Create tap-able “links” in the NSAttributedString

Question

I have been searching this for hours but I've failed. I probably don't even know what I should be looking for.

Many applications have text and in this text are web hyperlinks in rounded rect. When I click them UIWebView opens. What puzzles me is that they often have custom links, for example if words starts with # it is also clickable and the application responds by opening another view. How can I do that? Is it possible with UILabel or do I need UITextView or something else?

Answer 1

Drop-in solution as a category on UILabel (this assumes your UILabel uses an attributed string with some NSLinkAttributeName attributes in it):

@implementation UILabel (Support)

- (BOOL)openTappedLinkAtLocation:(CGPoint)location {
  CGSize labelSize = self.bounds.size;

  NSTextContainer* textContainer = [[NSTextContainer alloc] initWithSize:CGSizeZero];
  textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0.0;
  textContainer.lineBreakMode = self.lineBreakMode;
  textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = self.numberOfLines;
  textContainer.size = labelSize;

  NSLayoutManager* layoutManager = [[NSLayoutManager alloc] init];
  [layoutManager addTextContainer:textContainer];

  NSTextStorage* textStorage = [[NSTextStorage alloc] initWithAttributedString:self.attributedText];
  [textStorage addAttribute:NSFontAttributeName value:self.font range:NSMakeRange(0, textStorage.length)];
  [textStorage addLayoutManager:layoutManager];

  CGRect textBoundingBox = [layoutManager usedRectForTextContainer:textContainer];
  CGPoint textContainerOffset = CGPointMake((labelSize.width - textBoundingBox.size.width) * 0.5 - textBoundingBox.origin.x,
                                            (labelSize.height - textBoundingBox.size.height) * 0.5 - textBoundingBox.origin.y);
  CGPoint locationOfTouchInTextContainer = CGPointMake(location.x - textContainerOffset.x, location.y - textContainerOffset.y);
  NSInteger indexOfCharacter = [layoutManager characterIndexForPoint:locationOfTouchInTextContainer inTextContainer:textContainer fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints:nullptr];
  if (indexOfCharacter >= 0) {
    NSURL* url = [textStorage attribute:NSLinkAttributeName atIndex:indexOfCharacter effectiveRange:nullptr];
    if (url) {
      [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:url];
      return YES;
    }
  }
  return NO;
}

@end

Answer 2

The UIButtonTypeCustom is a clickable label if you don't set any images for it.

Answer 3

Here’s a Swift implementation that is about as minimal as possible that also includes touch feedback. Caveats:

1. You must set fonts in your NSAttributedStrings
2. You can only use NSAttributedStrings!
3. You must ensure your links cannot wrap (use non breaking spaces: "\u{a0}")
4. You cannot change the lineBreakMode or numberOfLines after setting the text
5. You create links by adding attributes with .link keys

.

public class LinkLabel: UILabel {
    private var storage: NSTextStorage?
    private let textContainer = NSTextContainer()
    private let layoutManager = NSLayoutManager()
    private var selectedBackgroundView = UIView()

    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0
        layoutManager.addTextContainer(textContainer)
        textContainer.layoutManager = layoutManager
        isUserInteractionEnabled = true
        selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = true
        selectedBackgroundView.backgroundColor = UIColor(white: 0, alpha: 0.3333)
        selectedBackgroundView.layer.cornerRadius = 4
        addSubview(selectedBackgroundView)
    }

    public required convenience init(coder: NSCoder) {
        self.init(frame: .zero)
    }

    public override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()
        textContainer.size = frame.size
    }

    public override func touchesBegan(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
        super.touchesBegan(touches, with: event)
        setLink(for: touches)
    }

    public override func touchesMoved(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
        super.touchesMoved(touches, with: event)
        setLink(for: touches)
    }

    private func setLink(for touches: Set<UITouch>) {
        if let pt = touches.first?.location(in: self), let (characterRange, _) = link(at: pt) {
            let glyphRange = layoutManager.glyphRange(forCharacterRange: characterRange, actualCharacterRange: nil)
            selectedBackgroundView.frame = layoutManager.boundingRect(forGlyphRange: glyphRange, in: textContainer).insetBy(dx: -3, dy: -3)
            selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = false
        } else {
            selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = true
        }
    }

