How to left align UISearchBar placeholder text

Question

I need to make a custom search bar like this. The problem I am having is left aligning the placeholder text, as well as placing the search icon in the right. I have a png of the search icon that I have tried to use in an UIImageView, and set that UIImageView as the rightView of the UISearchBar's UITextField. This solution has not worked, and I ran out of ideas. Does anyone have a solution?

Answer 1

it could be done from story board there is combo box with name semantic on attribute inspector of search bar if you set it to force right to left its done you have right align search bar and it has a similar thing for aligning from left

Answer 2

SWIFT 3

swift 3 does not allow to override placeholder property. This is the modified version of Drix answer.

func setPlaceHolder(placeholder: String)-> String
   {

       var text = placeholder
           if text.characters.last! != " " {

               //                         define a max size

               let maxSize = CGSize(width: UIScreen.main.bounds.size.width - 97, height: 40)

               //                        let maxSize = CGSizeMake(self.bounds.size.width - 92, 40)
               // get the size of the text
               let widthText = text.boundingRect( with: maxSize, options: .usesLineFragmentOrigin, attributes:nil, context:nil).size.width
               // get the size of one space
               let widthSpace = " ".boundingRect( with: maxSize, options: .usesLineFragmentOrigin, attributes:nil, context:nil).size.width
               let spaces = floor((maxSize.width - widthText) / widthSpace)
               // add the spaces
               let newText = text + ((Array(repeating: " ", count: Int(spaces)).joined(separator: "")))
               // apply the new text if nescessary
               if newText != text {
                   return newText
               }

           }

       return placeholder;
   }

and call the function as :

searchBar.placeholder = self.setPlaceHolder(placeholder: "your placeholder text");

Answer 3

No need to any customization just do it...

    searchBar.placeholder=@"Search                                                        ";

searchbar has centeral text alignment for its place-hoder , so just give some big text. and if you text is small then just use some space after place-holder text.

Answer 4

It's too late, but if anyone is still wondering the solution, then you can follow this.

UITextField *searchTextField = [searchBarController.searchBar valueForKey:@"_searchField"];

You can get the search field using above code. Now simply use the properties you want to use, like.

searchTextField.layer.cornerRadius = 10.0f;
searchTextField.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentLeft;

PS. Text alignment property is used for text and placeholder both. Thanks.

Answer 5

Based in Mohittomar answer, as asked by @DevC to add spaces to the end of the place holder, here the code in swift:

I subclass placeholder in the UISearchBar, after set the value, I check if the last character is a space. then get the size of one space and how many spaces I need to add to align left.

class SearchBar: UISearchBar, UISearchBarDelegate {
override var placeholder:String? {
    didSet {
        if let text = placeholder {
            if text.last != " " {

// get the font attribute
                let attr = UITextField.s_appearanceWhenContainedIn(SearchBar).defaultTextAttributes
// define a max size
                let maxSize = CGSizeMake(UIScreen.mainScreen().bounds.size.width - 60, 40)
// get the size of the text
                var widthText = text.boundingRectWithSize( maxSize, options: .UsesLineFragmentOrigin, attributes:attr, context:nil).size.width
// get the size of one space
                var widthSpace = " ".boundingRectWithSize( maxSize, options: .UsesLineFragmentOrigin, attributes:attr, context:nil).size.width
                let spaces = floor((maxSize.width - widthText) / widthSpace)
// add the spaces
                let newText = text + (" " * spaces)
// apply the new text if nescessary
                if newText != text {
                    placeholder = newText
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 6

A working solution for Drix answer

import Foundation
import UIKit

class LeftAlignedSearchBar: UISearchBar, UISearchBarDelegate {
    override var placeholder:String? {
        didSet {
            if #available(iOS 9.0, *) {
                if let text = placeholder {
                    if text.characters.last! != " " {
                        // get the font attribute
                        let attr = UITextField.appearanceWhenContainedInInstancesOfClasses([LeftAlignedSearchBar.self]).defaultTextAttributes
                        // define a max size
                        let maxSize = CGSizeMake(UIScreen.mainScreen().bounds.size.width - 87, 40)
//                        let maxSize = CGSizeMake(self.bounds.size.width - 92, 40)
                        // get the size of the text
                        let widthText = text.boundingRectWithSize( maxSize, options: .UsesLineFragmentOrigin, attributes:attr, context:nil).size.width
                        // get the size of one space
                        let widthSpace = " ".boundingRectWithSize( maxSize, options: .UsesLineFragmentOrigin, attributes:attr, context:nil).size.width
                        let spaces = floor((maxSize.width - widthText) / widthSpace)
                        // add the spaces
                        let newText = text + ((Array(count: Int(spaces), repeatedValue: " ").joinWithSeparator("")))
                        // apply the new text if nescessary
                        if newText != text {
                            placeholder = newText
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

This method appearanceWhenContainedInInstancesOfClasses is not available in iOS 8, there is a workaround for iOS 8 here