MWKNumberRowInputAccessory

MWKNumberRowInputAccessory is an iOS input accessory view that adds a persistent number row with a native look and feel to the keyboard. You can see it in use in the Ziptrip app.

Typing something like a street address or calendar entry that requires both numbers and letters is far less tedious when they're both right there. You love your users. Give them a persistent number row on their keyboard, and make them smile at your thoughtfulness.

Usage

Import the framework's header, adopt the MWKNumberRowInputAccessory protocol, and declare a property for the number row.

Objective-C:

#import <MWKNumberRowInputAccessory/MWKNumberRowInputAccessory.h>

@interface ViewController () <MWKInputAccessoryViewDelegate>
@property (nonatomic, strong) id<MWKInputAccessoryView> numberRow;
@end

Swift:

import MWKNumberRowInputAccessory

class ViewController: UIViewController, MWKInputAccessoryViewDelegate
{
    // In Swift, you can initialize the property with a closure
    let numberRow: MWKInputAccessoryView = {
        let frame = MWKNumberRowInputAccessoryViewFactory.defaultFramePortrait()
        return MWKNumberRowInputAccessoryViewFactory.numberRowInputAccessoryView(withFrame: frame, inputViewStyle:UIInputViewStyle.keyboard)
    } ()

Create the input accessory view and configure it to taste. The factory abstracts away some iOS version-specifics. Assign it to the inputAccessoryView of your UITextField, UITextView, or UISearchBar, and set its delegate.

Objective-C:

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    CGRect frame = [MWKNumberRowInputAccessoryViewFactory defaultFramePortrait];
    self.numberRow = [MWKNumberRowInputAccessoryViewFactory numberRowInputAccessoryViewWithFrame:frame inputViewStyle:UIInputViewStyleKeyboard];
    self.numberRow.keyboardAppearance = UIKeyboardAppearanceDefault;
    self.textField.keyboardAppearance = UIKeyboardAppearanceDefault;
    self.textField.inputAccessoryView = (UIView*)self.numberRow;
    self.numberRow.delegate = self;
}

Swift:

override func viewDidLoad()
{
    super.viewDidLoad()

    self.textField.inputAccessoryView = (self.numberRow as! UIView)
    self.numberRow.delegate = self
    self.changeKeyboardAppearance(nil)
}

Implement the single required protcol method in the delegate to capture the input accessory's keystrokes.

Objective-C:

#pragma mark - MWKNumberRowInputAccessoryViewDelegate

- (void)inputAccessory:(MWKNumberRowInputAccessoryView*)aInputAccessory didGenerateValue:(id)aValue
{
    NSString *currentText = self.textField.text;
    NSString *newText = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@", currentText, aValue];
    self.textField.text = newText;
}

Swift:

// MARK: MWKNumberRowInputAccessoryViewDelegate
func inputAccessory(_ aInputAccessory: UIView, didGenerateValue aValue: Any)
{
    guard let value = aValue as? String else { return; }
        
    let currentText: String = self.textField.text!
    let newText: String = String(format: "%@%@", currentText, value)
    self.textField.text = newText
}

Please see the example Swift and Objective-C projects for a test drive.

Installation

CocoaPods

You can install MWKNumberRowInputAccessory in your project with CocoaPods by adding this to your Podfile:

pod 'MWKNumberRowInputAccessory', '~> 1.0.0'

Carthage

MWKNumberRowInputAccessory also supports Carthage. Specify it in your Cartfile like this:

github "mwkirk/MWKNumberRowInputAccessory" ~> 1.0

Manually

Since MWKNumberRowInputAccessory is just a few files, it's simple to integrate it into your project manually.

Requirements

MWKNumberRowInputAccessory requires iOS 8.0 or higher.

Well, actually, it should still work on iOS 7 and even iOS 6 (the key images are still included). Dynamic framworks were introduced in iOS 8.0, so you'll need to either integrate manually or perhaps CocoaPods can build you a static library.

About

"It's an older code, sir, but it checks out."

I haven't touched this code in ages – other than some minor changes for Swift, but it's held up well from iOS 6 through iOS 10. Hopefully that's a testament to its simplicity and durability.

I wrote this to handle my use cases. There are undoubtedly better ways to do things and features missing - like landscape support. Pull requests welcome!

Credits

MWKNumberRowInputAccessory was created by Mark Kirk.

License

MWKNumberRowInputAccessory is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.

Attribution or a shout-out is always appreciated!