Which UIKeyboardType can I use on the iPad

Question

I have a a textField object in my iPad app. I would like to give the user a convenient keyboard for entering numbers. In my code I added:

UITextField *textField = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:frame];
textField.keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad;

According to the docs this is a valid keyboard type but when I edit the text field the normal ASCII keyboard comes up. However, when I change it to:

textField.keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypePhonePad;

The keyboard looks like this:

Ideally I would like a keyboard that only has the numbers and decimal point but is this not possible on the iPad? Does anyone have a definitive list of which keyboards work on the iPhone vs. iPad? Apple is unclear on this point. I also saw this question which is similar but none of the answers really address my point.

Answer 1

These are the UIKeyboardTypes that can be used on both iOS devices. From the docs:

• UIKeyboardTypeDefault

  • Use the default keyboard for the current input method.
  • Available in iOS 2.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypeASCIICapable

  • Use a keyboard that displays standard ASCII characters.
  • Available in iOS 2.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation

  • Use the numbers and punctuation keyboard.
  • Available in iOS 2.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypeURL

  • Use a keyboard optimized for URL entry. This type features “.”, “/”, and “.com” prominently.
  • Available in iOS 2.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad

  • Use a numeric keypad designed for PIN entry. This type features the numbers 0 through 9 prominently. This keyboard type does not support auto-capitalization.
  • Available in iOS 2.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypePhonePad

  • Use a keypad designed for entering telephone numbers. This type features the numbers 0 through 9 and the “*” and “#” characters prominently. This keyboard type does not support auto-capitalization.
  • Available in iOS 2.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad

  • Use a keypad designed for entering a person’s name or phone number. This keyboard type does not support auto-capitalization.
  • Available in iOS 2.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress

  • Use a keyboard optimized for specifying email addresses. This type features the “@”, “.” and space characters prominently.
  • Available in iOS 2.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad

  • Use a keyboard with numbers and a decimal point.
  • Available in iOS 4.1 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypeTwitter

  • Use a keyboard optimized for twitter text entry, with easy access to the @ and # characters.
  • Available in iOS 5.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

• UIKeyboardTypeAlphabet

  • Deprecated.
  • Use UIKeyboardTypeASCIICapable instead.
  • Available in iOS 2.0 and later.
  • Declared in UITextInputTraits.h.
    
    

Here are some screenshots of the different types of keyboards.

Answer 2

I tested which keyboard types are available for iPad/iPhone using the Simulator after receiving the warning

"Can't find keyplane that supports type 8 for keyboard Wildcat-Landscape-QWERTY-Pad; using 2592645918_Wildcat-Alphabetic-Keyboard_Capital-Letters"

on the iPad for the UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad. Hopefully this is useful for the next person that stumbles here.

iPad:

• UIKeyboardTypeASCIICapable
• UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation
• UIKeyboardTypeURL
• UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad
• UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad
• UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress
• UIKeyboardTypeTwitter

So, all of them except UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad. using UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad gets you nothing but a slap on the wrist in either iOS 5.1 or 6.1.

iPhone:

• UIKeyboardTypeASCIICapable
• UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation
• UIKeyboardTypeURL
• UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad
• UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad
• UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress
• UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad
• UIKeyboardTypeTwitter

i.e. all of them