iPhone UIWebview: How to force a numeric keyboard? Is it possible?

Question

I\'m experimenting with PhoneGap to develop some iPhone apps. PhoneGap basically wraps a UIWebView - it works well. The problem is the my app has several input fields that

Answer 1

What you can also use for iOS phonegap based app is :

input type="number" pattern="[0-9]*"

It is shown in the image below. Works beautifully with iOS 8.2 and phonegap 3.5 and above.

Answer 2

I found a better solution is to use <input type="text" pattern="[0-9]*"> when designing forms for both mobile and desktop browsers.

Answer 3

From Apple's documentation (the note about UIWebView):

You cannot specify the keyboard type in input elements. The web view displays a custom keyboard that is based on the default keyboard but includes some additional controls for navigating between form elements.

Answer 4

iOs has a numeric keyboard UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation, but this can't be called from HTML (https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/StringsTextFonts/Conceptual/TextAndWebiPhoneOS/KeyboardManagement/KeyboardManagement.html)

since on the "tel" keyboard the punctuation is missing you have to create this on your own. Since ios8 custom keyboards are available. Or if you just need the punctuation you can add a button (How to add a 'Done' button to numpad keyboard in iOS) to the numeric keyboard which pops up when you specify your input field with type="number" pattern="[0-9]*" .

To do so: the objective-c code.

-(void)keyboardWillHide:(NSNotification *)note
{
    [self.donekeyBoardBtn removeFromSuperview];
    [self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:[NSString stringWithFormat: @"document.activeElement.blur()"]];
}

- (void)keyboardWillShow:(NSNotification *)note
{
    [UIView setAnimationsEnabled:NO];
    // create custom button
    //UIKeyboardTypeNumberPadin
    //type="number" pattern="[0-9]*"
    UIButton *extryB= [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
    extryB.frame = CGRectMake(0, self.view.frame.size.height+150, 100, 50);
    extryB.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:204.0f/255.0f
                                             green:210.0f/255.0f
                                              blue:217.0f/255.0f
                                             alpha:1.0f];
    extryB.adjustsImageWhenHighlighted = NO;
    extryB.titleLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:14.0];
    [extryB setTitle:@"," forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [extryB setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [extryB addTarget:self action:@selector(extryBpressed) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];



self.donekeyBoardBtn = extryB;

// locate keyboard view
UIWindow* tempWindow = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] objectAtIndex:1];
UIView* keyboard;
for(int i=0; i<[tempWindow.subviews count]; i++)
{
    keyboard = [tempWindow.subviews objectAtIndex:i];
    // keyboard view found; add the custom button to it

    if([[keyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIInputSetContainerView"] == YES)
    {

        for(int i = 0 ; i < [keyboard.subviews count] ; i++)
        {
            UIView* hostkeyboard = [keyboard.subviews objectAtIndex:i];

            if([[hostkeyboard description] hasPrefix:@"<UIInputSetHost"] == YES)
            {
                UIButton* donebtn = (UIButton*)[hostkeyboard viewWithTag:67123];
                if (donebtn == nil){
                    //to avoid adding again and again as per my requirement (previous and next button on keyboard)

                    if([[self printKeyboardType] isEqualToString: @"UIKeyboardTypePhonePad"]){
                        [keyboard addSubview:extryB];
                    }

                }
            }
        }
    }
    //[keyboard addSubview:extryB];
}
[UIView setAnimationsEnabled:YES];
// animate
[UIView animateWithDuration:0.5 animations:^{
    extryB.frame = CGRectMake(0, self.view.frame.size.height-50, 100, 50);
}];
}

-(NSString*)printKeyboardType
{

NSString* strKeyboardType = @"";
switch (self.textDocumentProxy.keyboardType) {
    case UIKeyboardTypeAlphabet:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeAlphabet";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeAlphabet";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypeDefault:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeDefault";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypeTwitter:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeTwitter";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypePhonePad:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypePhonePad";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypeURL:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeURL";
        break;
    case UIKeyboardTypeWebSearch:
        strKeyboardType = @"UIKeyboardTypeWebSearch";
        break;
    default:
        strKeyboardType = @"UNKNOWN";
        break;
}
NSLog(@"self.textDocumentProxy.keyboardType=%@", strKeyboardType);
return strKeyboardType;
}

#define SYSTEM_VERSION_GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO(v)  ([[[UIDevice currentDevice] systemVersion] compare:v options:NSNumericSearch] != NSOrderedAscending)

- (void)extryBpressed{
    //simulates a "." press
    [self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:[NSString stringWithFormat: @"simulateKeyPress('.');"]];
}

Then you should add the a method which can be accessed application wide in your JS code.

simulateKeyPress: function(k) {
        var press = jQuery.Event("keypress");

        press.which = k;
        // place the id of your most outer html tag here
        $("#body").trigger(press);
            // just needed because my active element has a child element where the value should be placed in
                var id = document.activeElement.id.indexOf("-");
                if(id != -1){
                    var currentTf = sap.ui.getCore().byId(document.activeElement.id.split("-")[0]);
                    //append the value and set it (my textfield has a method setValue())
                    var currentTfValue = currentTf.getValue();
                    currentTf.setValue(currentTfValue + k);
                }
            },