Programmatically change UITextField Keyboard type

Question

Is it possible to programmatically change the keyboard type of a uitextfield so that something like this would be possible:

if(user is prompted for numeric input only)
    [textField setKeyboardType: @"Number Pad"];

if(user is prompted for alphanumeric input)
    [textField setKeyboardType: @"Default"];

Answer 1

There is a keyboardType property for a UITextField:

typedef enum {
    UIKeyboardTypeDefault,                // Default type for the current input method.
    UIKeyboardTypeASCIICapable,           // Displays a keyboard which can enter ASCII characters, non-ASCII keyboards remain active
    UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation,  // Numbers and assorted punctuation.
    UIKeyboardTypeURL,                    // A type optimized for URL entry (shows . / .com prominently).
    UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad,              // A number pad (0-9). Suitable for PIN entry.
    UIKeyboardTypePhonePad,               // A phone pad (1-9, *, 0, #, with letters under the numbers).
    UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad,           // A type optimized for entering a person's name or phone number.
    UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress,           // A type optimized for multiple email address entry (shows space @ . prominently).
    UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad,             // A number pad including a decimal point
    UIKeyboardTypeTwitter,                // Optimized for entering Twitter messages (shows # and @)
    UIKeyboardTypeWebSearch,              // Optimized for URL and search term entry (shows space and .)

    UIKeyboardTypeAlphabet = UIKeyboardTypeASCIICapable, // Deprecated

} UIKeyboardType;

Your code should read

if(user is prompted for numeric input only)
    [textField setKeyboardType:UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad];

if(user is prompted for alphanumeric input)
    [textField setKeyboardType:UIKeyboardTypeDefault];

Answer 2

It's worth noting that if you want a currently-focused field to update the keyboard type immediately, there's one extra step:

// textField is set to a UIKeyboardType other than UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress

[textField setKeyboardType:UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress];
[textField reloadInputViews];

Without the call to reloadInputViews, the keyboard will not change until the selected field (the first responder) loses and regains focus.

A full list of the UIKeyboardType values can be found here, or:

typedef enum : NSInteger {
    UIKeyboardTypeDefault,
    UIKeyboardTypeASCIICapable,
    UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation,
    UIKeyboardTypeURL,
    UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad,
    UIKeyboardTypePhonePad,
    UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad,
    UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress,
    UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad,
    UIKeyboardTypeTwitter,
    UIKeyboardTypeWebSearch,
    UIKeyboardTypeAlphabet = UIKeyboardTypeASCIICapable
} UIKeyboardType;

Answer 3

Yes you can, for example:

[textField setKeyboardType:UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad];

Answer 4

    textFieldView.keyboardType = UIKeyboardType.PhonePad

This is for swift. Also in order for this to function properly it must be set after the textFieldView.delegate = self

Answer 5

to make the text field accept alpha numeric only set this property

textField.keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad;

Answer 6

Swift 4

If you are trying to change your keyboard type when a condition is met, follow this. For example: If we want to change the keyboard type from Default to Number Pad when the count of the textfield is 4 or 5, then do this:

textField.addTarget(self, action: #selector(handleTextChange), for: .editingChanged)

@objc func handleTextChange(_ textChange: UITextField) {
 if textField.text?.count == 4 || textField.text?.count == 5 {
   textField.keyboardType = .numberPad
   textField.reloadInputViews() // need to reload the input view for this to work
 } else {
   textField.keyboardType = .default
   textField.reloadInputViews()
 }

Answer 7

_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeAlphabet;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeASCIICapable;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeDecimalPad;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeDefault;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypePhonePad;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeTwitter;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeURL;
_textField .keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeWebSearch;

Answer 8

There is a property for this called keyboardType. What you'll want to do is replace where you have strings @"Number Pad and @"Default with UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad and UIKeyboardTypeDefault.

Your new code should look something like this:

if(user is prompted for numeric input only)
    [textField setKeyboardType:UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad];

else if(user is prompted for alphanumeric input)
    [textField setKeyboardType:UIKeyboardTypeDefault];

Good Luck!

