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

Here is a swift version of NAlexN's answer.

class TapabbleLabel: UILabel {

let layoutManager = NSLayoutManager()
let textContainer = NSTextContainer(size: CGSize.zero)
var textStorage = NSTextStorage() {
    didSet {
        textStorage.addLayoutManager(layoutManager)
    }
}

var onCharacterTapped: ((label: UILabel, characterIndex: Int) -> Void)?

let tapGesture = UITapGestureRecognizer()

override var attributedText: NSAttributedString? {
    didSet {
        if let attributedText = attributedText {
            textStorage = NSTextStorage(attributedString: attributedText)
        } else {
            textStorage = NSTextStorage()
        }
    }
}

override var lineBreakMode: NSLineBreakMode {
    didSet {
        textContainer.lineBreakMode = lineBreakMode
    }
}

override var numberOfLines: Int {
    didSet {
        textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = numberOfLines
    }
}

/**
 Creates a new view with the passed coder.

 :param: aDecoder The a decoder

 :returns: the created new view.
 */
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
    super.init(coder: aDecoder)
    setUp()
}

/**
 Creates a new view with the passed frame.

 :param: frame The frame

 :returns: the created new view.
 */
override init(frame: CGRect) {
    super.init(frame: frame)
    setUp()
}

/**
 Sets up the view.
 */
func setUp() {
    userInteractionEnabled = true
    layoutManager.addTextContainer(textContainer)
    textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0
    textContainer.lineBreakMode = lineBreakMode
    textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = numberOfLines
    tapGesture.addTarget(self, action: #selector(TapabbleLabel.labelTapped(_:)))
    addGestureRecognizer(tapGesture)
}

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

func labelTapped(gesture: UITapGestureRecognizer) {
    guard gesture.state == .Ended else {
        return
    }

    let locationOfTouch = gesture.locationInView(gesture.view)
    let textBoundingBox = layoutManager.usedRectForTextContainer(textContainer)
    let textContainerOffset = CGPoint(x: (bounds.width - textBoundingBox.width) / 2 - textBoundingBox.minX,
                                      y: (bounds.height - textBoundingBox.height) / 2 - textBoundingBox.minY)        let locationOfTouchInTextContainer = CGPoint(x: locationOfTouch.x - textContainerOffset.x,
                                                 y: locationOfTouch.y - textContainerOffset.y)
    let indexOfCharacter = layoutManager.characterIndexForPoint(locationOfTouchInTextContainer,
                                                                inTextContainer: textContainer,
                                                                fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints: nil)

    onCharacterTapped?(label: self, characterIndex: indexOfCharacter)
}

}

You can then create an instance of that class inside your viewDidLoad method like this:

let label = TapabbleLabel()
label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
view.addSubview(label)
view.addConstraints(NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("V:|-[view]-|",
                                               options: [], metrics: nil, views: ["view" : label]))
view.addConstraints(NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("H:|-[view]-|",
                                               options: [], metrics: nil, views: ["view" : label]))

let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "String with a link", attributes: nil)
let linkRange = NSMakeRange(14, 4); // for the word "link" in the string above

let linkAttributes: [String : AnyObject] = [
    NSForegroundColorAttributeName : UIColor.blueColor(), NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName : NSUnderlineStyle.StyleSingle.rawValue,
    NSLinkAttributeName: "http://www.apple.com"]
attributedString.setAttributes(linkAttributes, range:linkRange)

label.attributedText = attributedString

label.onCharacterTapped = { label, characterIndex in
    if let attribute = label.attributedText?.attribute(NSLinkAttributeName, atIndex: characterIndex, effectiveRange: nil) as? String,
        let url = NSURL(string: attribute) {
        UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(url)
    }
}

It's better to have a custom attribute to use when a character is tapped. Now, it's the NSLinkAttributeName, but could be anything and you can use that value to do other things other than opening a url, you can do any custom action.

