How to insert placeholder in UITextView? [duplicate]

Question

Is there any way to insert a placeholder in a UITextView similar to the UITextField? If yes, then please send me any link or any idea to implement this functionality.

Answer 1

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];
    }
}

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

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

Answer 2

Another easy solution is to just add a UILabel to your UITextView subview.

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
  [super viewDidLoad];

  // you might have to play around a little with numbers in CGRectMake method
  // they work fine with my settings
  placeholderLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10.0, 0.0, textView.frame.size.width - 20.0, 34.0)];
  [placeholderLabel setText:kDescriptionPlaceholder];
  // placeholderLabel is instance variable retained by view controller
  [placeholderLabel setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
  [placeholderLabel setFont:[challengeDescription font]];
  [placeholderLabel setTextColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];

  // textView is UITextView object you want add placeholder text to
  [textView addSubview:placeholderLabel];
}

- (void) textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)theTextView
{
  if(![textView hasText]) {
    [textView addSubview:placeholderLabel];
  } else if ([[textView subviews] containsObject:placeholderLabel]) {
    [placeholderLabel removeFromSuperview];
  }
}

- (void)textViewDidEndEditing:(UITextView *)theTextView
{
  if (![textView hasText]) {
    [textView addSubview:placeholderLabel];
  }
}

You can even add little animations to fade in/out the UILabel if that's your thing.

- (void) textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)theTextView
{
  if(![textView hasText]) {
    [textView addSubview:placeholderLabel];
    [UIView animateWithDuration:0.15 animations:^{
      placeholderLabel.alpha = 1.0;
    }];
  } else if ([[textView subviews] containsObject:placeholderLabel]) {

    [UIView animateWithDuration:0.15 animations:^{
      placeholderLabel.alpha = 0.0;
    } completion:^(BOOL finished) {
      [placeholderLabel removeFromSuperview];
    }];
  }
}


- (void)textViewDidEndEditing:(UITextView *)theTextView
{
  if (![textView hasText]) {
    [textView addSubview:placeholderLabel];
    [UIView animateWithDuration:0.15 animations:^{
      placeholderLabel.alpha = 1.0;
    }];
}

Answer 3

Another easy solution is set YES/NO for hidden properties of placeholderLabel

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

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

Answer 4

-(BOOL)textView:(UITextView *)textView shouldChangeTextInRange:(NSRange)range replacementText:(NSString *)text
{
  // NSLog(@"REPlace %@ %d",text,range.location);
  if(range.location==0 && ![text isEqualToString:@""])
  {
    placeholderlbl.hidden = YES;
  }
  else if(range.location==0)
  {
    placeholderlbl.hidden = NO;
  }

  return YES;
}