Using "Next" as a Return Key

I use the "Next" value for the "Return Key" to get the Next button in place of the Done button, but (obviously) pressing it doesn't automatically move to the next UITextField in my view.

What's the right way to do this? I have seen many answers, but anyone have a swift solution?

Solution 1:

Make sure your text fields have their delegate set and implement the textFieldShouldReturn method. This is the method that is called when the user taps the return key (no matter what it looks like).

The method might look something like this:

func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
    if textField == self.field1 {
        self.field2.becomeFirstResponder()
    }

    return true
}

The actual logic in here might vary. There are numerous approaches, and I'd definitely advise against a massive if/else chain if you have lots of text fields, but the gist here is to determine what view is currently active in order to determine what view should become active. Once you've determined which view should become active, call that view's becomeFirstResponder method.

For some code cleanliness, you might consider a UITextField extension that looks something like this:

private var kAssociationKeyNextField: UInt8 = 0

extension UITextField {
    var nextField: UITextField? {
        get {
            return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &kAssociationKeyNextField) as? UITextField
        }
        set(newField) {
            objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &kAssociationKeyNextField, newField, .OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN)
        }
    }
}

And then change our textFieldShouldReturn method to look like this:

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

Once you've done this, it should simply be a matter of setting each text field's new nextField property in viewDidLoad:

self.field1.nextField = self.field2
self.field2.nextField = self.field3
self.field3.nextField = self.field4
self.field4.nextField = self.field1

Although if we really wanted, we could prefix the property with @IBOutlet, and that would allow us to hook up our "nextField" property right in interface builder.

Change the extension to look like this:

private var kAssociationKeyNextField: UInt8 = 0

extension UITextField {
    @IBOutlet var nextField: UITextField? {
        get {
            return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &kAssociationKeyNextField) as? UITextField
        }
        set(newField) {
            objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &kAssociationKeyNextField, newField, .OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN)
        }
    }
}

And now hook up the nextField property in interface builder:

(Set up your delegate while you're here too.)

And of course, if the nextField property returns nil, the keyboard just hides.

Solution 2:

Here is an example in Swift:

I created a screen with 6 UITextFields. I assigned them the tags 1 through 6 in Interface Builder. I also changed the Return key to Next in IB. Then I implemented the following:

import UIKit

// Make your ViewController a UITextFieldDelegate    
class ViewController: UIViewController, UITextFieldDelegate {

    // Use a dictionary to define text field order 1 goes to 2, 2 goes to 3, etc.
    let nextField = [1:2, 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, 5:6, 6:1]

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.

        // Make ourselves the delegate of the text fields so that textFieldShouldReturn
        // will be called when the user hits the Next/Return key
        for i in 1...6 {
            if let textField = self.view.viewWithTag(i) as? UITextField {
                textField.delegate = self
            }
        }
    }

    // This is called when the user hits the Next/Return key        
    func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
        // Consult our dictionary to find the next field
        if let nextTag = nextField[textField.tag] {
            if let nextResponder = textField.superview?.viewWithTag(nextTag) {
                // Have the next field become the first responder
                nextResponder.becomeFirstResponder()
            }
        }
        // Return false here to avoid Next/Return key doing anything
        return false
    }

    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
        // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
    }
}

Solution 3:

There is nothing wrong with the other answers, this is just a different approach with the benefit of being more focused on OOP - imho (although this is a bit more work up front, it can be reused). In the storyboard, I start off adding tags with a distinct range (e.g 800-810) that define the specific order of the fields I want to move between. This has the benefit of working across all subviews in the main view so that one can navigate between UITextField's and UITextView's (and any other control) as needed.

Generally - I typically try to have view controllers message between views and custom event handler objects. So I use a message (aka, NSNotification) passed back to the view controller from a custom delegate class.