Answer 2

Like there is reported in earlier awnser the UITextView is able to handle touches on links. This can easily be extended by making other parts of the text work as links. The AttributedTextView library is a UITextView subclass that makes it very easy to handle these. For more info see: https://github.com/evermeer/AttributedTextView

You can make any part of the text interact like this (where textView1 is a UITextView IBoutlet):

textView1.attributer =
    "1. ".red
    .append("This is the first test. ").green
    .append("Click on ").black
    .append("evict.nl").makeInteract { _ in
        UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "http://evict.nl")!, options: [:], completionHandler: { completed in })
    }.underline
    .append(" for testing links. ").black
    .append("Next test").underline.makeInteract { _ in
        print("NEXT")
    }
    .all.font(UIFont(name: "SourceSansPro-Regular", size: 16))
    .setLinkColor(UIColor.purple) 

And for handling hashtags and mentions you can use code like this:

textView1.attributer = "@test: What #hashtags do we have in @evermeer #AtributedTextView library"
    .matchHashtags.underline
    .matchMentions
    .makeInteract { link in
        UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "https://twitter.com\(link.replacingOccurrences(of: "@", with: ""))")!, options: [:], completionHandler: { completed in })
    }

Answer 3

This generic method works too !

func didTapAttributedTextInLabel(gesture: UITapGestureRecognizer, inRange targetRange: NSRange) -> Bool {

        let layoutManager = NSLayoutManager()
        let textContainer = NSTextContainer(size: CGSize.zero)
        guard let strAttributedText = self.attributedText else {
            return false
        }

        let textStorage = NSTextStorage(attributedString: strAttributedText)

        // Configure layoutManager and textStorage
        layoutManager.addTextContainer(textContainer)
        textStorage.addLayoutManager(layoutManager)

        // Configure textContainer
        textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = Constants.lineFragmentPadding
        textContainer.lineBreakMode = self.lineBreakMode
        textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = self.numberOfLines
        let labelSize = self.bounds.size
        textContainer.size = CGSize(width: labelSize.width, height: CGFloat.greatestFiniteMagnitude)

        // Find the tapped character location and compare it to the specified range
        let locationOfTouchInLabel = gesture.location(in: self)

        let xCordLocationOfTouchInTextContainer = locationOfTouchInLabel.x
        let yCordLocationOfTouchInTextContainer = locationOfTouchInLabel.y
        let locOfTouch = CGPoint(x: xCordLocationOfTouchInTextContainer ,
                                 y: yCordLocationOfTouchInTextContainer)

        let indexOfCharacter = layoutManager.characterIndex(for: locOfTouch, in: textContainer, fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints: nil)

        guard let strLabel = text else {
            return false
        }

        let charCountOfLabel = strLabel.count

        if indexOfCharacter < (charCountOfLabel - 1) {
            return NSLocationInRange(indexOfCharacter, targetRange)
        } else {
            return false
        }
    }

And you can call the method with

let text = yourLabel.text
let termsRange = (text as NSString).range(of: fullString)
if yourLabel.didTapAttributedTextInLabel(gesture: UITapGestureRecognizer, inRange: termsRange) {
            showCorrespondingViewController()
        }

Answer 4

Here's a drop-in Objective-C category that enables clickable links in existing UILabel.attributedText strings, exploiting the existing NSLinkAttributeName attribute.

@interface UILabel (GSBClickableLinks) <UIGestureRecognizerDelegate>
@property BOOL enableLinks;
@end

#import <objc/runtime.h>
static const void *INDEX;
static const void *TAP;

@implementation UILabel (GSBClickableLinks)

- (void)setEnableLinks:(BOOL)enableLinks
{
    UITapGestureRecognizer *tap = objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &TAP); // retreive tap
    if (enableLinks && !tap) { // add a gestureRegonzier to the UILabel to detect taps
        tap = [UITapGestureRecognizer.alloc initWithTarget:self action:@selector(openLink)];
        tap.delegate = self;
        [self addGestureRecognizer:tap];
        objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &TAP, tap, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC); // save tap
    }
    self.userInteractionEnabled = enableLinks; // note - when false UILAbel wont receive taps, hence disable links
}

- (BOOL)enableLinks
{
    return (BOOL)objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &TAP); // ie tap != nil
}

// First check whether user tapped on a link within the attributedText of the label.
// If so, then the our label's gestureRecogizer will subsequently fire, and open the corresponding NSLinkAttributeName.
// If not, then the tap will get passed along, eg to the enclosing UITableViewCell...
// Note: save which character in the attributedText was clicked so that we dont have to redo everything again in openLink.
- (BOOL)gestureRecognizerShouldBegin:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer
{
    if (gestureRecognizer != objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &TAP)) return YES; // dont block other gestures (eg swipe)

