objective-c sending keyevents to webview

Question

Just wondering if there is a way to send keyevents or text to a webview.

I have an app which the user can click a button to perform a specific tasks. Depeneding on the button the user has clicked the textbox inside the webview needs to be populated.

I can handle the button click event and all that but just wanted to find out if I can pass that text to the webview.

I have searched on google but havent found any solutions yet. maybe I am missing something.

Anyway thanks in advance.

Answer 1

HTML Side:

Assume following is the javascript method which fires upon calling it in your Objective-C method..ie.,native side.

<script type="text/javascript">

 var htmlTouch = 0;

//following is the function that you've assigned for a HTML button.

function button1_click()
{
htmlTouch =1; //The reason why i am setting the htmlTpuch=1,is just to identify whether it's native touch or HTML touch.
}

//javascrip function which we are going to call from oObjective-c
function toCallFromiOS() 
{

if( htmlTouch  == 1 ) 
{ 
alert("its a html touch,so pass any values to native code here.");
return 'urText';
}    

}  

//To reset the touch for next use.
function resetTheHTMLtouch() 
{
htmlTouch = 0;
}    

</script>

Native Side:

Create UIWebview to load the above html (well i am doing it in local now).

self.webView = [[UIWebView alloc] initWithFrame:self.view.bounds];
[self.webView loadRequest:[NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:[[NSBundle mainBundle] 
                                pathForResource:@"test" ofType:@"html"] isDirectory:NO]]];

Now add the gesture delegate to the whole webview.

UITapGestureRecognizer *tapGestureDown = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleTapGesture)];
tapGestureDown.numberOfTapsRequired = 1;
tapGestureDown.delegate = self;
[self.webView addGestureRecognizer:tapGestureDown];

//handleTapGesture is a native method,in the sense "On detecting if its a native touch,what you want perform?"

-(void)handleTapGesture
{
NSLog(@"Touch is native");
}

Now we are all set.Next step is to implement the delegate called

-shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWithGestureRecognizer:==>which returns BOOL value.

On detecting the touch event on the webview,the implemented delegate function gets called.

- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWithGestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)otherGestureRecognizer
{
return YES;
}

If you add the above code just like that,on tapping the webview the above delegate gets called N number of times(sometimes 8,9,13 etc).Only solution is we should be able to know the state of the touch(whether its end or start),to reset the touch event for the next call.

- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWithGestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)otherGestureRecognizer
    {
    NSString *javastr=[self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"toCallFromiOS();"];
    NSLog(@"This is return string from javascript==>%@",javastr);

     if((otherGestureRecognizer.state==UIGestureRecognizerStateEnded && [javastr hasPrefix:@"urText"]))
    {

    javastr= [self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"resetTheHTMLtouch();"];

    return NO;
    }

    return YES;

    }

If the javastr returns any value(text),it's a HTML touch or else its a native touch,"handleTapGesture" gets called.

For more detailed information check out my blog==> Feel the difference between HTML touch and Native touch on UIWebView

Hope this helps you.happy coding...

Answer 2

So i completely forgot that is iOS i can simply use javascript. Just in case someone else in the future has the same issue. I found the solution here

http://iphoneincubator.com/blog/windows-views/how-to-inject-javascript-functions-into-a-uiwebview

This allows you to input text into the webview's textbox and other places.

Thanks all.