Dismiss Keyboard

Question

So I have a self created top bar controller that is being implemented in my other controllers views. I have a textfield on this top bar. I was wondering what the best approach to having the keyboard dismiss if the user clicks anywere outside the keyboard. I do have a tap gesture recognizer that performs the method dismisskeyboard. However, this only works if the user clicks on the top bar outside the keyboard. Is there a way to set it up so if the user clicks anywere on the screen, then this will dismiss the keyboard?

Answer 1

The approach I would describe is a hack but still works.

1. create a transparent UIButton with the frame of the view, like below:

   UIButton* overlay = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
   overlay.frame = self.view.bounds;
   overlay.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
   [overlay addTarget:self action:@selector(hideOverlay:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
   [self.view.subviews[0] insertSubview:overlay belowSubview:self.textField];
   

2. Create a method hideOverlay to dismiss the keyboard and hide the transparent:

   -(void)hideOverlay:(id)sender {
       UIView* overlay = sender;
       [overlay removeFromSuperview];
       [self.textField resignFirstResponder];
   }
   

You should ideally call the first block of code in textFieldDidBeginEditing: protocol method of UITextFieldDelegate and you should register your calling class accordingly.

Answer 2

You might try giving the text field a transparent inputAccessoryView, sized to fill the rest of the screen, that catches taps and dismisses the keyboard.