UITextField format in xx-xx-xxx

Question

I am using UITextField and i want that should take character in the format of xx-xx-xxx only numbers.

any help ?

Answer 1

If you want it to be something like a date then you can make your own date formatter like this:

NSDateFormatter *formatter;
NSString        *dateString;

formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:@"dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm"]; //or something in your own style

dateString = [formatter stringFromDate:[NSDate date]];

[formatter release];  // maybe; you might want to keep the formatter 
                      // if you're doing this a lot.

Getting Current Time in string in Custom format in objective c

Answer 2

Swift kind of long method but works fine: iOS 8

ViewController // programming mark ----- ----- ---- ----- ----- ---- ----- ----- ----

override func viewDidAppear(animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidAppear(animated)

    self.tfCardNumber.addTarget(self, action: "creditCardNumberFormatter:", forControlEvents: .EditingChanged)
    self.tfExpiryValue.addTarget(self, action: "creditCardExpiryFormatter:", forControlEvents: .EditingChanged)

}// end viewDidAppear

  func creditCardNumberFormatter(sender: AnyObject!) {

    // create object universally access global methods
    var objMethodInc = MethodInc(object: self)

    var formattedText = objMethodInc.formatCreditCard(self.tfCardNumber.text)

    if formattedText != self.tfCardNumber.text {

        self.tfCardNumber.text = formattedText

    }

    if countElements(self.tfCardNumber.text) == 19 {

        self.tfCardNumber.resignFirstResponder()
        self.tfExpiryValue.becomeFirstResponder()

    }


}// end creditCardNumberFormatter

func creditCardExpiryFormatter(sender: AnyObject!) {

    // create object universally access global methods
    var objMethodInc = MethodInc(object: self)

    var formattedText = objMethodInc.formatCreditCardExpiry(self.tfExpiryValue.text)

    if formattedText != self.tfExpiryValue.text {

        self.tfExpiryValue.text = formattedText

    }

}// end creditCardExpiryFormatter

// prgm mark --- ---- --- ----

// delegate for textfield

func textField(textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersInRange range: NSRange
    , replacementString string: String) -> Bool {

    if string == "" {
        return true
    }

    if textField == self.tfCardNumber {

        if countElements(self.tfCardNumber.text) > 18 {

            return false

        } else if textField == self.tfExpiryValue {

            if countElements(self.tfExpiryValue.text) > 4 {
                return false
            }

        }
    }

    return true

}// end textField

----------- INSIDE your command method or file --------

// prgm mark ----

func formatCreditCard(input: NSString) -> String {

    var input = self.trimSpecialCharacters(input);

    println("formatCreditCard input \(input)")

    var output : NSString?

    switch (input.length) {

    case 1: output = input
    case 2: output = input
    case 3: output = input
    case 4:
        var vs = input.substringToIndex(input.length)
        output = NSString(string: "\(vs)")
        break

    case 5: output = input
    case 6: output = input
    case 7: output = input
    case 8:
        var vs1 = input.substringToIndex(4)
        var vs2 = input.substringFromIndex(4)
        output = NSString(string: "\(vs1)-\(vs2)")
        break

    case 9: output = input
    case 10: output = input
    case 11: output = input

    case 12:
        var vs1 = input.substringToIndex(4)
        var vs2 = input.substringWithRange(NSMakeRange(4, 4))
        var vs3 = input.substringFromIndex(8)
        output = NSString(string: "\(vs1)-\(vs2)-\(vs3)")
        break

    case 13: output = input
    case 14: output = input
    case 15: output = input
    case 16:
        var vs1 = input.substringToIndex(4)
        var vs2 = input.substringWithRange(NSMakeRange(4, 4))
        var vs3 = input.substringWithRange(NSMakeRange(8, 4))
        var vs4 = input.substringFromIndex(12)
        output = NSString(string: "\(vs1)-\(vs2)-\(vs3)-\(vs4)")
        break
    default:
        output = input
        break

    }//  end switch

    println("formatCreditCard out \(output!)")

    return output!

}// end  formatCreditCard


// prgm mark ----

func formatCreditCardExpiry(input: NSString) -> String {

    var output : NSString?

    var input = self.trimSpecialCharacters(input);

    switch (input.length) {

    case 1: output = input
    case 2:
        var vs = input.substringToIndex(input.length)
        output = NSString(string: "\(vs)")
        break

    case 3: output = input
    case 4:
        var vs1 = input.substringToIndex(2)
        var vs2 = input.substringFromIndex(2)
        output = NSString(string: "\(vs1)/\(vs2)")
        break
    default:
        output = input
        break
    }

    return output!

