Placeholder in UITextView

Question

My application uses an UITextView. Now I want the UITextView to have a placeholder similar to the one you can set for an UITextField.<

Answer 1

First take a label in .h file.

Here I take

UILabel * lbl;

Then in .m under viewDidLoad declare it

lbl = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8.0, 0.0,250, 34.0)];

lbl.font=[UIFont systemFontOfSize:14.0];

[lbl setText:@"Write a message..."];

[lbl setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];

[lbl setTextColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];

[textview addSubview:lbl];

textview is my TextView.

Now declare

-(void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView {

 if (![textView hasText]){

    lbl.hidden = NO;

 }
 else{
    lbl.hidden = YES;
 }

}

And your Textview placeholder is ready !

Answer 2

Here's a way easier solution that behaves exactly like UITextField's placeholder but doesn't require drawing custom views, or resigning first responder.

- (void) textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView{

    if (textView.text.length == 0){
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        textView.text = placeholderText;
        [textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];
        isPlaceholder = YES;

    } else if (isPlaceholder && ![textView.text isEqualToString:placeholderText]) {
        textView.text = [textView.text substringToIndex:1];
        textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
        isPlaceholder = NO;
    }

}

(the second check in the else if statement is for the case where nothing is entered and the user presses backspace)

Just set your class as a UITextViewDelegate. In viewDidLoad you should initialize like

- (void) viewDidLoad{
    // initialize placeholder text
    placeholderText = @"some placeholder";
    isPlaceholder = YES;
    self.someTextView.text = placeholderText;
    self.someTextView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
    [self.someTextView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];

    // assign UITextViewDelegate
    self.someTextView.delegate = self;
}

Answer 3

Sorry to add another answer, But I just pulled something like this off and this created the closest-to-UITextField kind of placeholder.

Hope this helps someone.

-(void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView{
    if(textView.textColor == [UIColor lightGrayColor]){
        textView.textColor  = [UIColor blackColor]; // look at the comment section in this answer
        textView.text       = [textView.text substringToIndex: 0];// look at the comment section in this answer
    }else if(textView.text.length == 0){
        textView.text       = @"This is some placeholder text.";
        textView.textColor  = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0);
    }
}

-(void)textViewDidChangeSelection:(UITextView *)textView{
    if(textView.textColor == [UIColor lightGrayColor] && (textView.selectedRange.location != 0 || textView.selectedRange.length != 0)){
        textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0);
    }
}

Answer 4

I made a few minor modifications to bcd's solution to allow for initialization from a Xib file, text wrapping, and to maintain background color. Hopefully it will save others the trouble.

UIPlaceHolderTextView.h:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
IB_DESIGNABLE
@interface UIPlaceHolderTextView : UITextView

@property (nonatomic, retain) IBInspectable NSString *placeholder;
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBInspectable UIColor *placeholderColor;

-(void)textChanged:(NSNotification*)notification;

@end

UIPlaceHolderTextView.m:

#import "UIPlaceHolderTextView.h"

@interface UIPlaceHolderTextView ()

@property (nonatomic, retain) UILabel *placeHolderLabel;

@end

@implementation UIPlaceHolderTextView

CGFloat const UI_PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_CHANGED_ANIMATION_DURATION = 0.25;

- (void)dealloc
{
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self];
#if __has_feature(objc_arc)
#else
    [_placeHolderLabel release]; _placeHolderLabel = nil;
    [_placeholderColor release]; _placeholderColor = nil;
    [_placeholder release]; _placeholder = nil;
    [super dealloc];
#endif
}

- (void)awakeFromNib
{
    [super awakeFromNib];

    // Use Interface Builder User Defined Runtime Attributes to set
    // placeholder and placeholderColor in Interface Builder.
    if (!self.placeholder) {
        [self setPlaceholder:@""];
    }

    if (!self.placeholderColor) {
        [self setPlaceholderColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
    }

