Simple way to show the 'Copy' popup on UITableViewCells like the address book App

Question

Is there a simple way for subclasses of UITableViewCell to show the 'Copy' UIMenuController popup like in the Address book app (see screenshot), after the selection is held for a while?

Answer 1

The method before iOS 5 is to get the UIMenuController's shared instance, set the target rect and view and call -setMenuVisible:animated:. Remeber to implement -canPerformAction:withSender: in your responder.

---

The method after iOS 5 (previously available as undocumented feature) is to implement these 3 methods in your data source (see https://developer.apple.com/reference/uikit/uitableviewdelegate#1653389).

-(void)tableView:(UITableView*)tableView performAction:(SEL)action forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath*)indexPath withSender:(id)sender;
-(BOOL)tableView:(UITableView*)tableView canPerformAction:(SEL)action forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath*)indexPath withSender:(id)sender;
-(BOOL)tableView:(UITableView*)tableView shouldShowMenuForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath*)indexPath; 

Answer 2

There is now official interface for displaying UITableView cell menus in iOS 5. Example (from the table delegate):

- (BOOL)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView shouldShowMenuForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    return YES;
}

- (BOOL)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView canPerformAction:(SEL)action forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath withSender:(id)sender
{
    return (action == @selector(copy:));
}

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView performAction:(SEL)action forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath withSender:(id)sender
{
    if (action == @selector(copy:)){
        UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
        [[UIPasteboard generalPasteboard] setString:cell.textLabel.text];
    }
}

I tried modifying the UIMenuController's shared controller to add my own menu item, and I was able to add it and get the canPerformAction message for it, but returning YES didn't help; I wasn't able to make my custom menu item appear. From my experiments, it looks like only Copy, Cut, and Paste are supported. [EDIT Since this was posted, I've learned how to add custom menu items.]

Note that this works only if all three delegate methods are implemented.

Answer 3

Here is the Swift syntax for copying detailTextLabel.

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, shouldShowMenuForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> Bool {
    return (tableView.cellForRow(at: indexPath)?.detailTextLabel?.text) != nil
}

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, canPerformAction action: Selector, forRowAt indexPath: IndexPath, withSender sender: Any?) -> Bool {
    return action == #selector(copy(_:))
}

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, performAction action: Selector, forRowAt indexPath: IndexPath, withSender sender: Any?) {
    if action == #selector(copy(_:)) {
        let cell = tableView.cellForRow(at: indexPath)
        let pasteboard = UIPasteboard.general
        pasteboard.string = cell?.detailTextLabel?.text
    }
}

Answer 4

Your UITableViewCell subclass may look like this

@interface MenuTableViewCell : UITableViewCell {
}
- (IBAction)copy:(id)sender;
- (void)showMenu;

@end


@implementation MenuTableViewCell

- (BOOL)canBecomeFirstResponder {
    return YES;
}
- (BOOL)canPerformAction:(SEL)action withSender:(id)sender
{
    if (action == @selector(copy:)) {
        return YES;
    }
    return NO;
}
- (IBAction)copy:(id)sender {
}
- (void)showMenu {
    [[UIMenuController sharedMenuController] setMenuVisible:NO animated:YES];
    [self becomeFirstResponder];
    [[UIMenuController sharedMenuController] update];
    [[UIMenuController sharedMenuController] setTargetRect:CGRectZero inView:self];
    [[UIMenuController sharedMenuController] setMenuVisible:YES animated:YES];

}

@end

And the UITableView delegate methods are like

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

    static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"Cell";

    MenuTableViewCell *cell = (MenuTableViewCell *)[tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    if (cell == nil) {
        cell = [[[MenuTableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] autorelease];
    }

    // Configure the cell.
    return cell;
}

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    MenuTableViewCell *cell = (MenuTableViewCell *)[tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
    [cell showMenu];
}

Answer 5

 #pragma mark - COPY/PASTE Cell Text via Menu

- (BOOL)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView shouldShowMenuForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    return YES;
}

- (BOOL)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView canPerformAction:(SEL)action forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath withSender:(id)sender
{
    return (action == @selector(copy:));
}

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView performAction:(SEL)action forRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath withSender:(id)sender
{
    if (action == @selector(copy:))
    {
        UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
        UIPasteboard *pasteBoard = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard];
        [pasteBoard setString:cell.textLabel.text];
    }
}