How do I create and add multiple UITextField to my controller?
I can create one, like this:
UITextField *tf = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(5,5,100,25)];
tf.borderStyle = UITextBorderStyleRoundedRect;
[tf setReturnKeyType:UIReturnKeyDefault];
[tf setEnablesReturnKeyAutomatically:YES];
[tf setDelegate:self];
[self.view addSubview:tf]
But do I need to do that for each UITextField?
Whats the best approach to template UI Controls?
Put it in a loop, offset each text field's Y position and tag each text field:
for (int i = ; i < numberOfTextFieldsNeeded; i++) {
UITextField *tf = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(5, 5 + 35 * i ,100,25)]; // 10 px padding between each view
tf.tag = i + 1; // tag it for future reference (+1 because tag is 0 by default which might create problems)
tf.borderStyle = UITextBorderStyleRoundedRect;
[tf setReturnKeyType:UIReturnKeyDefault];
[tf setEnablesReturnKeyAutomatically:YES];
[tf setDelegate:self];
[self.view addSubview:tf]
// don't forget to do [tf release]; if not using ARC
}
Then in delegate methods perform actions based on tag of the textField that called each delegate method. For example to switch to next text view when user taps return key:
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldEndEditing:(UITextField *)textField
{
[textField resignFirstResponder];
UITextField *nextTextField = [self.view viewWithTag:textField.tag + 1];
[nextTextField becomeFirstResponder];
}
Keep in mind that sending messages to nil in Objective-C will not crash so it will be perfectly fine when user taps return key in last text field as UITextField *nextTextField = [self.view viewWithTag:textField.tag + 1]; will return nil, and calling becomeFirstResponder on nil will do nothing. But you can check if nextTextField is nil and do something else then, whatever you like.
You can use interface builder to create a view (bigger than the size that the screen fits) and programmatically add it to a scrollView. This is in my opinion the best approach.
