Is there a way to disable transparency on the keyboard in iOS 7?

Question

I would like to have a keyboard with a non-transparent keyboard - I couldn't get this with any of the supported UIKeyboardTypes. Is there another way around this?

I suppose I could just overlay a background view under the keyboard with the color I want - would there be a good way to animate that background view in sync with the keyboard show animation?

Answer 1

The keyboard in iOS7 is translucent when app is compiled in Xcode 5 with a Base SDK of iOS 7.
If you build the app on Xcode 4.6.x instead, you'll have the non-translucent keyboard as before.
(i know this is a shitty fix but nonetheless, i thought i'd suggest it)

anyways, you could alternatively try making use of the default keyboard notifications:

1. UIKeyboardWillShowNotification
2. UIKeyboardWillHideNotification

should go something like:

-(void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(keyboardWillShow:)
                                                 name:UIKeyboardWillShowNotification
                                               object:nil];

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

-(void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:UIKeyboardWillShowNotification
                                                  object:nil];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:UIKeyboardWillHideNotification
                                                  object:nil];
}

---

-(void)keyboardWillShow:(NSNotification *)note
{
    /*
     Would have used:
     CGRect rectStart = [note.userInfo[UIKeyboardFrameBeginUserInfoKey] CGRectValue];
     CGRect rectEnd = [note.userInfo[UIKeyboardFrameEndUserInfoKey] CGRectValue];

     Reason for not using:
     The above two keys are not being used although, ideally, they should have been
     since they seem to be buggy when app is in landscape mode

     Resolution:
     Using the deprecated UIKeyboardBoundsUserInfoKey since it works more efficiently
     */

    CGRect rectStart_PROPER = [note.userInfo[UIKeyboardBoundsUserInfoKey] CGRectValue];
    rectStart_PROPER.origin.y = self.view.frame.size.height;

    UIView *vwUnderlay = [self.view viewWithTag:8080];
    if (vwUnderlay) {
        [vwUnderlay removeFromSuperview];
    }

    vwUnderlay = [[UIView alloc] init];
    [vwUnderlay setFrame:rectStart_PROPER];
    [vwUnderlay setBackgroundColor:[UIColor orangeColor]];
    [vwUnderlay setTag:8080];
    [self.view addSubview:vwUnderlay];

    [UIView animateWithDuration:[note.userInfo[UIKeyboardAnimationDurationUserInfoKey] floatValue]
                          delay:0
                        options:[note.userInfo[UIKeyboardAnimationCurveUserInfoKey] integerValue] << 16
                     animations:^{
                         [vwUnderlay setFrame:CGRectOffset(vwUnderlay.frame, 0, -vwUnderlay.frame.size.height)];
                     }
                     completion:nil];
}

---

-(void)keyboardWillHide:(NSNotification *)note
{
    UIView *vwUnderlay = [self.view viewWithTag:8080];

    [UIView animateWithDuration:[note.userInfo[UIKeyboardAnimationDurationUserInfoKey] floatValue]
                          delay:0
                        options:[note.userInfo[UIKeyboardAnimationCurveUserInfoKey] integerValue] << 16
                     animations:^{
                         [vwUnderlay setFrame:CGRectOffset(vwUnderlay.frame, 0, vwUnderlay.frame.size.height)];
                     }
                     completion:^(BOOL finished){
                         [vwUnderlay removeFromSuperview];
                     }];
}