Mobile Safari: Javascript focus() method on inputf

Question

I can't seem to find a solution for this problem.

I have a simple input field like this.

<div class="search">
   <input type="text" value="y u no work"/>
</div>​

And I'm trying to focus() it inside a function. So inside of a random function (doesn't matter what function it is) I have this line …

$('.search').find('input').focus();

This works just fine on every Desktop whatsoever.

However it doesn't work on my iPhone. The field is not getting focused and the keyboard is not shown on my iPhone.

For testing purposes and to show you guys the problem I did a quick sample:

$('#some-test-element').click(function() {
  $('.search').find('input').focus(); // works well on my iPhone - Keyboard slides in
});

setTimeout(function() {
  //alert('test'); //works
  $('.search').find('input').focus(); // doesn't work on my iPhone - works on Desktop
}, 5000);​

Any idea why the focus() wouldn't work with the timeout function on my iPhone.

To see the live example, test this fiddle on your iPhone. http://jsfiddle.net/Hc4sT/

Update:

I created the exact same case as I'm currently facing in my current project.

I have a select-box that should — when "changed" — set the focus to the input field and slide-in the kexboard on the iphone or other mobile devices. I found out that the focus() is set correctly but the keyboard doesn't show up. I need the keyboard to show up.

I uploaded the testfiles right here http://cl.ly/1d210x1W3Y3W … If you test this on the iphone you can see that the keyboard doesn't slide-in.

Answer 1

I faced the same issue recently. I found a solution that apparently works for all devices. You can't do async focus programmatically but you can switch focus to your target input when some other input is already focused. So what you need to do is create, hide, append to DOM & focus a fake input on trigger event and, when the async action completes, just call focus again on the target input. Here's an example snippet - run it on your mobile.

edit:

Here's a fiddle with the same code. Apparently you can't run attached snippets on mobiles (or I'm doing something wrong).

var $triggerCheckbox = $("#trigger-checkbox");
var $targetInput = $("#target-input");

// Create fake & invisible input
var $fakeInput = $("<input type='text' />")
  .css({
    position: "absolute",
    width: $targetInput.outerWidth(), // zoom properly (iOS)
    height: 0, // hide cursor (font-size: 0 will zoom to quarks level) (iOS)
    opacity: 0, // make input transparent :]
  });

var delay = 2000; // That's crazy long, but good as an example

$triggerCheckbox.on("change", function(event) {
  // Disable input when unchecking trigger checkbox (presentational purpose)
  if (!event.target.checked) {
    return $targetInput
      .attr("disabled", true)
      .attr("placeholder", "I'm disabled");
  }

  // Prepend to target input container and focus fake input
  $fakeInput.prependTo("#container").focus();

  // Update placeholder (presentational purpose)
  $targetInput.attr("placeholder", "Wait for it...");

  // setTimeout, fetch or any async action will work
  setTimeout(function() {

    // Shift focus to target input
    $targetInput
      .attr("disabled", false)
      .attr("placeholder", "I'm alive!")
      .focus();

    // Remove fake input - no need to keep it in DOM
    $fakeInput.remove();
  }, delay);
});

label {
  display: block;
  margin-top: 20px;
}

input {
  box-sizing: border-box;
  font-size: inherit;
}

#container {
  position: relative;
}

#target-input {
  width: 250px;
  padding: 10px;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="container">
  <input type="text" id="target-input" placeholder="I'm disabled" />

  <label>
    <input type="checkbox" id="trigger-checkbox" />
    focus with setTimetout
   </label>
</div>