Show UIPickerView like a keyboard, without UITextField

Question

I\'m looking for a way to present a UIPickerView when the user taps on a UIBarButtonItem. Imagine a filter for the table view results.

I know I

Answer 1

The cleanest way at least for me, and for Swift4 + Autolayout solution, without a UITextField is adding a UIView as a container of the UIPickerView and a UIToolbar for the top views/buttons.

Then toggle the inset/offset of that container view with animation if you want, to hide and unhide the picker.

PROPERTIES

private lazy var view_PickerContainer: UIView = {
    let view = UIView()
    view.backgroundColor = .white
    view.addSubview(self.timePicker)
    view.addSubview(self.toolbar_Picker)
    return view
}()

private lazy var timePicker: UIDatePicker = {
    let picker = UIDatePicker()
    picker.minimumDate = Date()
    picker.datePickerMode = .time
    picker.setDate(Date(), animated: true)
    return picker
}()

private let timeFormatter: DateFormatter = {
    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.dateFormat = "hh:mm a"
    return formatter
}()

private lazy var toolbar_Picker: UIToolbar = {
    let toolbar = UIToolbar()
    toolbar.barStyle = .blackTranslucent
    toolbar.barTintColor = .blueDarkText
    toolbar.tintColor = .white
    self.embedButtons(toolbar)
    return toolbar
}()

I use SnapKit to layout my views programmatically. You can use the timePicker's bounds.size as reference for your layout.

IMPLEMENTATION

In viewDidLoad()

    // Setup timepicker and its container.
    self.view.addSubview(self.view_PickerContainer)
    self.view_PickerContainer.snp.makeConstraints { (make) in
        make.height.equalTo(self.timePicker.bounds.size.height + 50.0)
        make.leading.trailing.equalToSuperview()
        self.constraint_PickerContainerBottom = make.bottom.equalToSuperview().inset(-500.0).constraint
    }

    self.timePicker.snp.makeConstraints { (make) in
        make.height.equalTo(self.timePicker.bounds.size.height)
        make.width.equalToSuperview()
        make.bottom.equalToSuperview()
    }

    // Add toolbar for buttons.
    self.toolbar_Picker.snp.makeConstraints { (make) in
        make.height.equalTo(40.0)
        make.top.leading.trailing.equalToSuperview()
    }

Embedding top views

private func embedButtons(_ toolbar: UIToolbar) {
    func setupLabelBarButtonItem() -> UIBarButtonItem {
        let label = UILabel()
        label.text = "Set Alarm Time"
        label.textColor = .white
        return UIBarButtonItem(customView: label)
    }

    let todayButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Today", style: .plain, target: self, action: #selector(self.todayPressed(_:)))

    let doneButton = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .done, target: self, action: #selector(self.donePressed(_:)))

    let flexButton = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .flexibleSpace, target: self, action: nil)

    toolbar.setItems([todayButton, flexButton, setupLabelBarButtonItem(), flexButton, doneButton], animated: true)
}

And the result looks like this:

Answer 2

Based on borisgolovnev's suggestion and CodeMonkey's answer, I have implemented the idea with an invisible UITextField in the following way in Swift 5.

import UIKit

class PickerViewPresenter: UITextField, UIPickerViewDataSource, UIPickerViewDelegate {
    private lazy var doneToolbar: UIToolbar = {
        let toolbar = UIToolbar(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: 50))

        let flexSpace = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .flexibleSpace, target: nil, action: nil)
        let doneButton = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .done, target: self, action: #selector(doneButtonTapped))

        let items = [flexSpace, doneButton]
        toolbar.items = items
        toolbar.sizeToFit()

        return toolbar
    }()

    private lazy var pickerView: UIPickerView = {
        let pickerView = UIPickerView()
        pickerView.dataSource = self
        pickerView.delegate = self
        return pickerView
    }()

    var items: [Item] = []
    var didSelectItem: ((Item) -> Void)?

    private var selectedItem: Item?

    init() {
        super.init(frame: .zero)
        setupView()
    }

    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }

    private func setupView() {
        inputView = pickerView
        inputAccessoryView = doneToolbar
    }

    @objc private func doneButtonTapped() {
        if let selectedItem = selectedItem {
            didSelectItem?(selectedItem)
        }
        resignFirstResponder()
    }

    func showPicker() {
        becomeFirstResponder()
    }

    func numberOfComponents(in pickerView: UIPickerView) -> Int {
        return 1
    }

    func pickerView(_ pickerView: UIPickerView, numberOfRowsInComponent component: Int) -> Int {
        return items.count
    }

    func pickerView(_ pickerView: UIPickerView, titleForRow row: Int, forComponent component: Int) -> String? {
        return items[row].name
    }

    func pickerView(_ pickerView: UIPickerView, didSelectRow row: Int, inComponent component: Int) {
        selectedItem = items[row]
    }
}

Usage in your ViewController:

private var selectedItem: Item?

private lazy var pickerViewPresenter: PickerViewPresenter = {
    let pickerViewPresenter = PickerViewPresenter()
    pickerViewPresenter.didSelectItem = { [weak self] item in
        self?.selectedItem = item
    }
    return pickerViewPresenter
}()

view.addSubview(pickerViewPresenter)

// e.g. on a button tap
@objc private func buttonTapped() {
    pickerViewPresenter.showPicker()
}

Example:

I have attached it to a UITapGestureRecognizer.

