sorts you need to create a custom UIButton class. You can use 'setHighlighted' but that 'sticks'.