How to change the frame of UIKeyBoard programmatically in iOS

Question

Well, i have gone through some decent goggling before posting this question but was unsuccessful in finding the right answers. I cant really explain my entire app scenario here as it is a bit complex to explain. So, let me make this question very very simple. How can i change the frame of the UIKeyBoard.i.e. I want the UIKeyBoard to rotate or translate 90 degrees upwards to support my view position. Is there a way out for me?

Answer 1

You can't change the default keyboard. You can, however, create a custom UIView to be used as keyboard replacement by setting it as inputView on, for example, a UITextField.

While creating a custom keyboard takes a bit of time, it works well with older iOS versions (inputView on the UITextField is available in iOS 3.2 and later) and supports physical keyboards (the keyboard is hidden automatically if one is connected).

Here's some sample code to create a vertical keyboard:

Interface:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface CustomKeyboardView : UIView

@property (nonatomic, strong) UIView *innerInputView;
@property (nonatomic, strong) UIView *underlayingView;

- (id)initForUnderlayingView:(UIView*)underlayingView;

@end

Implementation:

#import "CustomKeyboardView.h"

@implementation CustomKeyboardView

@synthesize innerInputView=_innerInputView;
@synthesize underlayingView=_underlayingView;

- (id)initForUnderlayingView:(UIView*)underlayingView
{
    //  Init a CustomKeyboardView with the size of the underlying view
    //  You might want to set an autoresizingMask on the innerInputView.
    self = [super initWithFrame:underlayingView.bounds];
    if (self) 
    {
        self.underlayingView = underlayingView;

        //  Create the UIView that will contain the actual keyboard
        self.innerInputView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 100, underlayingView.bounds.size.height)];

        //  You would need to add your custom buttons to this view; for this example, it's just red
        self.innerInputView.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];

        [self addSubview:self.innerInputView];
    }
    return self;
}

-(id)hitTest:(CGPoint)point withEvent:(UIEvent *)event 
{
    //  A hitTest is executed whenever the user touches this UIView or any of its subviews.

    id hitTest = [super hitTest:point withEvent:event];

    //  Since we want to ignore any clicks on the "transparent" part (this view), we execute another hitTest on the underlying view.
    if (hitTest == self)
    {
        return [self.underlayingView hitTest:point withEvent:nil];
    }

    return hitTest;
}

@end

Using the custom keyboard in some UIViewController:

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    CustomKeyboardView *customKeyboard = [[CustomKeyboardView alloc] initForUnderlayingView:self.view];
    textField.inputView = customKeyboard;
}