Placeholder in UITextView

My application uses an `UITextView`. Now I want the `UITextView` to have a placeholder similar to the one you can set for an `UITextField`.

How to do this?

What you can do is set up the text view with some initial value in the `text` property, and change the `textColor` to `[UIColor grayColor]` or something similar. Then, whenever the text view becomes editable, clear the text and present a cursor, and if the text field is ever empty again, put your placeholder text back. Change the color to `[UIColor blackColor]` as appropriate.

It's not exactly the same as the placeholder functionality in a UITextField, but it's close.

You could also create a new class TextViewWithPlaceholder as a subclass of UITextView.

(This code is kind of rough -- but I think it's on the right track.)

@interface TextViewWithPlaceholder : UITextView
{

NSString *placeholderText; // make a property
UIColor *placeholderColor; // make a property
UIColor *normalTextColor; // cache text color here whenever you switch to the placeholderColor
}

- (void) setTextColor: (UIColor*) color
{
normalTextColor = color;
[super setTextColor: color];
}

- (void) updateForTextChange
{
if ([self.text length] == 0)
{
normalTextColor = self.textColor;
self.textColor = placeholderColor;
self.text = placeholderText;
}
else
{
self.textColor = normalTextColor;
}

}

In your delegate, add this:

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
if ([textView respondsToSelector: @selector(updateForTextChange)])
{
[textView updateForTextChange];
}

}

this is how I did it:

UITextView2.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UITextView2 : UITextView <UITextViewDelegate> {
NSString *placeholder;
UIColor *placeholderColor;
}

@property(nonatomic, retain) NSString *placeholder;
@property(nonatomic, retain) UIColor *placeholderColor;

-(void)textChanged:(NSNotification*)notif;

@end

UITextView2.m

@implementation UITextView2

@synthesize placeholder, placeholderColor;

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
if (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) {
[self setPlaceholder:@""];
[self setPlaceholderColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
}
return self;
}

-(void)textChanged:(NSNotification*)notif {
if ([[self placeholder] length]==0)
return;
if ([[self text] length]==0) {
[[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
} else {
[[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:0];
}

}

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
if ([[self placeholder] length]>0) {
UILabel *l = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8, 8, 0, 0)];
[l setFont:self.font];
[l setTextColor:self.placeholderColor];
[l setText:self.placeholder];
[l setAlpha:0];
[l setTag:999];
[self addSubview:l];
[l sizeToFit];
[self sendSubviewToBack:l];
[l release];
}
if ([[self text] length]==0 && [[self placeholder] length]>0) {
[[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
}
[super drawRect:rect];
}

- (void)dealloc {
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self];
[super dealloc];
}


@end

You can set the label on the `UITextView` by

[UITextView addSubView:lblPlaceHoldaer];

and hide it on `TextViewdidChange` method.

This is the simple & easy way.

I made my own version of the subclass of 'UITextView'. I liked **Sam Soffes**'s idea of using the notifications, but I didn't liked the drawRect: overwrite. Seems overkill to me. I think I made a very clean implementation.

You can look at my subclass [here][1]. A demo project is also included.


[1]:

[To see links please register here]

OK my ansewer is a bit different
I create a small class to do it for you.

TextViewShader.m file

#import "TextViewShader.h"

@implementation TextViewShader
-(id)initWithShadedTextView:(NSString *)text textViewToShade:(UITextView *)textview {
self = [super initWithFrame:textview.frame];
if (self) {
if (shadeLabel==nil)
{
shadeLabel= [[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10, 0, textview.frame.size.width, 30)];


}
shadeLabel.text =text;// @"Enter Your Support Request";
shadeLabel.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
[textview setDelegate: self];
[textview addSubview:shadeLabel];
}
return self;
}

-(void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView{
if (textView.text.length==0)
{
shadeLabel.hidden=false;
}
else
{
shadeLabel.hidden=true;
}

}

@end


TextViewShader.h file

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface TextViewShader : UIView<UITextViewDelegate>{
UILabel *shadeLabel;

}
-(id)initWithShadedTextView:(NSString *)text textViewToShade:(UITextView *)textview ;
@end



this is the simple one line of code usage (dont forget to add #import "TextViewShader.h")



TextViewShader* shader = [[TextViewShader alloc]initWithShadedTextView:@"Enter Your Support Request" textViewToShade: youruitextviewToshade];


have fun :)

Simple way to use this within some line of code:

Take one label up to UITextView in .nib
connecting this label to your code ,
After it.

- (BOOL)textView:(UITextView *)textView shouldChangeTextInRange:(NSRange)range replacementText:(NSString *)text{

if (range.location>0 || text.length!=0) {
placeholderLabel1.hidden = YES;
}else{
placeholderLabel1.hidden = NO;
}
return YES;
}

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
placeholderLabel.hidden = YES;
}

put a label over the textview.

Here's yet another way to do it, one that reproduces the slight indentation of `UITextField`'s placeholder:

Drag a `UITextField` right under the `UITextView` so that their top left corners are aligned. Add your placeholder text to the text field.

In viewDidLoad, add:

[tView setDelegate:self];
tView.contentInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(-8,-8,0,0);
tView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];

Then add:

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView {
if (textView.text.length == 0) {
textView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
} else {
textView.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
}
}