}// end  formatCreditCardExpiry


func trimSpecialCharacters(input: NSString) -> NSString {

    var special = NSCharacterSet(charactersInString: "/+-() ")

    var comp = input.componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet(special) as NSArray

    return comp.componentsJoinedByString("")

}//end trimSpecialCharacters

Answer 3

My google searches tell me that you should implement

- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string 

from the UITextFieldDelegate protocol.

Have a look at this for more info.

Answer 4

Here is my take on it after looking at everyone's answers.

Swift 4

func textField(_ textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {
    let separator = "-"
    let filler = "X"
    if var number = textField.text, string != "" {
        number = number.replacingOccurrences(of: separator, with: "")
        number = number.replacingOccurrences(of: filler, with: "")
        if number.count == 10 { return false }
        number += string
        while number.count < 10 { number += "X" }
        number.insert("-", at: number.index(number.startIndex,
                                            offsetBy: 6))
        number.insert("-", at: number.index(number.startIndex,
                                            offsetBy: 3))
        textField.text = number
    }
    return false
}

Answer 5

My solution works like that:

Implement in your textfield delegates:

func textFieldDidBeginEditing(_ textField: UITextField) {
        // When you start editing check if there is nothing, in that case add the entire mask
        if let text = textField.text, text == "" || text == "DD/MM/YYYY" {
            textField.text = "DD/MM/YYYY"
            textField.textColor = .lightGray
            textField.setCursor(position: text.count)
        }
    }

func textField(_ textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {

    guard var number = textField.text else {
        return true
    }
    // If user try to delete, remove the char manually
    if string == "" {
        number.remove(at: number.index(number.startIndex, offsetBy: range.location))
    }
    // Remove all mask characters
    number = number.replacingOccurrences(of: "/", with: "")
    number = number.replacingOccurrences(of: "D", with: "")
    number = number.replacingOccurrences(of: "M", with: "")
    number = number.replacingOccurrences(of: "Y", with: "")

    // Set the position of the cursor
    var cursorPosition = number.count+1
    if string == "" {
        //if it's delete, just take the position given by the delegate
        cursorPosition = range.location
    } else {
        // If not, take into account the slash
        if cursorPosition > 2 && cursorPosition < 5 {
            cursorPosition += 1
        } else if cursorPosition > 4 {
            cursorPosition += 2
        }
    }
    // Stop editing if we have rich the max numbers
    if number.count == 8 { return false }
    // Readd all mask char
    number += string
    while number.count < 8 {
        if number.count < 2 {
            number += "D"
        } else if number.count < 4 {
            number += "M"
        } else {
            number += "Y"
        }
    }
    number.insert("/", at: number.index(number.startIndex, offsetBy: 4))
    number.insert("/", at: number.index(number.startIndex, offsetBy: 2))

    // Some styling
    let enteredTextAttribute = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.black, NSFontAttributeName: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 15)]
    let maskTextAttribute = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.lightGray, NSFontAttributeName: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 15)]

    let partOne = NSMutableAttributedString(string: String(number.prefix(cursorPosition)), attributes: enteredTextAttribute)
    let partTwo = NSMutableAttributedString(string: String(number.suffix(number.count-cursorPosition)), attributes: maskTextAttribute)

    let combination = NSMutableAttributedString()

    combination.append(partOne)
    combination.append(partTwo)

    textField.attributedText = combination
    textField.setCursor(position: cursorPosition)


    return false
}

func textFieldDidEndEditing(_ textField: UITextField) {
    if let text = textField.text, text != "" && text != "DD/MM/YYYY" {
        // Do something with your value
    } else {
        textField.text = ""
    }
}

And that little helper as an extension:

extension UITextField {
    func setCursor(position: Int) {
        let position = self.position(from: beginningOfDocument, offset: position)!
        selectedTextRange = textRange(from: position, to: position)
    }
}

PS: there is still a bug in that implementation when you try to move the cursor while editing

Answer 6

This worked for me after a little bit of customization from one of the answers.

extension String {
    func applyPatternOnNumbers(pattern: String, filler: Character) -> String {
        var pureNumber = self.replacingOccurrences( of: "[^0-9]", with: "", options: .regularExpression)
        // Insert filler for all occurances of filler in pattern
        for index in pattern.indices {
            print(pattern[index])
            let patternChar = pattern[index]
            if patternChar == filler {
                if index <= pureNumber.endIndex {
                    pureNumber.insert(filler, at: index)
                }
            }
        }
        return pureNumber
    }
}

Usage:

func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
    if(text == "\n") {
        textView.resignFirstResponder()
        return false
    } else if !text.isEmpty {
        guard let text = textView.text else { return true }
        textView.text = text.applyPatternOnNumbers(pattern: "###-##-####", filler: "-")
    }
    return true
}