How do I add a touch event to a UIView?
I try:
UIView *headerView = [[[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, tableView.bounds.size.width, nextY)] autorelease];
[headerView addTarget:self action:@selector(myEvent:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
// ERROR MESSAGE: UIView may not respond to '-addTarget:action:forControlEvents:'
I don't want to create a subclass and overwrite
- (void)touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
In iOS 3.2 and higher, you can use gesture recognizers. For example, this is how you would handle a tap event:
//The setup code (in viewDidLoad in your view controller)
UITapGestureRecognizer *singleFingerTap =
[[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self
action:@selector(handleSingleTap:)];
[self.view addGestureRecognizer:singleFingerTap];
//The event handling method
- (void)handleSingleTap:(UITapGestureRecognizer *)recognizer
{
CGPoint location = [recognizer locationInView:[recognizer.view superview]];
//Do stuff here...
}
There are a bunch of built in gestures as well. Check out the docs for iOS event handling and UIGestureRecognizer. I also have a bunch of sample code up on github that might help.
There are a number of commonly used touch events (or gestures) that you can be notified of when you add a Gesture Recognizer to your view. They following gesture types are supported by default:
UITapGestureRecognizer Tap (touching the screen briefly one or more times)UILongPressGestureRecognizer Long touch (touching the screen for a long time)UIPanGestureRecognizer Pan (moving your finger across the screen)UISwipeGestureRecognizer Swipe (moving finger quickly)UIPinchGestureRecognizer Pinch (moving two fingers together or apart - usually to zoom)UIRotationGestureRecognizer Rotate (moving two fingers in a circular direction)In addition to these, you can also make your own custom gesture recognizer.
Drag a gesture recognizer from the object library onto your view.
Control drag from the gesture in the Document Outline to your View Controller code in order to make an Outlet and an Action.
This should be set by default, but also make sure that User Action Enabled is set to true for your view.
To add a gesture programmatically, you (1) create a gesture recognizer, (2) add it to a view, and (3) make a method that is called when the gesture is recognized.
import UIKit
class ViewController: UIViewController {
@IBOutlet weak var myView: UIView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// 1. create a gesture recognizer (tap gesture)
let tapGesture = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleTap(sender:)))
// 2. add the gesture recognizer to a view
myView.addGestureRecognizer(tapGesture)
}
// 3. this method is called when a tap is recognized
@objc func handleTap(sender: UITapGestureRecognizer) {
print("tap")
}
}
Notes
sender parameter is optional. If you don't need a reference to the gesture then you can leave it out. If you do so, though, remove the (sender:) after the action method name.handleTap method was arbitrary. Name it whatever you want using action: #selector(someMethodName(sender:)).You can study the gesture recognizers that I added to these views to see how they work.
Here is the code for that project:
import UIKit
class ViewController: UIViewController {
@IBOutlet weak var tapView: UIView!
@IBOutlet weak var doubleTapView: UIView!
@IBOutlet weak var longPressView: UIView!
@IBOutlet weak var panView: UIView!
@IBOutlet weak var swipeView: UIView!
@IBOutlet weak var pinchView: UIView!
@IBOutlet weak var rotateView: UIView!