    // Re-layout the attributedText to find out what was tapped
    NSTextContainer *textContainer = [NSTextContainer.alloc initWithSize:self.frame.size];
    textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0;
    textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = self.numberOfLines;
    textContainer.lineBreakMode = self.lineBreakMode;
    NSLayoutManager *layoutManager = NSLayoutManager.new;
    [layoutManager addTextContainer:textContainer];
    NSTextStorage *textStorage = [NSTextStorage.alloc initWithAttributedString:self.attributedText];
    [textStorage addLayoutManager:layoutManager];

    NSUInteger index = [layoutManager characterIndexForPoint:[gestureRecognizer locationInView:self]
                                             inTextContainer:textContainer
                    fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints:NULL];
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &INDEX, @(index), OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC); // save index

    return (BOOL)[self.attributedText attribute:NSLinkAttributeName atIndex:index effectiveRange:NULL]; // tapped on part of a link?
}

- (void)openLink
{
    NSUInteger index = [objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &INDEX) unsignedIntegerValue]; // retrieve index
    NSURL *url = [self.attributedText attribute:NSLinkAttributeName atIndex:index effectiveRange:NULL];
    if (url && [UIApplication.sharedApplication canOpenURL:url]) [UIApplication.sharedApplication openURL:url];
}

@end 

This would be a bit cleaner done via a UILabel subclass (ie none of the objc_getAssociatedObject mess), but if you are like me you prefer to avoid having to make unnecessary (3rd party) subclasses just to add some extra function to existing UIKit classes. Also, this has the beauty that it adds clickable-links to any existing UILabel, eg existing UITableViewCells!

I've tried to make it as minimally invasive as possible by using the existing NSLinkAttributeName attribute stuff already available in NSAttributedString. So its a simple as:

NSURL *myURL = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.google.com"];
NSMutableAttributedString *myString = [NSMutableAttributedString.alloc initWithString:@"This string has a clickable link: "];
[myString appendAttributedString:[NSAttributedString.alloc initWithString:@"click here" attributes:@{NSLinkAttributeName:myURL}]];
...
myLabel.attributedText = myString;
myLabel.enableLinks = YES; // yes, that's all! :-)

Basically, it works by adding a UIGestureRecognizer to your UILabel. The hard work is done in gestureRecognizerShouldBegin:, which re-layouts the attributedText string to find out which character was tapped on. If this character was part of a NSLinkAttributeName then the gestureRecognizer will subsequently fire, retrieve the corresponding URL (from the NSLinkAttributeName value), and open the link per the usual [UIApplication.sharedApplication openURL:url] process.

Note - by doing all this in gestureRecognizerShouldBegin:, if you dont happen to tap on a link in the label, the event is passed along. So, for example, your UITableViewCell will capture taps on links, but otherwise behave normally (select cell, unselect, scroll, ...).

I've put this in a GitHub repository here. Adapted from Kai Burghardt's SO posting here.

Answer 5

I follow this version,

Swift 4:

import Foundation

class AELinkedClickableUILabel: UILabel {

    typealias YourCompletion = () -> Void

    var linkedRange: NSRange!
    var completion: YourCompletion?

    @objc func linkClicked(sender: UITapGestureRecognizer){

        if let completionBlock = completion {

            let textView = UITextView(frame: self.frame)
            textView.text = self.text
            textView.attributedText = self.attributedText
            let index = textView.layoutManager.characterIndex(for: sender.location(in: self),
                                                              in: textView.textContainer,
                                                              fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints: nil)

            if linkedRange.lowerBound <= index && linkedRange.upperBound >= index {

                completionBlock()
            }
        }
    }

/**
 *  This method will be used to set an attributed text specifying the linked text with a
 *  handler when the link is clicked
 */
    public func setLinkedTextWithHandler(text:String, link: String, handler: @escaping ()->()) -> Bool {

        let attributextText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text)
        let foundRange = attributextText.mutableString.range(of: link)

        if foundRange.location != NSNotFound {
            self.linkedRange = foundRange
            self.completion = handler
            attributextText.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.link, value: text, range: foundRange)
            self.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
            self.addGestureRecognizer(UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(linkClicked(sender:))))
            return true
        }
        return false
    }
}

Call Example:

button.setLinkedTextWithHandler(text: "This website (stackoverflow.com) is awesome", link: "stackoverflow.com") 
{
    // show popup or open to link
}