iOS get Keyboard Window

Question

So in iOS 7 I always got the Keyboard Window like this:

- (UIView *)keyboardView
{
    UIWindow* tempWindow;

    //Because we cant get access to the UIKeyboard throught the SDK we will just use UIView.
    //UIKeyboard is a subclass of UIView anyways
    UIView* keyboard;

    NSLog(@"windows %d", [[[UIApplication sharedApplication]windows]count]);

    //Check each window in our application
    for(int c = 0; c < [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] count]; c ++)
    {
        //Get a reference of the current window
        tempWindow = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] objectAtIndex:c];

        //Get a reference of the current view
        for(int i = 0; i < [tempWindow.subviews count]; i++)
        {
            keyboard = [tempWindow.subviews objectAtIndex:i];
            NSLog(@"view: %@, on index: %d, class: %@", [keyboard description], i, [[tempWindow.subviews objectAtIndex:i] class]);
            if([[keyboard description] hasPrefix:@"(lessThen)UIKeyboard"] == YES)
            {
                //If we get to this point, then our UIView "keyboard" is referencing our keyboard.
                return keyboard;
            }
        }

        for(UIView* potentialKeyboard in tempWindow.subviews)
            // if the real keyboard-view is found, remember it.
            if ([[[UIDevice currentDevice] systemVersion] floatValue] >= 8.0) {
                if([[potentialKeyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UILayoutContainerView"] == YES)
                    keyboard = potentialKeyboard;
            }
            else if ([[[UIDevice currentDevice] systemVersion] floatValue] >= 3.2) {
                if([[potentialKeyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIPeripheralHost"] == YES)
                    keyboard = potentialKeyboard;
            }
            else {
                if([[potentialKeyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIKeyboard"] == YES)
                    keyboard = potentialKeyboard;
            }
    }


    NSLog(@"view: %@, on index: %d", [keyboard description]);
    return keyboard;
}

But in the iOS 8 beta 1 & 2 the window/view that is returned is the main App window. Any idea what is the the problem in my code? On my test device with iOS 7 it works great...

Answer 1

I also had this problem and found the solution.

Below is the code which will work for iOS 8.0 and also for below versions.

I have tested it on iOS 7 and 8.0 (Xcode Version 6.0.1)

- (void)addButtonToKeyboard
{
    // create custom button
    self.doneButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
    self.doneButton.frame = CGRectMake(0, 163+44, 106, 53);
    self.doneButton.adjustsImageWhenHighlighted = NO;
    [self.doneButton setTag:67123];
    [self.doneButton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"doneup1.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [self.doneButton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"donedown1.png"] forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];

    [self.doneButton addTarget:self action:@selector(doneButton:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

    // locate keyboard view
    int windowCount = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] count];
    if (windowCount < 2) {
        return;
    }

    UIWindow* tempWindow = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] objectAtIndex:1];
    UIView* keyboard;

    for(int i = 0 ; i < [tempWindow.subviews count] ; i++)
    {
        keyboard = [tempWindow.subviews objectAtIndex:i];
        // keyboard found, add the button

        if([[keyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIPeripheralHost"] == YES){
            UIButton* searchbtn = (UIButton*)[keyboard viewWithTag:67123];
            if (searchbtn == nil)//to avoid adding again and again as per my requirement (previous and next button on keyboard)
                [keyboard addSubview:self.doneButton];

        }//This code will work on iOS 8.0
        else if([[keyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIInputSetContainerView"] == YES){

            for(int i = 0 ; i < [keyboard.subviews count] ; i++)
            {
                UIView* hostkeyboard = [keyboard.subviews objectAtIndex:i];

                if([[hostkeyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIInputSetHost"] == YES){
                    UIButton* donebtn = (UIButton*)[hostkeyboard viewWithTag:67123];
                    if (donebtn == nil)//to avoid adding again and again as per my requirement (previous and next button on keyboard)
                        [hostkeyboard addSubview:self.doneButton];
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

>

    -(void) removedSearchButtonFromKeypad{

    int windowCount = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] count];
    if (windowCount < 2) {
        return;
    }

    UIWindow* tempWindow = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] objectAtIndex:1];

    for(int i = 0 ; i < [tempWindow.subviews count] ; i++)
    {
        UIView* keyboard = [tempWindow.subviews objectAtIndex:i];

        if([[keyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIPeripheralHost"] == YES){
            [self removeButton:keyboard];

        }else if([[keyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIInputSetContainerView"] == YES){

            for(int i = 0 ; i < [keyboard.subviews count] ; i++)
            {
                UIView* hostkeyboard = [keyboard.subviews objectAtIndex:i];

                if([[hostkeyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIInputSetHost"] == YES){
                    [self removeButton:hostkeyboard];
                }
            }
        }
    }
}


-(void) removeButton:(UIView*)keypadView{
    UIButton* donebtn = (UIButton*)[keypadView viewWithTag:67123];
    if(donebtn){
        [donebtn removeFromSuperview];
        donebtn = nil;
    }
}

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

What i use to get the window for the keyboard is

- (void)findKeyboardWindow
{
    for (UIWindow *window in [[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows])
    {
        if ([NSStringFromClass([window class]) isEqualToString:@"UITextEffectsWindow"])
        {
            _keyboardWindow = window;
            break;
        }
    }
}

From my logs on iOS8 this contains one view

UIInputSetContainerView: 0x190d4430; frame = (0 0; 320 568); autoresize = W+H; layer = CALayer: 0x190d4630

Which contains another view

UIInputSetHostView: 0x190d4820; frame = (0 352; 320 216); layer = CALayer: 0x190d49c0

Since those dimensions are 216.0f height i guess that is the keyboard. Was this what you where looking for?

Answer 3

In the first iOS 8 beta, the system keyboard is the UIInputSetHostView subview of the UIInputSetContainerView subview of one of the application windows.