Using `textField:shouldChangeCharactersInRange:`, how do I get the text including the current typed character?

Question

I\'m using the code below to try and have textField2\'s text content get updated to match textField1\'s whenever the user types in textField1

Answer 1

My solution is to use UITextFieldTextDidChangeNotification.

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(copyText:) name:UITextFieldTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];

Don't forget to call [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self]; in dealloc method.

Answer 2

Swift version for it :

func textField(textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersInRange range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {

    if string == " " {
        return false
    }

    let userEnteredString = textField.text

    var newString = (userEnteredString! as NSString).stringByReplacingCharactersInRange(range, withString: string) as NSString

    print(newString)

    return true
}

Answer 3

-(BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string
{
    NSString * searchStr = [textField.text stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:range withString:string];

    NSLog(@"%@",searchStr);
    return YES;
}

Answer 4

In Swift(4), without NSString (pure Swift):

func textField(_ textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {

    if let textFieldString = textField.text, let swtRange = Range(range, in: textFieldString) {

        let fullString = textFieldString.replacingCharacters(in: swtRange, with: string)

        print("FullString: \(fullString)")
    }

    return true
}

As an extension:

extension UITextField {

    func fullTextWith(range: NSRange, replacementString: String) -> String? {

        if let fullSearchString = self.text, let swtRange = Range(range, in: fullSearchString) {

            return fullSearchString.replacingCharacters(in: swtRange, with: replacementString)
        }

        return nil
    }
}

// Usage:

func textField(_ textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {

    if let textFieldString = textField.fullTextWith(range: range, replacementString: string) {
        print("FullString: \(textFieldString)")
    }

    return true
}

Answer 5

-shouldChangeCharactersInRange gets called before text field actually changes its text, that's why you're getting old text value. To get the text after update use:

[textField2 setText:[textField1.text stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:range withString:string]];

Answer 6

Instead of using the UITextFieldDelegate, try to use "Editing Changed" event of UITextField.