Create tap-able “links” in the NSAttributedString of a UILabel?

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

Answer 1

I'm extending @samwize's answer to handle multi-line UILabel and give an example on using for a UIButton

extension UITapGestureRecognizer {

    func didTapAttributedTextInButton(button: UIButton, inRange targetRange: NSRange) -> Bool {
        guard let label = button.titleLabel else { return false }
        return didTapAttributedTextInLabel(label, inRange: targetRange)
    }

    func didTapAttributedTextInLabel(label: UILabel, inRange targetRange: NSRange) -> Bool {
        // Create instances of NSLayoutManager, NSTextContainer and NSTextStorage
        let layoutManager = NSLayoutManager()
        let textContainer = NSTextContainer(size: CGSize.zero)
        let textStorage = NSTextStorage(attributedString: label.attributedText!)

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

        // Configure textContainer
        textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0.0
        textContainer.lineBreakMode = label.lineBreakMode
        textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = label.numberOfLines
        let labelSize = label.bounds.size
        textContainer.size = labelSize

        // Find the tapped character location and compare it to the specified range
        let locationOfTouchInLabel = self.locationInView(label)
        let textBoundingBox = layoutManager.usedRectForTextContainer(textContainer)
        let textContainerOffset = CGPointMake((labelSize.width - textBoundingBox.size.width) * 0.5 - textBoundingBox.origin.x,
                                              (labelSize.height - textBoundingBox.size.height) * 0.5 - textBoundingBox.origin.y);
        let locationOfTouchInTextContainer = CGPointMake((locationOfTouchInLabel.x - textContainerOffset.x),
                                                         0 );
        // Adjust for multiple lines of text
        let lineModifier = Int(ceil(locationOfTouchInLabel.y / label.font.lineHeight)) - 1
        let rightMostFirstLinePoint = CGPointMake(labelSize.width, 0)
        let charsPerLine = layoutManager.characterIndexForPoint(rightMostFirstLinePoint, inTextContainer: textContainer, fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints: nil)

        let indexOfCharacter = layoutManager.characterIndexForPoint(locationOfTouchInTextContainer, inTextContainer: textContainer, fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints: nil)
        let adjustedRange = indexOfCharacter + (lineModifier * charsPerLine)

        return NSLocationInRange(adjustedRange, targetRange)
    }

}

Answer 2

Like there is reported in earlier answer 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

Worked in Swift 3, pasting the entire code here

    //****Make sure the textview 'Selectable' = checked, and 'Editable = Unchecked'

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {

    @IBOutlet var theNewTextView: UITextView!
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        //****textview = Selectable = checked, and Editable = Unchecked

        theNewTextView.delegate = self

        let theString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "Agree to Terms")
        let theRange = theString.mutableString.range(of: "Terms")

        theString.addAttribute(NSLinkAttributeName, value: "ContactUs://", range: theRange)

        let theAttribute = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.blue, NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue] as [String : Any]

        theNewTextView.linkTextAttributes = theAttribute

     theNewTextView.attributedText = theString             

theString.setAttributes(theAttribute, range: theRange)

    }

    func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldInteractWith URL: URL, in characterRange: NSRange, interaction: UITextItemInteraction) -> Bool {

        if (URL.scheme?.hasPrefix("ContactUs://"))! {

            return false //interaction not allowed
        }

        //*** Set storyboard id same as VC name
        self.navigationController!.pushViewController((self.storyboard?.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "TheLastViewController"))! as UIViewController, animated: true)

        return true
    }

}

Answer 4

For fully custom links, you'll need to use a UIWebView - you can intercept the calls out, so that you can go to some other part of your app instead when a link is pressed.

Answer 5

Modified @timbroder code to handle multiple line correctly for swift4.2

extension UITapGestureRecognizer {

    func didTapAttributedTextInLabel(label: UILabel, inRange targetRange: NSRange) -> Bool {
        // Create instances of NSLayoutManager, NSTextContainer and NSTextStorage
        let layoutManager = NSLayoutManager()
        let textContainer = NSTextContainer(size: CGSize.zero)
        let textStorage = NSTextStorage(attributedString: label.attributedText!)

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

        // Configure textContainer
        textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0.0
        textContainer.lineBreakMode = label.lineBreakMode
        textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = label.numberOfLines
        let labelSize = label.bounds.size
        textContainer.size = labelSize

        // Find the tapped character location and compare it to the specified range
        let locationOfTouchInLabel = self.location(in: label)
        let textBoundingBox = layoutManager.usedRect(for: textContainer)
        let textContainerOffset = CGPoint(x: (labelSize.width - textBoundingBox.size.width) * 0.5 - textBoundingBox.origin.x,
                                          y: (labelSize.height - textBoundingBox.size.height) * 0.5 - textBoundingBox.origin.y);
        let locationOfTouchInTextContainer = CGPoint(x: (locationOfTouchInLabel.x - textContainerOffset.x),
                                                     y: 0 );
        // Adjust for multiple lines of text
        let lineModifier = Int(ceil(locationOfTouchInLabel.y / label.font.lineHeight)) - 1
        let rightMostFirstLinePoint = CGPoint(x: labelSize.width, y: 0)
        let charsPerLine = layoutManager.characterIndex(for: rightMostFirstLinePoint, in: textContainer, fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints: nil)

        let indexOfCharacter = layoutManager.characterIndex(for: locationOfTouchInTextContainer, in: textContainer, fractionOfDistanceBetweenInsertionPoints: nil)
        let adjustedRange = indexOfCharacter + (lineModifier * charsPerLine)
        var newTargetRange = targetRange
        if lineModifier > 0 {
            newTargetRange.location = targetRange.location+(lineModifier*Int(ceil(locationOfTouchInLabel.y)))
        }
        return NSLocationInRange(adjustedRange, newTargetRange)
    }
}

UILabel Code

let tapAction = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(self.tapLabel(gesture:)))

let quote = "For full details please see our privacy policy and cookie policy."
let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: quote)

let string1: String = "privacy policy", string2: String = "cookie policy"

// privacy policy
let rangeString1 = quote.range(of: string1)!
let indexString1: Int = quote.distance(from: quote.startIndex, to: rangeString1.lowerBound)
attributedString.addAttributes(
            [.font: <UIfont>,
             .foregroundColor: <UI Color>,
             .underlineStyle: 0, .underlineColor:UIColor.clear
        ], range: NSRange(location: indexString1, length: string1.count));

// cookie policy
let rangeString2 = quote.range(of: string2)!
let indexString2: Int = quote.distance(from: quote.startIndex, to: rangeString2.lowerBound )

attributedString.addAttributes(
            [.font: <UIfont>,
             .foregroundColor: <UI Color>,
             .underlineStyle: 0, .underlineColor:UIColor.clear
        ], range: NSRange(location: indexString2, length: string2.count));

let label = UILabel()
label.frame = CGRect(x: 20, y: 200, width: 375, height: 100)
label.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
label.addGestureRecognizer(tapAction)
label.attributedText = attributedString

Code to recognise the Tap

 @objc
  func tapLabel(gesture: UITapGestureRecognizer) {
     if gesture.didTapAttributedTextInLabel(label: <UILabel>, inRange: termsLabelRange {
            print("Terms of service")
     } else if gesture.didTapAttributedTextInLabel(label:<UILabel> inRange: privacyPolicyLabelRange) {
            print("Privacy policy")
     } else {
            print("Tapped none")
     }
    }

Answer 6

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.