Adds an animated placeholder and an optional hint label below the text

by iOS Example

RAGTextField

Subclass of UITextField that adds an animated placeholder and an optional hint label below the text.

It supports an arbitrary view in the background of the text (outline and underline views are provided) as well as the left and right views, text alignments, flexible padding and offsets.

Example

To run the example project, clone the repo, and run pod install from the Example directory first.

Requirements

Written in Swift 4. Requires iOS 9. Support of Swift 3 ended with version 0.2.1.

Installation

RAGTextField is available through CocoaPods and Carthage.

Cocoapods

Add the following line to your Podfile:

pod "RAGTextField"

Please try the pod by calling pod try RAGTextField in the terminal.

Carthage

Add the following line to your Cartfile:

github "raginmari/RAGTextField"

How to use

After installing the lib and importing the module RAGTextField, the text field can be used like any other text field (both in the code and in your storyboards and nibs).

These are the key differences to UITextField:

  • A floating placeholder inspired by the one described in Google's Material Design guidelines.
  • A hint label below the actual text which can be used to provide additional hints or report errors.
  • A view in the background of the text (excluding the placeholder and the hint label) which can be used to style the appearance of the text entry. The example project uses this capability.

Many properties of the text field are IBInspectable.

The placeholder

The placeholder replaces the superclass placeholder. Values assigned to the placeholder property are handled exclusively by RAGTextField. The text alignment of the placeholder matches the text alignment of the text field.

These are the different ways you can customize the appearance and behavior of the placeholder:

  • Use the placeholderFont property to assign a custom font or font size to the placeholder. By default, the placeholder uses the font of the text field.
  • Use the placeholderColor property to change the color of the placeholder. By default, the placeholder uses the text color of the text field.
  • Use the placeholderScaleWhenEditing property to specify the scale applied to the placeholder in its floating position above the text. The default value is 1.
  • Use the scaledPlaceholderOffset property to offset the placeholder in its floating position from the text. The default value is 0. Positive values move the placeholder up, away from the text.
  • The value of the placeholderMode property determines the behavior of the placeholder:
    • scalesWhenEditing (default): the placeholder is moved to the floating position as soon as the text field becomes the first responder. Moreover, the placeholder remains in the floating position as long as there is text in the text field.
    • scalesWhenNotEmpty: the placeholder is moved to the floating position as soon as and for as long as there is text in the text field.
    • simple: the floating placeholder is disabled. The behavior of the placeholder resembles that of the superclass.
  • Use the placeholderAnimationDuration property to adjust the duration of the animation of the placeholder when it moves to or from the floating position. If the value is nil, a default value is used. Set the value to 0 to disable the placeholder animation.

The hint label

The hint label is disabled by default and while the value of the hint property is nil. If a non-nil value is assigned to the hint property (including the empty string), the layout of the label is updated and space for the hint label is reserved. The text alignment of the hint matches the text alignment of the text field.

These are the different ways you can customize the appearance of the hint:

  • Use the hintFont property to assign a custom font or font size to the hint. By default, the hint uses the font of the text field.
  • Use the hintColor property to change the color of the hint. By default, the hint uses the text color of the text field.
  • Use the hintOffset property to offset the hint label from the text. The default value is 0. Positive values move the hint down, away from the text.

The text background view

Add a view to the background of the text by assigning an arbitrary view to the textBackgroundView property. Its frame is updated by RAGTextField when required. The view is sized so that it matches the size of the text (and placeholder and/or hint) plus padding.

These are the different ways you can customize the appearance of the text background view.

  • Use the textPadding property to apply padding to the text. The padding expands the text background view. By default, the padding is .zero.
  • Use the textPaddingMode property to apply the text padding to just the text or in addition to that to the placeholder, the hint or both. Can be used to wrap the respective subviews into the text background view. The example project uses the text padding mode.

The underline view

Use the class UnderlineView to draw an animated underline below the text. Assign an instance of the class to the textBackgroundView property of the text field. The appearance of the underline can either be updated automatically by the view itself (see its textField property) or be manually controlled from a view controller or text field delegate. The example project uses the underline view.

The outline view

Use the class OutlineView to draw an outline around the text. The outline can have rounded corners and it can be filled and inset. Assign an instance of the class to the textBackgroundView property of the text field. Depending on the textPaddingMode value, the outline optionally includes the placeholder and/or hint label.

Known issues

These are known or possible issues with RAGTextField:

  • The attributedText property of UITextField may not be supported.
  • The attributedPlaceholder of UITextField is not supported.
  • The borderStyle property should be .none.

These issues will hopefully be addressed in future updates.

Author

raginmari, reimar.twelker@web.de

GitHub