Answer 9

for people who want to use UIDatePicker as input:

UIDatePicker *timePicker = [[UIDatePicker alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 250, 0, 0)];
[timePicker addTarget:self action:@selector(pickerChanged:)
     forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
[_textField setInputView:timePicker];

// pickerChanged:
- (void)pickerChanged:(id)sender {
    NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [formatter setDateFormat:@"d/M/Y"];
    _textField.text = [formatter stringFromDate:[sender date]];
}

Answer 10

This is the UIKeyboardTypes for Swift 3:

public enum UIKeyboardType : Int {

    case `default` // Default type for the current input method.
    case asciiCapable // Displays a keyboard which can enter ASCII characters
    case numbersAndPunctuation // Numbers and assorted punctuation.
    case URL // A type optimized for URL entry (shows . / .com prominently).
    case numberPad // A number pad with locale-appropriate digits (0-9, ۰-۹, ०-९, etc.). Suitable for PIN entry.
    case phonePad // A phone pad (1-9, *, 0, #, with letters under the numbers).
    case namePhonePad // A type optimized for entering a person's name or phone number.
    case emailAddress // A type optimized for multiple email address entry (shows space @ . prominently).

    @available(iOS 4.1, *)
    case decimalPad // A number pad with a decimal point.

    @available(iOS 5.0, *)
    case twitter // A type optimized for twitter text entry (easy access to @ #)

    @available(iOS 7.0, *)
    case webSearch // A default keyboard type with URL-oriented addition (shows space . prominently).

    @available(iOS 10.0, *)
    case asciiCapableNumberPad // A number pad (0-9) that will always be ASCII digits.


    public static var alphabet: UIKeyboardType { get } // Deprecated
}

This is an example to use a keyboard type from the list:

textField.keyboardType = .numberPad

Answer 11

Programmatically change UITextField Keyboard type swift 3.0

lazy var textFieldTF: UITextField = {

    let textField = UITextField()
    textField.placeholder = "Name"
    textField.frame = CGRect(x:38, y: 100, width: 244, height: 30)
    textField.textAlignment = .center
    textField.borderStyle = UITextBorderStyle.roundedRect
    textField.keyboardType = UIKeyboardType.default //keyboard type
    textField.delegate = self
    return textField 
}() 
override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    view.addSubview(textFieldTF)
}

Answer 12

Here are the type of keyboard in Swift 4.2

// UIKeyboardType
//
// Requests that a particular keyboard type be displayed when a text widget
// becomes first responder. 
// Note: Some keyboard/input methods types may not support every variant. 
// In such cases, the input method will make a best effort to find a close 
// match to the requested type (e.g. displaying UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation 
// type if UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad is not supported).
//
public enum UIKeyboardType : Int {


    case `default` // Default type for the current input method.

    case asciiCapable // Displays a keyboard which can enter ASCII characters

    case numbersAndPunctuation // Numbers and assorted punctuation.

    case URL // A type optimized for URL entry (shows . / .com prominently).

    case numberPad // A number pad with locale-appropriate digits (0-9, ۰-۹, ०-९, etc.). Suitable for PIN entry.

    case phonePad // A phone pad (1-9, *, 0, #, with letters under the numbers).

    case namePhonePad // A type optimized for entering a person's name or phone number.

    case emailAddress // A type optimized for multiple email address entry (shows space @ . prominently).

    @available(iOS 4.1, *)
    case decimalPad // A number pad with a decimal point.

    @available(iOS 5.0, *)
    case twitter // A type optimized for twitter text entry (easy access to @ #)

    @available(iOS 7.0, *)
    case webSearch // A default keyboard type with URL-oriented addition (shows space . prominently).

    @available(iOS 10.0, *)
    case asciiCapableNumberPad // A number pad (0-9) that will always be ASCII digits.


    public static var alphabet: UIKeyboardType { get } // Deprecated
}