@IBOutlet weak var label: UILabel!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Tap
let tapGesture = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleTap))
tapView.addGestureRecognizer(tapGesture)
// Double Tap
let doubleTapGesture = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleDoubleTap))
doubleTapGesture.numberOfTapsRequired = 2
doubleTapView.addGestureRecognizer(doubleTapGesture)
// Long Press
let longPressGesture = UILongPressGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleLongPress(gesture:)))
longPressView.addGestureRecognizer(longPressGesture)
// Pan
let panGesture = UIPanGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handlePan(gesture:)))
panView.addGestureRecognizer(panGesture)
// Swipe (right and left)
let swipeRightGesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleSwipe(gesture:)))
let swipeLeftGesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleSwipe(gesture:)))
swipeRightGesture.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right
swipeLeftGesture.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left
swipeView.addGestureRecognizer(swipeRightGesture)
swipeView.addGestureRecognizer(swipeLeftGesture)
// Pinch
let pinchGesture = UIPinchGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handlePinch(gesture:)))
pinchView.addGestureRecognizer(pinchGesture)
// Rotate
let rotateGesture = UIRotationGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleRotate(gesture:)))
rotateView.addGestureRecognizer(rotateGesture)
}
// Tap action
@objc func handleTap() {
label.text = "Tap recognized"
// example task: change background color
if tapView.backgroundColor == UIColor.blue {
tapView.backgroundColor = UIColor.red
} else {
tapView.backgroundColor = UIColor.blue
}
}
// Double tap action
@objc func handleDoubleTap() {
label.text = "Double tap recognized"
// example task: change background color
if doubleTapView.backgroundColor == UIColor.yellow {
doubleTapView.backgroundColor = UIColor.green
} else {
doubleTapView.backgroundColor = UIColor.yellow
}
}
// Long press action
@objc func handleLongPress(gesture: UILongPressGestureRecognizer) {
label.text = "Long press recognized"
// example task: show an alert
if gesture.state == UIGestureRecognizerState.began {
let alert = UIAlertController(title: "Long Press", message: "Can I help you?", preferredStyle: UIAlertControllerStyle.alert)
alert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "OK", style: UIAlertActionStyle.default, handler: nil))
self.present(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
}
// Pan action
@objc func handlePan(gesture: UIPanGestureRecognizer) {
label.text = "Pan recognized"
// example task: drag view
let location = gesture.location(in: view) // root view
panView.center = location
}
// Swipe action
@objc func handleSwipe(gesture: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
label.text = "Swipe recognized"
// example task: animate view off screen
let originalLocation = swipeView.center
if gesture.direction == UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right {
UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.5, animations: {
self.swipeView.center.x += self.view.bounds.width
}, completion: { (value: Bool) in
self.swipeView.center = originalLocation
})
} else if gesture.direction == UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left {
UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.5, animations: {
self.swipeView.center.x -= self.view.bounds.width
}, completion: { (value: Bool) in
self.swipeView.center = originalLocation
})
}
}
// Pinch action
@objc func handlePinch(gesture: UIPinchGestureRecognizer) {
label.text = "Pinch recognized"
if gesture.state == UIGestureRecognizerState.changed {
let transform = CGAffineTransform(scaleX: gesture.scale, y: gesture.scale)
pinchView.transform = transform
}
}
// Rotate action
@objc func handleRotate(gesture: UIRotationGestureRecognizer) {
label.text = "Rotate recognized"
if gesture.state == UIGestureRecognizerState.changed {
let transform = CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: gesture.rotation)
rotateView.transform = transform
}
}
}
Notes
Swift 3 & Swift 4
import UIKit
extension UIView {
func addTapGesture(tapNumber: Int, target: Any, action: Selector) {
let tap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: target, action: action)
tap.numberOfTapsRequired = tapNumber
addGestureRecognizer(tap)
isUserInteractionEnabled = true
}
}
Use
yourView.addTapGesture(tapNumber: 1, target: self, action: #selector(yourMethod))
Based on the accepted answer you can define a macro:
#define handle_tap(view, delegate, selector) do {\
view.userInteractionEnabled = YES;\
[view addGestureRecognizer: [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:delegate action:selector]];\
} while(0)
This macro uses ARC, so there's no release call.