    public override func touchesCancelled(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
        super.touchesCancelled(touches, with: event)
        selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = true
    }

    public override func touchesEnded(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
        super.touchesEnded(touches, with: event)
        selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = true

        if let pt = touches.first?.location(in: self), let (_, url) = link(at: pt) {
            UIApplication.shared.open(url)
        }
    }

    private func link(at point: CGPoint) -> (NSRange, URL)? {
        let touchedGlyph = layoutManager.glyphIndex(for: point, in: textContainer)
        let touchedChar = layoutManager.characterIndexForGlyph(at: touchedGlyph)
        var range = NSRange()
        let attrs = attributedText!.attributes(at: touchedChar, effectiveRange: &range)
        if let urlstr = attrs[.link] as? String {
            return (range, URL(string: urlstr)!)
        } else {
            return nil
        }
    }

    public override var attributedText: NSAttributedString? {
        didSet {
            textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = numberOfLines
            textContainer.lineBreakMode = lineBreakMode
            if let txt = attributedText {
                storage = NSTextStorage(attributedString: txt)
                storage!.addLayoutManager(layoutManager)
                layoutManager.textStorage = storage
                textContainer.size = frame.size
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

- (BOOL)didTapAttributedTextInLabel:(UILabel *)label inRange:(NSRange)targetRange{
    NSLayoutManager *layoutManager = [NSLayoutManager new];
    NSTextContainer *textContainer = [[NSTextContainer alloc] initWithSize:CGSizeZero];
    NSTextStorage *textStorage = [[NSTextStorage alloc] initWithAttributedString:label.attributedText];

    [layoutManager addTextContainer:textContainer];
    [textStorage addLayoutManager:layoutManager];

    textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0.0;
    textContainer.lineBreakMode = label.lineBreakMode;
    textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = label.numberOfLines;
    CGSize labelSize = label.bounds.size;
    textContainer.size = labelSize;

    CGPoint locationOfTouchInLabel = [self locationInView:label];
    CGRect textBoundingBox = [layoutManager usedRectForTextContainer:textContainer];
    CGPoint textContainerOffset = CGPointMake((labelSize.width - textBoundingBox.size.width) * 0.5 - textBoundingBox.origin.x,
                                              (labelSize.height - textBoundingBox.size.height) * 0.5 - textBoundingBox.origin.y);
    CGPoint locationOfTouchInTextContainer = CGPointMake(locationOfTouchInLabel.x - textContainerOffset.x,
                                                         locationOfTouchInLabel.y - textContainerOffset.y);
    NSUInteger indexOfCharacter =[layoutManager characterIndexForPoint:locationOfTouchInTextContainer inTextContainer:textContainer fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints:nil];

    return NSLocationInRange(indexOfCharacter, targetRange);
}

Answer 5

I created UILabel subclass named ResponsiveLabel which is based on textkit API introduced in iOS 7. It uses the same approach suggested by NAlexN. It provides flexibility to specify a pattern to search in the text. One can specify styles to be applied to those patterns as well as action to be performed on tapping the patterns.

//Detects email in text

 NSString *emailRegexString = @"[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\\.[A-Z]{2,4}";
 NSError *error;
 NSRegularExpression *regex = [[NSRegularExpression alloc]initWithPattern:emailRegexString options:0 error:&error];
 PatternDescriptor *descriptor = [[PatternDescriptor alloc]initWithRegex:regex withSearchType:PatternSearchTypeAll withPatternAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName:[UIColor redColor]}];
 [self.customLabel enablePatternDetection:descriptor];

If you want to make a string clickable, you can do this way. This code applies attributes to each occurrence of the string "text".