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
}

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
    if( (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) )
    {
        [self setPlaceholder:@""];
        [self setPlaceholderColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
        [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)textChanged:(NSNotification *)notification
{
    if([[self placeholder] length] == 0)
    {
        return;
    }

    [UIView animateWithDuration:UI_PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_CHANGED_ANIMATION_DURATION animations:^{
    if([[self text] length] == 0)
    {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    }
    else
    {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:0];
    }
    }];
}

- (void)setText:(NSString *)text {
    [super setText:text];
    [self textChanged:nil];
}

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
    if( [[self placeholder] length] > 0 )
    {
        if (_placeHolderLabel == nil )
        {
            _placeHolderLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8,8,self.bounds.size.width - 16,0)];
            _placeHolderLabel.lineBreakMode = NSLineBreakByWordWrapping;
            _placeHolderLabel.numberOfLines = 0;
            _placeHolderLabel.font = self.font;
            _placeHolderLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
            _placeHolderLabel.textColor = self.placeholderColor;
            _placeHolderLabel.alpha = 0;
            _placeHolderLabel.tag = 999;
            [self addSubview:_placeHolderLabel];
        }

        _placeHolderLabel.text = self.placeholder;
        [_placeHolderLabel sizeToFit];
        [self sendSubviewToBack:_placeHolderLabel];
    }

    if( [[self text] length] == 0 && [[self placeholder] length] > 0 )
    {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    }

    [super drawRect:rect];
}

@end

Answer 5

this is how I did it:

UITextView2.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UITextView2 : UITextView <UITextViewDelegate> {
 NSString *placeholder;
 UIColor *placeholderColor;
}

@property(nonatomic, retain) NSString *placeholder;
@property(nonatomic, retain) UIColor *placeholderColor;

-(void)textChanged:(NSNotification*)notif;

@end

UITextView2.m

@implementation UITextView2

@synthesize placeholder, placeholderColor;

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
    if (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) {
        [self setPlaceholder:@""];
        [self setPlaceholderColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
        [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
    }
    return self;
}

-(void)textChanged:(NSNotification*)notif {
    if ([[self placeholder] length]==0)
        return;
    if ([[self text] length]==0) {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    } else {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:0];
    }

}

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
    if ([[self placeholder] length]>0) {
        UILabel *l = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8, 8, 0, 0)];
        [l setFont:self.font];
        [l setTextColor:self.placeholderColor];
        [l setText:self.placeholder];
        [l setAlpha:0];
        [l setTag:999];
        [self addSubview:l];
        [l sizeToFit];
        [self sendSubviewToBack:l];
        [l release];
    }
    if ([[self text] length]==0 && [[self placeholder] length]>0) {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    }
    [super drawRect:rect];
}

- (void)dealloc {
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self];
    [super dealloc];
}


@end

Answer 6

It is not possible to create placeholder in UITextView but you can generate effect like place holder by this.

  - (void)viewDidLoad{      
              commentTxtView.text = @"Comment";
              commentTxtView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
              commentTxtView.delegate = self;

     }
       - (BOOL) textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView
     {
         commentTxtView.text = @"";
         commentTxtView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
         return YES;
     }

     -(void) textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
     {

    if(commentTxtView.text.length == 0){
        commentTxtView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        commentTxtView.text = @"Comment";
        [commentTxtView resignFirstResponder];
    }
    }

OR you can add label in textview just like

       lbl = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10.0, 0.0,textView.frame.size.width - 10.0, 34.0)];


[lbl setText:kDescriptionPlaceholder];
[lbl setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
[lbl setTextColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
textView.delegate = self;

[textView addSubview:lbl];

and set

- (void)textViewDidEndEditing:(UITextView *)theTextView
{
     if (![textView hasText]) {
     lbl.hidden = NO;
}
}

- (void) textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if(![textView hasText]) {
      lbl.hidden = NO;
}
else{
    lbl.hidden = YES;
 }  
}