Macro usage example:
handle_tap(userpic, self, @selector(onTapUserpic:));
In Swift 4.2 and Xcode 10
Use UITapGestureRecognizer for to add touch event
//Add tap gesture to your view
let tap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleGesture))
yourView.addGestureRecognizer(tap)
// GestureRecognizer
@objc func handleGesture(gesture: UITapGestureRecognizer) -> Void {
//Write your code here
}
If you want to use SharedClass
//This is my shared class
import UIKit
class SharedClass: NSObject {
static let sharedInstance = SharedClass()
//Tap gesture function
func addTapGesture(view: UIView, target: Any, action: Selector) {
let tap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: target, action: action)
view.addGestureRecognizer(tap)
}
}
I have 3 views in my ViewController called view1, view2 and view3.
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
//Add gestures to your views
SharedClass.sharedInstance.addTapGesture(view: view1, target: self, action: #selector(handleGesture))
SharedClass.sharedInstance.addTapGesture(view: view2, target: self, action: #selector(handleGesture))
SharedClass.sharedInstance.addTapGesture(view: view3, target: self, action: #selector(handleGesture2))
}
// GestureRecognizer
@objc func handleGesture(gesture: UITapGestureRecognizer) -> Void {
print("printed 1&2...")
}
// GestureRecognizer
@objc func handleGesture2(gesture: UITapGestureRecognizer) -> Void {
print("printed3...")
}
You can achieve this by adding Gesture Recogniser in your code.
Step 1: ViewController.m:
// Declare the Gesture.
UITapGestureRecognizer *gesRecognizer = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc]
initWithTarget:self
action:@selector(handleTap:)];
gesRecognizer.delegate = self;
// Add Gesture to your view.
[yourView addGestureRecognizer:gesRecognizer];
Step 2: ViewController.m:
// Declare the Gesture Recogniser handler method.
- (void)handleTap:(UITapGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer{
NSLog(@"Tapped");
}
NOTE: here yourView in my case was @property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIView *localView;
EDIT: *localView is the white box in Main.storyboard from below
Heres a Swift version:
// MARK: Gesture Extensions
extension UIView {
func addTapGesture(#tapNumber: Int, target: AnyObject, action: Selector) {
let tap = UITapGestureRecognizer (target: target, action: action)
tap.numberOfTapsRequired = tapNumber
addGestureRecognizer(tap)
userInteractionEnabled = true
}
func addTapGesture(#tapNumber: Int, action: ((UITapGestureRecognizer)->())?) {
let tap = BlockTap (tapCount: tapNumber, fingerCount: 1, action: action)
addGestureRecognizer(tap)
userInteractionEnabled = true
}
}
Objective-C:
UIControl *headerView = [[UIControl alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, tableView.bounds.size.width, nextY)];
[headerView addTarget:self action:@selector(myEvent:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
Swift:
let headerView = UIControl(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: tableView.bounds.size.width, height: nextY))
headerView.addTarget(self, action: #selector(myEvent(_:)), for: .touchDown)
The question asks:
How do I add a touch event to a UIView?
It isn't asking for a tap event.
Specifically OP wants to implement UIControlEventTouchDown
Switching the UIView to UIControl is the right answer here because Gesture Recognisers don't know anything about .touchDown, .touchUpInside, .touchUpOutside etc.
Additionally, UIControl inherits from UIView so you're not losing any functionality.
If all you want is a tap, then you can use the Gesture Recogniser. But if you want finer control, like this question asks for, you'll need UIControl.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uicontrol?language=objc https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uigesturerecognizer?language=objc
Another way is adding a transparent button to the view
UIButton *b = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
b.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, headerView.width, headerView.height);
[headerView addSubview:b];
[b addTarget:self action:@selector(buttonClicked:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
And then, handle click:
- (void)buttonClicked:(id)sender
{}
Why don't you guys try SSEventListener?
You don't need to create any gesture recognizer and separate your logic apart to another method. SSEventListener supports setting listener blocks on a view to listen for single tap gesture, double tap gesture and N-tap gesture if you like, and long press gesture. Setting a single tap gesture listener becomes this way:
[view ss_addTapViewEventListener:^(UITapGestureRecognizer *recognizer) { ... } numberOfTapsRequired:1];
