Enable copy and paste on UITextField without making it editable

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

Solution 1:

My final solution was the following:

I created a subclass of UILabel (UITextField should work the same) that displays a UIMenuController after being tapped. CopyableLabel.m looks like this:

@implementation CopyableLabel


- (BOOL)canPerformAction:(SEL)action withSender:(id)sender {
if(action == @selector(copy:)) {
    return YES;
}
else {
    return [super canPerformAction:action withSender:sender];
}
}


- (BOOL)canBecomeFirstResponder {
return YES;
}


- (BOOL)becomeFirstResponder {
if([super becomeFirstResponder]) {
    self.highlighted = YES;
    return YES;
}
return NO;
}


- (void)copy:(id)sender {
UIPasteboard *board = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard];
[board setString:self.text];
self.highlighted = NO;
[self resignFirstResponder];
}


- (void)touchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
if([self isFirstResponder]) {
    self.highlighted = NO;
    UIMenuController *menu = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];
    [menu setMenuVisible:NO animated:YES];
    [menu update];
    [self resignFirstResponder];
}
else if([self becomeFirstResponder]) {
    UIMenuController *menu = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];
    [menu setTargetRect:self.bounds inView:self];
    [menu setMenuVisible:YES animated:YES];
}
}


@end

Solution 2:

This question is pretty old and I'm surprised nobody has posted a solution without subclassing. The idea presented in @mrueg's answer is correct, but you shouldn't need to subclass anything. I just came across this problem and solved it like this:

In my view controller:

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    self.textField.delegate = self;
    self.textField.text = @"Copyable, non-editable string.";
}

- (BOOL)canBecomeFirstResponder {
    return YES;
}

- (void)copyTextFieldContent:(id)sender {
    UIPasteboard* pb = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard];
    pb.string = self.textField.text;
}

- (BOOL)textFieldShouldBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField {
    // UIKit changes the first responder after this method, so we need to show the copy menu after this method returns.
    dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(0.3*NSEC_PER_SEC)), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
         [self becomeFirstResponder];
         UIMenuController* menuController = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];
         UIMenuItem* copyItem = [[UIMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Copy"
                                                           action:@selector(copyTextFieldContent:)];
         menuController.menuItems = @[copyItem];
         CGRect selectionRect = textField.frame;
         [menuController setTargetRect:selectionRect inView:self.view];
         [menuController setMenuVisible:YES animated:YES];
     });
     return NO;
}

If you want to make this work for a UILabel, it should work the same way with just adding a tap gesture recognizer instead of using the delegate method.

Solution 3:

This will do everything you need. Will be copyable. But not editable, and won't show a keyboard or a cursor.

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    @IBOutlet weak var copyableUneditableTextfield: UITextField!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        copyableUneditableTextfield.delegate = self
        copyableUneditableTextfield.inputView = UIView()   //prevents keyboard     
        copyableUneditableTextfield.tintColor = .clear     //prevents cursor
        copyableUneditableTextfield.text = "Some Text You Want User To Copy But Not Edit"

    }

}

extension ViewController: UITextFieldDelegate {

    func textField(_ textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {
        return false //prevents editing
    }

}

Solution 4:

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