Get the current first responder without using a pr

Question

I submitted my app a little over a week ago and got the dreaded rejection email today. It tells me that my app cannot be accepted because I'm using a non-public API; specifically, it says,

The non-public API that is included in your application is firstResponder.

Now, the offending API call is actually a solution I found here on SO:

UIWindow *keyWindow = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow];
UIView   *firstResponder = [keyWindow performSelector:@selector(firstResponder)];

How do I get the current first responder on the screen? I'm looking for a way that won't get my app rejected.

Answer 1

This is what I did to find what UITextField is the firstResponder when the user clicks Save/Cancel in a ModalViewController:

    NSArray *subviews = [self.tableView subviews];

for (id cell in subviews ) 
{
    if ([cell isKindOfClass:[UITableViewCell class]]) 
    {
        UITableViewCell *aCell = cell;
        NSArray *cellContentViews = [[aCell contentView] subviews];
        for (id textField in cellContentViews) 
        {
            if ([textField isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]) 
            {
                UITextField *theTextField = textField;
                if ([theTextField isFirstResponder]) {
                    [theTextField resignFirstResponder];
                }

            }
        }

    }

}

Answer 2

I have a slightly different approach than most here. Rather than iterate through the collection of views looking for the one that has isFirstResponder set, I too send a message to nil, but I store the receiver (if any), then return that value so the caller gets the actual instance (again, if any).

import UIKit

private var _foundFirstResponder: UIResponder? = nil

extension UIResponder{

    static var first:UIResponder?{

        // Sending an action to 'nil' implicitly sends it to the
        // first responder, where we simply capture it for return
        UIApplication.shared.sendAction(#selector(UIResponder.storeFirstResponder(_:)), to: nil, from: nil, for: nil)

        // The following 'defer' statement executes after the return
        // While I could use a weak ref and eliminate this, I prefer a
        // hard ref which I explicitly clear as it's better for race conditions
        defer {
            _foundFirstResponder = nil
        }

        return _foundFirstResponder
    }

    @objc func storeFirstResponder(_ sender: AnyObject) {
        _foundFirstResponder = self
    }
}

I can then resign the first responder, if any, by doing this...

return UIResponder.first?.resignFirstResponder()

But I can now also do this...

if let firstResponderTextField = UIResponder?.first as? UITextField {
    // bla
}

Answer 3

Using Swift and with a specific UIView object this might help:

func findFirstResponder(inView view: UIView) -> UIView? {
    for subView in view.subviews as! [UIView] {
        if subView.isFirstResponder() {
            return subView
        }

        if let recursiveSubView = self.findFirstResponder(inView: subView) {
            return recursiveSubView
        }
    }

    return nil
}

Just place it in your UIViewController and use it like this:

let firstResponder = self.findFirstResponder(inView: self.view)

Take note that the result is an Optional value so it will be nil in case no firstResponser was found in the given views subviews.

Answer 4

This is what I have in my UIViewController Category. Useful for many things, including getting first responder. Blocks are great!

- (UIView*) enumerateAllSubviewsOf: (UIView*) aView UsingBlock: (BOOL (^)( UIView* aView )) aBlock {

 for ( UIView* aSubView in aView.subviews ) {
  if( aBlock( aSubView )) {
   return aSubView;
  } else if( ! [ aSubView isKindOfClass: [ UIControl class ]] ){
   UIView* result = [ self enumerateAllSubviewsOf: aSubView UsingBlock: aBlock ];

   if( result != nil ) {
    return result;
   }
  }
 }    

 return nil;
}

- (UIView*) enumerateAllSubviewsUsingBlock: (BOOL (^)( UIView* aView )) aBlock {
 return [ self enumerateAllSubviewsOf: self.view UsingBlock: aBlock ];
}

- (UIView*) findFirstResponder {
 return [ self enumerateAllSubviewsUsingBlock:^BOOL(UIView *aView) {
  if( [ aView isFirstResponder ] ) {
   return YES;
  }

  return NO;
 }];
}

Answer 5

This is good candidate for recursion! No need to add a category to UIView.

Usage (from your view controller):

UIView *firstResponder = [self findFirstResponder:[self view]];

Code:

// This is a recursive function
- (UIView *)findFirstResponder:(UIView *)view {

    if ([view isFirstResponder]) return view; // Base case

    for (UIView *subView in [view subviews]) {
        if ([self findFirstResponder:subView]) return subView; // Recursion
    }
    return nil;
}

Answer 6

you can call privite api like this ,apple ignore:

UIWindow *keyWindow = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow];
SEL sel = NSSelectorFromString(@"firstResponder");
UIView   *firstResponder = [keyWindow performSelector:sel];