Text Field As Search Bar

Question

Are there any good tutorials or ways of turning a text field into a search bar?

I already have my search bar set up with search bar + search display controller and it's working alright -- but it's hard to customize...specifically getting rid of the ugly grey overlay and apparently this is the best way to go.

I haven't been able to find any info on doing this and figured someone has have to have done it before.

Answer 1

i don't know of any tutorials that covers that subject, but sometime ago with help of someone else i was able to accomplish that. here is the total code in .h and .m file. i can explain the whole thing but it is commented on each line so i guess it is clear enough.

.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface SEMainVC : UIViewController <UITextFieldDelegate>{
    NSMutableArray *dummyArray;
    NSMutableArray *searchArray;
    NSString *searchTextString;
}

@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *searchTextField;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITableView *contentTableView;

- (void) setupData;

@end

.m

@interface SEMainVC ()

@end

@implementation SEMainVC

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    //set the selector to the text field in order to change its value when edited
    [self.searchTextField addTarget:self action:@selector(textFieldDidChange:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventEditingChanged];
    //here you set up the methods to search array and reloading the tableview
    [self setupData];
    [self updateSearchArray];
    [self.contentTableView reloadData];
}
//setting up the data sourch for the mutable array
- (void) setupData {
    dummyArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

    [dummyArray addObject:[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:@"dummy 1", @"name" , @"image1.JPG", @"image" , @"dummy 1 description textview", @"description", nil]];
    [dummyArray addObject:[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:@"dummy 2", @"name" , @"image1.JPG", @"image" , @"dummy 2 description textview", @"description", nil]];
    [dummyArray addObject:[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:@"dummy 3", @"name" , @"image1.JPG", @"image" , @"dummy 3 description textview", @"description", nil]];

}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
    [super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
}

#pragma mark - Table view data source

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
    return 1;
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    return [searchArray count];
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    static NSString *cellIdentifier = @"Cell";
    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:cellIdentifier];
    if( cell == nil ){
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:cellIdentifier];
    }
    cell.textLabel.text = [[searchArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] objectForKey:@"name"];
    return cell;
}

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    [self performSegueWithIdentifier:@"DummyDetail" sender:[NSNumber numberWithInt:indexPath.row]];
}

#pragma mark - Search Methods

-(void)textFieldDidChange:(UITextField*)textField
{
    searchTextString = textField.text;
    [self updateSearchArray];
}
//update seach method where the textfield acts as seach bar
-(void)updateSearchArray
{
    if (searchTextString.length != 0) {
        searchArray = [NSMutableArray array];
        for ( NSDictionary* item in dummyArray ) {
            if ([[[item objectForKey:@"name"] lowercaseString] rangeOfString:[searchTextString lowercaseString]].location != NSNotFound) {
                [searchArray addObject:item];
            }
        }
    } else {
        searchArray = dummyArray;
    }

    [self.contentTableView reloadData];
}

#pragma mark - Table view delegate

- (void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(NSNumber*)indexNumber
{
    if([[segue identifier] isEqualToString:@"DummyDetail"]){

        NSInteger index = [indexNumber integerValue];

        SEDetailVC *dummyDetail = [segue destinationViewController];
        dummyDetail.dummyImageString = [[searchArray objectAtIndex:index] objectForKey:@"image"];
        dummyDetail.dummyTextString = [[searchArray objectAtIndex:index] objectForKey:@"description"];
        dummyDetail.title = [[searchArray objectAtIndex:index] objectForKey:@"name"];
    }
}

- (void)viewDidUnload {
    [self setSearchTextField:nil];
    [self setContentTableView:nil];
    [super viewDidUnload];
}
@end

i hope the above is clear and helpful enough, let me know if you need any assistance with it.

Answer 2

Download the complete source code from here https://github.com/shashidev/TextFieldAsSearchBar.git

or

#import "ViewController.h"

@interface ViewController()

<UITableViewDataSource,UITableViewDelegate,UITextFieldDelegate>
{
    NSMutableArray *arrOfColor;
    NSMutableArray *searchArray;
    NSString *searchTextString;
    BOOL isFilter;
}

@property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *searchTextField;
@property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITableView *colorTableview;

@end

Implement the .m file.

@implementation ViewController

- (void)viewDidLoad 

{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    arrOfColor=[NSMutableArray arrayWithObjects:@"Red",@"Green",@"Blue",@"Gray",@"Black",@"White",@"Yellow",@"Brown",@"Pink",nil];
    [self.searchTextField addTarget:self action:@selector(textFieldDidChange:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventEditingChanged];
}

-(NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
      return 1;
}

-(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{

    if(isFilter)
    {
        return [searchArray count];
    }
    else
        return  [arrOfColor count];
}

-(UITableViewCell*)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{

    UITableViewCell *cell=[tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"cell"];
    if(!cell)
    {
        cell=[[UITableViewCell alloc]initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:@"cell"];
    }
    if(isFilter)
    {
        cell.textLabel.text=[searchArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    }
    else
    {
          cell.textLabel.text=[arrOfColor objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    }

    return cell;
}

-(void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    if(isFilter)
    {
        _searchTextField.text=[searchArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    }
    else
    {
        _searchTextField.text=[arrOfColor objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];

    }
}

-(void)textFieldDidChange:(UITextField *)textField
{
    searchTextString=textField.text;
    [self updateSearchArray:searchTextString];
}

-(void)updateSearchArray:(NSString *)searchText
{
    if(searchText.length==0)
    {
        isFilter=NO;
   }
   else
   {
        isFilter=YES;
        searchArray=[[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
        for(NSString *string in arrOfColor){

            NSRange stringRange=[string rangeOfString:searchText options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch];
            if(stringRange.location !=NSNotFound){

                [searchArray addObject:string];
            }
        }
         [self.colorTableview reloadData];}
    }

-(BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField
{
    [textField resignFirstResponder];
    return YES;
}
@end