I'd like to change the background image of a UITextField when it becomes the firstResponder to show the user that it has focus, similar to the :active or :focus pseudo-classes in CSS.
I'm guessing that I may need to do this programmatically; so any help is greatly appreciated.
-Giles
You might as well use the UITextFieldDelegate methods (IMHO, easier to maintain than key-value observers):
#pragma mark -
#pragma mark UITextFieldDelegate methods
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField
{
_field.background = [UIImage imageNamed:@"focus.png"];
return YES;
}
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldEndEditing:(UITextField *)textField
{
_field.background = [UIImage imageNamed:@"nofocus.png"];
return YES;
}
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField
{
[textField resignFirstResponder];
return YES;
}
This only works when the UITextField.borderStyle property is of any type but UITextBorderStyleRoundedRect (in that case, the background property is not taken into account). This means you might use the code above with UITextBorderStyleBezel, UITextBorderStyleLine and UITextBorderStyleNone, as explained in the borderStyle documentation:
borderStyle
The border style used by the text field.
@property(nonatomic) UITextBorderStyle borderStyle
Discussion
The default value for this property is
UITextBorderStyleNone. If a custom
background image is set, this property
is ignored.
This is the documentation for the background property of UITextField:
background
The image that represents the
background appearance of the text
field when it is enabled.
@property(nonatomic, retain) UIImage
*background
Discussion
When set, the image referred to by
this property replaces the standard
appearance controlled by the
borderStyle property. Background
images are drawn in the border
rectangle portion of the image. Images
you use for the text field’s
background should be able to stretch
to fit.
The cleanest way IMHO is to subclass UITextField
and override becomeFirstResponder
and resignFirstResponder
to change the background image of the text field. That way, you can use your new subclass anywhere without having to reimplement the delegate methods to change the background.
- (BOOL)becomeFirstResponder {
BOOL outcome = [super becomeFirstResponder];
if (outcome) {
self.background = // selected state image;
}
return outcome;
}
- (BOOL)resignFirstResponder {
BOOL outcome = [super resignFirstResponder];
if (outcome) {
self.background = // normal state image;
}
return outcome;
}
You can probably try observing for changes to isFirstResponder. and changing the background in the notification method. Something like:
[textField addObserver:theObserver forKeyPath:@"isFirstResponder" options:0 context:nil];
Then in the observer:
- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object change:(NSDictionary *)change context:(void *)context {
if(object == textField && [keyPath isEqual:@"isFirstResponder"]) {
//fiddle with object here
}
}
SWIFT 4
textField.addTarget(self, action: #selector(anyFunction), for: UIControlEvents.editingDidBegin)
@objc func anyFunction() {
// Add your conde here
}