Custom Keyboard with Text Input to UITextField

Question

I'm having difficulties with implementing a keyboard accessory that inputs text into a UITextField when a key is pressed on the accessory. This is was the rough draft looks like:

Keyboard Accessory Picture

Ultimately I want when the user clicks on the '@gmail button for it to enter in the current email address UITextField @gmail.com so the user doesn't have to type it out. I have run into problems because I am writing the keyboardaccessoryview programmatically, I can't figure out have the keyinput from the keyboardaccess go to the UITextField of the email address. I have tried doing an IBAction with the

NSString *appendThisText = @"@gmail.com";
self.textFieldOne.text=[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@", self.textFieldOne.text, appendThisText];

but that didn't work. I need help please. Here is my code for the signInViewController.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <AVFoundation/AVAudioPlayer.h>
#import <AudioToolbox/AudioToolbox.h>

@interface signInViewController : UIViewController <UITextFieldDelegate, UITextViewDelegate> {
    AVAudioPlayer *sound;
    UIButton *myButton;
    UITextField *textFieldOne;
    UIButton *gmailButton;
    UIButton *meButton;
     UIButton *yahooButton;
    UIButton *outlookButton;
    UIView *inputAccView;
    UIButton *aolButton;
}


- (IBAction)playSwoosh:(id)sender;

- (IBAction)dismiss:(id)sender;

- (IBAction)toggleUIButtonImage:(id)sender;

- (IBAction)backgroundTouched:(id)sender;



@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *textFieldOne;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *textFieldTwo;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIButton *gmailButton;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIButton *meButton;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIButton *yahooButton;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIButton *outlookButton;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIButton *aolButton;
@property (retain, nonatomic) UIButton *myButton;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIView *inputAccView;

@end

and here is my signInViewController.m

#import "signInViewController.h"
#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>

@interface signInViewController ()

@end

@implementation signInViewController

@synthesize myButton = _myButton;
@synthesize textFieldOne = _textFieldOne;
@synthesize textFieldTwo = _textFieldTwo;
@synthesize inputAccView;
@synthesize gmailButton;
@synthesize yahooButton;
@synthesize meButton;
@synthesize outlookButton;
@synthesize aolButton;

- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil
{
self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
if (self) {
}
return self;
}


- (void)createInputAccessoryView {
inputAccView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10.0, 0.0, 310.0, 30.0)];
[inputAccView setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
[inputAccView setAlpha: 0.8];

gmailButton = [UIButton buttonWithType: UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
[gmailButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"keyboardtoolbar.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
//[gmailButton sizeToFit]
[gmailButton setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
gmailButton.titleLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Heiti TC" size:12];
[gmailButton setFrame: CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, 60.0, 30.0)];
[gmailButton setTitle:@"@Gmail" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[gmailButton setBackgroundColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
[inputAccView addSubview:gmailButton];

meButton = [UIButton buttonWithType: UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
[meButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"keyboardtoolbar.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
//[gmailButton sizeToFit]
[meButton setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
meButton.titleLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Heiti TC" size:12];
[meButton setFrame: CGRectMake(60.0, 0.0, 50.0, 30.0)];
[meButton setTitle:@"@Me" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[meButton setBackgroundColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
[inputAccView addSubview:meButton];

yahooButton = [UIButton buttonWithType: UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
[yahooButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"keyboardtoolbar.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
//[gmailButton sizeToFit]
[yahooButton setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
yahooButton.titleLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Heiti TC" size:12];
[yahooButton setFrame: CGRectMake(110.0, 0.0, 70.0, 30.0)];
[yahooButton setTitle:@"@Yahoo" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[yahooButton setBackgroundColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
[inputAccView addSubview:yahooButton];

outlookButton = [UIButton buttonWithType: UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
[outlookButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"keyboardtoolbar.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
//[gmailButton sizeToFit]
[outlookButton setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
outlookButton.titleLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Heiti TC" size:12];
[outlookButton setFrame: CGRectMake(180.0, 0.0, 70.0, 30.0)];
[outlookButton setTitle:@"@Outlook" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[outlookButton setBackgroundColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
[inputAccView addSubview:outlookButton];

aolButton = [UIButton buttonWithType: UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
[aolButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"keyboardtoolbar.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
//[gmailButton sizeToFit]
[aolButton setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
aolButton.titleLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Heiti TC" size:12];
[aolButton setFrame: CGRectMake(250.0, 0.0, 50.0, 30.0)];
[aolButton setTitle:@"@Aol" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[aolButton setBackgroundColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
[inputAccView addSubview:aolButton];

}


- (IBAction)backgroundTouched:(id)sender {
[_textFieldOne resignFirstResponder];
[_textFieldTwo resignFirstResponder];
}


- (void)textFieldDidBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField {

if (textField == self.textFieldOne) {
    [self createInputAccessoryView];
    [textField setInputAccessoryView:inputAccView];
    [UIView beginAnimations:nil context:NULL];
    [UIView setAnimationDelegate:self];
    [UIView setAnimationDuration:0.5];
    [UIView setAnimationBeginsFromCurrentState:YES];
    self.view.frame = CGRectMake(self.view.frame.origin.x, (self.view.frame.origin.y - 95), self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height);
    [UIView commitAnimations];
} else if (textField == self.textFieldTwo) {
    [UIView beginAnimations:nil context:NULL];
    [UIView setAnimationDelegate:self];
    [UIView setAnimationDuration:0.5];
    [UIView setAnimationBeginsFromCurrentState:YES];
    self.view.frame = CGRectMake(self.view.frame.origin.x, (self.view.frame.origin.y - 95), self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height);
    [UIView commitAnimations];
}
}

- (void)textFieldDidEndEditing:(UITextField *)textField {
if (textField == self.textFieldOne) {
    [UIView beginAnimations:nil context:NULL];
    [UIView setAnimationDelegate:self];
    [UIView setAnimationDuration:0.5];
    [UIView setAnimationBeginsFromCurrentState:YES];
    self.view.frame = CGRectMake(self.view.frame.origin.x, (self.view.frame.origin.y + 95), self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height);
    [UIView commitAnimations];
} else if (textField == self.textFieldTwo) {
    [UIView beginAnimations:nil context:NULL];
    [UIView setAnimationDelegate:self];
    [UIView setAnimationDuration:0.5];
    [UIView setAnimationBeginsFromCurrentState:YES];
    self.view.frame = CGRectMake(self.view.frame.origin.x, (self.view.frame.origin.y + 95), self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height);
    [UIView commitAnimations];
}
}


- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField {
if (textField) {
    [textField resignFirstResponder];
}
return NO;
}

Can someone please help me get on the right path with this one. I assume it would be an IBAction from gmailButton to textFieldOne as the outlet but I'm not sure how to implement that programmatically. It's giving me some issues. I have no problems translating this to a UITextView but i don't know if I need to use the UITextInput protocol or what.

Answer 1

Basically you'll just have to add some target-action to you buttons (like an IBAction).

Just add this to your Buttons:

[yourButton addTarget:self action:@selector(yourButtonTapped) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

And create a method to handle the tap, like:

- (void)yourButtonTapped
{
    self.textFieldOne.text = [self.textFieldOne.text stringByAppendingString:@"whatever"];
}