When assigning focus via becomeFirstResponder to UISearchController's UISearchBar, the keyboard does not appear

Question

I\'ve spent quite a bit of time searching online and talking to other developers about this issue to no avail. The exact issue is described in this SO post (Focus on the UIS

Answer 1

Working Solution:-

Don't use [self.searchController setActive:YES] before becomeFirstResponder.

- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
   [super viewDidAppear:animated];
   dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(0, 0), ^{
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
       // [self.searchController setActive:YES];
        [self.searchController.searchBar becomeFirstResponder];
     });
 });
}

Answer 2

I had trouble with an UISearchBar not displaying the keyboard when doing

[searchBar becomeFirstResponder];

By searching on the net, i found this thread on the Apple developer website that helped me to discover that the keyboard won't open if you don't have a keyWindow.

The application i work on do something like this :

1. Window A (KeyWindow)
2. do some things
3. open Window B (KeyWindow)
4. do some things
5. close Window B (resign KeyWindow)

I just had to do

[[[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] firstObject] makeKeyWindow];

after the resigning of window B and no more trouble with the keyboard.

Answer 3

In iOS 10, I had to run the code in delegate method on main thread. First I set the active to YES in viewDidAppear,

-(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated{
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];
      [self.searchController setActive:YES];
}

and then in the delegate method:

- (void)didPresentSearchController:(UISearchController *)searchController
{
  dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
  [searchController.searchBar becomeFirstResponder];
  });
}

Answer 4

This might also be related to Simulator Settings. Just disable Hardware -> Keyboard -> "Connect Hardware Keyboard" .

For further details: UISearchBar not showing keyboard when tapped