Show iPhone cut copy paste menu on UILabel

Question

For Swift you have to implement this class:

import UIKit

class CopyableLabel: UILabel {

    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        self.sharedInit()
    }

    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
        self.sharedInit()
    }

    func sharedInit() {
        self.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
        let gesture = UILongPressGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(self.showMenu))
        self.addGestureRecognizer(gesture)
    }

    @objc func showMenu(_ recognizer: UILongPressGestureRecognizer) {
        self.becomeFirstResponder()
    
        let menu = UIMenuController.shared
    
        let locationOfTouchInLabel = recognizer.location(in: self)

        if !menu.isMenuVisible {
            var rect = bounds
            rect.origin = locationOfTouchInLabel
            rect.size = CGSize(width: 1, height: 1)
        
            menu.showMenu(from: self, rect: rect)
        }
    }

    override func copy(_ sender: Any?) {
        let board = UIPasteboard.general
    
        board.string = text
    
        let menu = UIMenuController.shared
    
        menu.setMenuVisible(false, animated: true)
    }

    override var canBecomeFirstResponder: Bool {
        return true
    }

    override func canPerformAction(_ action: Selector, withSender sender: Any?) -> Bool {
        return action == #selector(UIResponderStandardEditActions.copy)
    }
}

In your storyboard just subclass the UILabel with CopyableLabel class

I got the copy & paste menu working on a UILabel, I just had to return YES for canBecomeFirstResponder and later call [label becomeFirstResponder] when the said label was to come on screen. As for returning YES from canBecomeFirstResponder, you can create a custom subclass or patch UILabel using a category:

@implementation UILabel (Clipboard)

- (BOOL) canBecomeFirstResponder
{
    return YES;
}

@end

The category solution feels a bit hackish, but if you know what you’re doing it might be easier than subclassing. I have also put up a sample project on GitHub that shows how to display a simple pasteboard menu on an UILabel.

The sample project on github due to @zoul's answer is the way to go. At the time of this writing, that project does not actually put anything on the clipboard (pasteboard). here is how:

Change @zoul's implementation of this method to:

- (void) copy:(id)sender {
    UIPasteboard *pboard = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard];
    pboard.string = self.text;  
}

Swift 4 ☻ Xcode 9.2. By using UIMenuController we can do it.

I have created IBDesignable Custom UILabel class which you can assign on storyboard directly

@IBDesignable
class TapAndCopyLabel: UILabel {

    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()
        //1.Here i am Adding UILongPressGestureRecognizer by which copy popup will Appears
        let gestureRecognizer = UILongPressGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleLongPressGesture(_:)))
        self.addGestureRecognizer(gestureRecognizer)
        self.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
    }

    // MARK: - UIGestureRecognizer
    @objc func handleLongPressGesture(_ recognizer: UIGestureRecognizer) {
        guard recognizer.state == .recognized else { return }

        if let recognizerView = recognizer.view,
            let recognizerSuperView = recognizerView.superview, recognizerView.becomeFirstResponder()
        {
            let menuController = UIMenuController.shared
            menuController.setTargetRect(recognizerView.frame, in: recognizerSuperView)
            menuController.setMenuVisible(true, animated:true)
        }
    }
    //2.Returns a Boolean value indicating whether this object can become the first responder
    override var canBecomeFirstResponder: Bool {
        return true
    }
    //3.Here we are enabling copy action
    override func canPerformAction(_ action: Selector, withSender sender: Any?) -> Bool {
        return (action == #selector(UIResponderStandardEditActions.copy(_:)))

    }
    // MARK: - UIResponderStandardEditActions
    override func copy(_ sender: Any?) {
        //4.copy current Text to the paste board
        UIPasteboard.general.string = text
    }
}

Output:

I've made an open source UILabel subclass that shows a UIMenuController with a "Copy" option upon long press:

HTCopyableLabel on GitHub

I've forked zoul's sample project and added support for ARC (and a couple of other features) if anyone's still interested:

https://github.com/zhbrass/UILabel-Clipboard

CopyLabel.h/.m should be what you're looking for

Override the UITextField instance's textFieldShouldBeginEditing method, and set it to return NO in order to disable editing.

Take a look at the UITextFieldDelegate protocol for more details.