Displaying both a right view and a clear button in UITextField - iphone

Question

After adding a right view to a UITextField, I am finding that it refuses to display both the right view and the clear button (having both rightViewMode and clearButtonMode set to UITextFieldViewModeAlways). I see the right view but the clear button is no longer displayed. I made sure that they don't overlap by having overriden clearButtonRectForBounds and clearButtonRectForBounds, to no avail. And if I use the leftView instead of rightView, then no such issue occurs and both the left view and the clear button are displayed.
So although it does not appear to be stated in the documentation, it looks to me like the clear button is only displayed when the right view isn't displayed (and when the text property isn't a blank string). Is this correct and does anyone have a reliable workaround? In the meantime I believe I am stuck with having to create a UIView that overlays my right view on top of a UITextField in order to get what I though I'd be getting from UITextField alone.

Answer 1

you can't display both at the same time , but you can do it like this
UITextField * textfield = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10, 100, 300, 40)];
[textfield setBorderStyle:UITextBorderStyleRoundedRect];
UIImageView * imgvw = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"search.jpeg"]];
[imgvw setFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 30, 30)];
[textfield setRightView:imgvw];
[textfield setRightViewMode:UITextFieldViewModeUnlessEditing];
[textfield setClearButtonMode:UITextFieldViewModeWhileEditing];
[self.view addSubview:textfield];

Answer 2

Yes you are right. UITextfield has properties like left and right view. If you use clear button it overlaps rightview.
Form Apple doc http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#DOCUMENTATION/UIKit/Reference/UITextField_Class/Reference/UITextField.html
If your overlay view does not overlap any other sibling views, it receives touch events like any other view. If you specify a control for your view, that control tracks and sends actions as usual. If an overlay view overlaps the clear button, however, the clear button always takes precedence in receiving events. By default, the right overlay view does overlap the clear button.
But like the name says it is a view. So you can create your own view which has 2 buttons on it and set rightview of the textfield. If you wish, you can use delegate methods of the textfield to make your buttons appear and dissapear from the view.

Answer 3

I had the same issue but was easily solved by 'fooling' the UITextField into using the LeftView instead of RightView. This way you can use both clear button and your supposed rightView. All you need to do is subclass UITextField and return the 'right corner' in leftViewRectForBounds and similarly update editingRectForBounds and textRectForBounds. Works perfectly.

Answer 4

I'll back up #strange 's answer (using left view instead of right) with some code:
-(CGRect)leftViewRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds
{
return CGRectOffset([super leftViewRectForBounds:bounds], bounds.size.width - 30, 0);
}
-(CGRect)clearButtonRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds
{
return CGRectOffset([super clearButtonRectForBounds:bounds], -30, 0);
}
-(CGRect)editingRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds
{
CGRect rect = bounds;
rect.origin.x = 10;
rect.size.width -= 60;
return rect;
}
-(CGRect)textRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds
{
CGRect rect = bounds;
rect.origin.x = 10;
rect.size.width -= 60;
return rect;
}
Note that my right (left) view width is 30.
If you happen to use both left and right view, and clear button, then this solution obviously won't work. In that case you will have to give up using one of those, and use a separate view put next to your UITextField.