A static character prefix in UITextField

Question

Is there a built-in way to add a character prefix to a UITextField like the screenshot below?

If no, what is the best, most straight-forward way to accomplish this? I am thinking the background property might be able to do this.

Answer 1

Following on from Anne's code you can also do this directly in code without the UILabel in IB and UIView in code:

UILabel *poundLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 5, 20)];
poundLabel.text = @"£";
[self.paymentAmount setLeftView:poundLabel];
[self.paymentAmount setLeftViewMode:UITextFieldViewModeAlways];

Answer 2

Simply adding a gray UILabel on top of the UITextField does the trick:

Note that the UILabel behaves like a background image, the entered text stays on top:

UPDATE

Additionally you can add some padding to the UITextField using the following code:

UIView *thePadding = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 5, 20)];
theTextField.leftView = thePadding;
theTextField.leftViewMode = UITextFieldViewModeAlways;

This way the text cannot cover the prefix character.
Adjust the rect to make it working properly in your situation.