PatternTapResponder tapResponder = ^(NSString *string) {
    NSLog(@"tapped = %@",string);
};

[self.customLabel enableStringDetection:@"text" withAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName:[UIColor redColor],
                                                                 RLTapResponderAttributeName: tapResponder}];

Answer 6

Here is example code to hyperlink UILabel: Source:http://sickprogrammersarea.blogspot.in/2014/03/adding-links-to-uilabel.html

#import "ViewController.h"
#import "TTTAttributedLabel.h"

@interface ViewController ()
@end

@implementation ViewController
{
    UITextField *loc;
    TTTAttributedLabel *data;
}

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    UILabel *lbl = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(5, 20, 80, 25) ];
    [lbl setText:@"Text:"];
    [lbl setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Verdana" size:16]];
    [lbl setTextColor:[UIColor grayColor]];
    loc=[[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(4, 20, 300, 30)];
    //loc.backgroundColor = [UIColor grayColor];
    loc.borderStyle=UITextBorderStyleRoundedRect;
    loc.clearButtonMode=UITextFieldViewModeWhileEditing;
    //[loc setText:@"Enter Location"];
    loc.clearsOnInsertion = YES;
    loc.leftView=lbl;
    loc.leftViewMode=UITextFieldViewModeAlways;
    [loc setDelegate:self];
    [self.view addSubview:loc];
    [loc setRightViewMode:UITextFieldViewModeAlways];
    CGRect frameimg = CGRectMake(110, 70, 70,30);
    UIButton *srchButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
    srchButton.frame=frameimg;
    [srchButton setTitle:@"Go" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [srchButton setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    srchButton.backgroundColor=[UIColor clearColor];
    [srchButton addTarget:self action:@selector(go:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
    [self.view addSubview:srchButton];
    data = [[TTTAttributedLabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(5, 120,self.view.frame.size.width,200) ];
    [data setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Verdana" size:16]];
    [data setTextColor:[UIColor blackColor]];
    data.numberOfLines=0;
    data.delegate = self;
    data.enabledTextCheckingTypes=NSTextCheckingTypeLink|NSTextCheckingTypePhoneNumber;
    [self.view addSubview:data];
}
- (void)attributedLabel:(TTTAttributedLabel *)label didSelectLinkWithURL:(NSURL *)url
{
    NSString *val=[[NSString alloc]initWithFormat:@"%@",url];
    if ([[url scheme] hasPrefix:@"mailto"]) {
              NSLog(@" mail URL Selected : %@",url);
        MFMailComposeViewController *comp=[[MFMailComposeViewController alloc]init];
        [comp setMailComposeDelegate:self];
        if([MFMailComposeViewController canSendMail])
        {
            NSString *recp=[[val substringToIndex:[val length]] substringFromIndex:7];
            NSLog(@"Recept : %@",recp);
            [comp setToRecipients:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:recp, nil]];
            [comp setSubject:@"From my app"];
            [comp setMessageBody:@"Hello bro" isHTML:NO];
            [comp setModalTransitionStyle:UIModalTransitionStyleCrossDissolve];
            [self presentViewController:comp animated:YES completion:nil];
        }
    }
    else{
        [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:val]];
    }
}
-(void)mailComposeController:(MFMailComposeViewController *)controller didFinishWithResult:(MFMailComposeResult)result error:(NSError *)error{
    if(error)
    {
        UIAlertView *alrt=[[UIAlertView alloc]initWithTitle:@"Erorr" message:@"Some error occureed" delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"" otherButtonTitles:nil, nil];
        [alrt show];
        [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
    }
    else{
        [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
    }
}

- (void)attributedLabel:(TTTAttributedLabel *)label didSelectLinkWithPhoneNumber:(NSString *)phoneNumber
{
    NSLog(@"Phone Number Selected : %@",phoneNumber);
    UIDevice *device = [UIDevice currentDevice];
    if ([[device model] isEqualToString:@"iPhone"] ) {
        [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"tel:%@",phoneNumber]]];
    } else {
        UIAlertView *Notpermitted=[[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Alert" message:@"Your device doesn't support this feature." delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"OK" otherButtonTitles:nil];
        [Notpermitted show];
    }
}
-(void)go:(id)sender
{
    [data setText:loc.text];
}

-(void)touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
{
    NSLog(@"Reached");
    [loc resignFirstResponder];
}