Answer 3

Attach a UIPickerView as the inputView of a 0-sized UITextField that you have added to your view.

        let picker = UIPickerView()
        picker.dataSource = self
        picker.delegate = self

        let dummy = UITextField(frame: CGRectZero)
        view.addSubview(dummy)

        dummy.inputView = picker
        dummy.becomeFirstResponder()

Answer 4

It might not be your only option but animating the UIPickerView should be relatively easy for you to do. Add the picker view so it's displayed off the bottom of the screen. When it's time to animate it in:

[UIView animateWithDuration:0.3 animations:^{
    self.datePicker.frame = CGRectMake(0, self.view.bounds.size.height - datePicker.bounds.size.height, datePicker.bounds.size.width, datePicker.bounds.size.height);
}];

And when it's time to hide it:

[UIView animateWithDuration:0.3 animations:^{
    self.datePicker.frame = CGRectMake(0, self.view.bounds.size.height, datePicker.bounds.size.width, datePicker.bounds.size.height);
}];

Answer 5

I went with borisgolovnev's suggestion of an invisible UITextField and came up with the following Swift 2.3 implementation:

import UIKit

class PickerViewPresenter: UITextField {

    // MARK: - Initialization

    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }

    init() {
        super.init(frame: CGRect.zero)
    inputView = pickerView
    inputAccessoryView = pickerInputAccessoryView
    }

    // MARK: - Public

    var pickerDelegate: UIPickerViewDelegate? {
        didSet {
            pickerView.delegate = pickerDelegate
        }
    }

    var pickerDataSource: UIPickerViewDataSource? {
        didSet {
            pickerView.dataSource = pickerDataSource
        }
    }

    var selectButtonAction: (() -> Void)?

    var currentlySelectedRow: Int {
        return pickerView.selectedRowInComponent(0)
    }

    func selectRowAtIndex(index: Int) {
        pickerView.selectRow(index, inComponent: 0, animated: false)
    }

    func showPicker() {
        self.becomeFirstResponder()
    }

    func hidePicker() {
        self.resignFirstResponder()
    }

    // MARK: - Views

    private let pickerView = UIPickerView(frame: CGRect.zero)

    private lazy var pickerInputAccessoryView: UIView = {
        let frame = CGRect(x: 0.0, y: 0.0, width: 0.0, height: 48.0)
        let pickerInputAccessoryView = UIView(frame: frame)

        // Customize the view here

        return pickerInputAccessoryView
    }()

    func selectButtonPressed(sender: UIButton) {
        selectButtonAction?()
    }

}

PickerViewPresenter can then conveniently be used as such:

class ViewController: UIViewController, UIPickerViewDataSource, UIPickerViewDelegate {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        view.addSubview(pickerViewPresenter)
    }

    private let dataModel = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]

    private lazy var pickerViewPresenter: PickerViewPresenter = {
        let pickerViewPresenter = PickerViewPresenter()
        pickerViewPresenter.pickerDelegate = self
        pickerViewPresenter.pickerDataSource = self
        pickerViewPresenter.selectButtonAction = { [weak self] () -> Void in
            guard let strongSelf = self else {
                return
            }
            let result = strongSelf.dataModel[pickerViewPresenter.currentlySelectedRow]
            pickerViewPresenter.hidePicker()
            // ...
        }

        return pickerViewPresenter
    }()

    private func presentPickerView {
        let index = 0 // [0..dataModel.count-1]
        pickerViewPresenter.selectRowAtIndex(index)
        pickerViewPresenter.showPicker()
    }

    // MARK: - UIPickerViewDataSource

    func numberOfComponentsInPickerView(pickerView: UIPickerView) -> Int {
        return 1
    }

    func pickerView(pickerView: UIPickerView, numberOfRowsInComponent component: Int) -> Int {
        return dataModel.count
    }

    // MARK: - UIPickerViewDelegate

    func pickerView(pickerView: UIPickerView, titleForRow row: Int, forComponent component: Int) -> String? {
        return "\(dataModel[row]) drunken sailors"
    }

}

Hope someone finds this useful =)

Answer 6

A better option is still to use the UITextField. You don't have to actually show it on screen. Just put it in a 0x0 UIView so that it is not visible, set it's inputView to your UIPickerView and call becomeFirstResponder on it to show the picker and resignFirstResponder to hide it.

It is convenient to have a UIView subclass that implements all of that along with UIPickerViewDelegate and UIPickerViewDataSource methods.