(TextField Delegate Handler)

Note: In AppDelegate.swift: let defaultCenter = NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter()

//Globally scoped
struct MNGTextFieldEvents {
    static let NextButtonTappedForTextField = "MNGTextFieldHandler.NextButtonTappedForTextField"
}

class MNGTextFieldHandler: NSObject, UITextFieldDelegate {

    var fields:[UITextField]? = []

    func textField(textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersInRange range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {
        return true
    }
    func textFieldDidBeginEditing(textField: UITextField) {
        textField.backgroundColor = UIColor.yellowColor()
    }
    func textFieldDidEndEditing(textField: UITextField) {
        textField.backgroundColor = UIColor.whiteColor()
    }
    func textFieldShouldBeginEditing(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
        return true
    }
    func textFieldShouldClear(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
        return false
    }
    func textFieldShouldEndEditing(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
        return true
    }
    func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {

        //passes the message and the textField (with tag) calling the method
        defaultCenter.postNotification(NSNotification(name: MNGTextFieldEvents.NextButtonTappedForTextField, object: textField))

        return false
    }
}

This allows my view controller to remain focused on it's main job of handling the messaging between objects, model and view.

(View Controller receives a message from the delegate and passes instructions using the advanceToNextField function)

Note: In my storyboard my custom handler classes are defined using an NSObject and that object is linked into the storyboard as a delegate for the controls that I need monitored. Which causes the custom handler class to be initialized automatically.

class MyViewController: UIViewController {
    @IBOutlet weak var tagsField: UITextField! { didSet {
        (tagsField.delegate as? MNGTextFieldHandler)!.fields?.append(tagsField)
        }
    }
    @IBOutlet weak var titleField: UITextField!{ didSet {
        (titleField.delegate as? MNGTextFieldHandler)!.fields?.append(titleField)
        }
    }
    @IBOutlet weak var textView: UITextView! { didSet {
     (textView.delegate as? MNGTextViewHandler)!.fields?.append(textView)

        }
    }

    private struct Constants {
     static let SelectorAdvanceToNextField = Selector("advanceToNextField:")
}
    override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) {
        super.viewWillAppear(animated)
        registerEventObservers()
    }
    override func viewDidDisappear(animated: Bool) {
        super.viewDidDisappear(animated)
        deRegisterEventObservers()
    }

    func advanceToNextField(notification:NSNotification) {
        let currentTag = (notification.object as! UIView).tag

        for aView in self.view.subviews {
            if aView.tag == currentTag + 1 {
                aView.becomeFirstResponder()
            }
        }
    }

    func registerEventObservers () {

        defaultCenter.addObserver(self, selector: Constants.SelectorAdvanceToNextField, name: MNGTextFieldEvents.NextButtonTappedForTextField, object: nil)
    }

    func deRegisterEventObservers() {

        defaultCenter.removeObserver(self, name: MNGTextFieldEvents.NextButtonTappedForTextField, object: nil)
    }

    ....
}

Solution 4:

Just another way to achieve the result that I found helpful. My app had 11 text fields followed by a text view. I needed to be able to cycle through all fields using the next key and then resign the keyboard following the textview (i.e. other notes).

In the storyboard, I set the tag on all of the fields (both text and textview) starting with 1 through 12, 12 being the textview.

I'm sure there are other ways to do it and this method isn't perfect, but hopefully it helps someone.

In code, I wrote the following:

func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {

    let nextTag = textField.tag + 1

    //Handle Textview transition, Textfield programmatically
    if textField.tag == 11 {
        //Current tag is 11, next field is a textview
        self.OtherNotes.becomeFirstResponder()

    } else if nextTag > 11 {
        //12 is the end, close keyboard
        textField.resignFirstResponder()

    } else {
        //Between 1 and 11 cycle through using next button
        let nextResponder = self.view.viewWithTag(nextTag) as? UITextField
        nextResponder?.becomeFirstResponder()

    }

    return false
}

func textFieldDidEndEditing(textField: UITextField) {

    textField.resignFirstResponder()
}

func textView(textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextInRange range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {

    //Remove keyboard when clicking Done on keyboard
    if(text == "\n") {
        textView.resignFirstResponder()
        return false
    }
    return true
}