SWIFT multiline textfield is an essential tool for developers, particularly in creating user-friendly applications. Textfields are an integral part of many applications’ user interfaces, from search bars to form inputs. While single-line textfields are common and comparatively simplistic, multiline textfields offer a more complex, yet more adaptable solution for maximal user interaction. Multiline textfields enable users to insert as much text as they wish, breaking the confinements of a single line. Thus, developers tend to lean towards the multiline textfield when crafting applications that demand vast user input such as email clients or note-taking applications.
Introduction to Swift’s Multiline Textfield
In Swift programming language, multiline textfields are not directly provided by UIKit. UITextView serves as a superb workaround for creating multiline textfields. A UITextView object enables dynamic application content to be displayed and edited, offering a field for entering multiline text. The application user can manipulate the keyboard to input and alter the text accordingly in the applications we session using the Swift programming language.
Implementing the Multiline Textfield in Swift
To add a multiline textfield in swift, we will employ the UITextView class. UITextView does not restrict the user’s input to a single line, a feature that enhances user interactivity and overall user experience.
Let’s break down how you can achieve this:
import UIKit
class ViewController: UIViewController {
var textView: UITextView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
textView = UITextView(frame: CGRect(x: 20.0, y: 20.0, width: self.view.frame.width - 40.0, height: 200.0))
self.view.addSubview(textView)
}
}
In this code, first, we import UIKit which contains the functions needed to construct and manage a graphical, event-driven user interface for our iOS application. Then, we initiate a UITextView! inside our UIViewController class which represents the app’s view controller. After it, in the viewDidLoad() method, we create an instance of UITextView, defining its frame and finally, employ ‘addSubview’ function to add newly created multiline textfield to the view of our ViewController.
Enhance Textfield Appearance
Just having a bare, unformatted multiline textfield is not very attractive in most applications. Developers often want to customize the appearance of textfields to align with the visual aspects of the application as a whole.
textView.backgroundColor = UIColor.lightGray textView.font = UIFont(name: "Helvetica Neue", size: 20) textView.textAlignment = .center
This code will change the background colour of the textfield to light gray; set the font to ‘Helvetica Neue’ with a size of 20, and center aligns the text input. Transparency, border style, and other attributes can also be manipulated to get the desired look and feel.
Use of Delegates in UITextView
Delegates serve as a communication path between objects in Swift coding. A TextView delegate, UITextViewDelegate, is used to interact with and handle events regarding the UITextView.
class ViewController: UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {
// code here
func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
print("text changed: (textView.text)")
}
}
The function textViewDidChange(_ 🙂 is one among UITextViewDelegate protocol methods, called whenever a change occurs in textview. Here, we print the new text onto the console every time the user alters the input.
Dedicated to crafting user-friendly applications, Swift allows developers to use multiline textfields to ensure maximum flexibility and user interplay. The practical usage of multiline textfields far outweighs the complexities of its implementation, thus asserting its popularity among Swift developers.
