How to show Xbutton(clear button) always visible in uisearchbar

Question

In my application, I am adding a UISearchBar.

My intent is to enable the UISearch Bar "X button"(clear button in UITextField) to be always visible.

I have tried using the following code below to try to make the "X Button" be always visible. However, it does not work. If I set tf.clearButtonMode = UITextFieldViewModeNever, the clear button in uitextfield not showing. I am not sure what is wrong?

I would really appreciate anyone's help here. Why is this not working?

Code (Not working)

for (UIView* v in searchBar.subviews)
{
    if ( [v isKindOfClass: [UITextField class]] )
    {
        UITextField *tf = (UITextField *)v;
        tf.delegate = self;
        tf.clearButtonMode = UITextFieldViewModeAlways;
        break;
    }
}

Goal:

I want to always show the clear button if the text length is equal to 0

i.e. if I don't input any text.

what i meant is i don't want "Cancel" -- text button. My requirement is always visible "X "mark button in uisearch bar. that means uitextfield that is in uisearchbar, clear button (uitextfield clear button "x") always need to visible — banu, Aug 13 '13 at 11:37
I think No because if the textfield is blank then no need to press it. — user2526811, Aug 13 '13 at 11:42
my requirement is always show. if textfield is blank then if user click clearbutton, textfield should resign from first responder. — banu, Aug 13 '13 at 11:43
i am doing custom clear button. so if it is not possible, sure i will accept your answer. — banu, Aug 13 '13 at 11:54
@Rushabh i am working on custom clear button as you suggest, if its working correctly sure i will accept. — banu, Aug 13 '13 at 11:57

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 13 '13 at 11:46

4

UITextField *searchBarTextField = nil;
    for (UIView *subview in self.searchBar.subviews)
    {
        if ([subview isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]])
        {
            searchBarTextField = (UITextField *)subview;
            searchBarTextField.clearButtonMode = UITextFieldViewModeAlways;
            break;
        }
    }

answered Aug 13 '13 at 11:46

iPatel

46,010
16
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hi iPatel i am also adding same code. but X button disappear when the text is blank. – banu Aug 13 '13 at 11:49
1

@iPatel - Sir what are you telling new ? – TheTiger Aug 13 '13 at 11:57
@banu- put this code in viewDidLoad *(after create you UISearchBar)* method – iPatel Aug 13 '13 at 12:02
@iPatel - Just have a look at the question not just the title of question. – TheTiger Aug 13 '13 at 12:07
@TheTiger- sir ji.. if you have doubt then explain me where i m wrong. put this code at viewDidLoad (after create you UISearchBar) – iPatel Aug 13 '13 at 12:10
@iPatel bhanu has already mentioned in his question what are you telling. And BTW try it yourself it will not work. – TheTiger Aug 13 '13 at 12:14

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 28 '14 at 18:41

3

This is the default behavior of the search bar. Because if the UITextField is blank then there is no need to press it.

edited Sep 28 '14 at 18:41

Sam

7,252
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answered Aug 13 '13 at 11:51

user2526811

1,233
4
20
54

5

Hi user2526811. i know but my requirement is if text will be blank then if user click the clear button textfield should resign first responder. – banu Aug 13 '13 at 11:52

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 13 '13 at 11:45

1

U can do it in Xib. I am attaching the screenshot.

enter image description here

And programmatically

myUITextField.clearButtonMode = UITextFieldViewModeAlways;

answered Aug 13 '13 at 11:45

Sahil Mahajan

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2
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ya i set manually in coding, because i am using UISearchbar. @user2526811 says this is default behavior. can i create custom clear button for UITextField..? – banu Aug 13 '13 at 11:47
She is asking for the searchBar Not TextField. – user2526811 Aug 13 '13 at 11:47
yes if there is nothing in the search bar then it did not show. try to add some character. it is default behaviour – Sahil Mahajan Aug 13 '13 at 11:53
2

People on this question are having an extremely difficult time with the concept of always. – ed209 May 23 '14 at 14:09

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 13 '13 at 12:12

I tried to get it but unfortunately , There is no Way of Customising with the ClearButton(X) of UITextField .

There is a way that If You only need it to get resign the KeyBoard , Then just overriding this method :

Just clear the field yourself and call resignFirstResponder .

-(BOOL)textFieldShouldClear:(UITextField *)textField
{
    textField.text = @"";
    [textField resignFirstResponder];

    return NO;
}

Documentation about it HERE

no its costume clear button working fine. i will post complete code — banu, Aug 13 '13 at 12:28

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 06 '19 at 08:19

This is an older question but I came here with an equal customer request: "Show the clearButton as soon as the cursor is in the searchField. We want to be able to cancel the search with this button in any stage".
I came up with a solution other than adding a custom button:

AppleDocs:

UITextFieldViewModeAlways The overlay view is always displayed if the text field contains text.

So adding a whitespace as the first character will set the clearButton active.
The leading whitespace can be removed as soon as text is entered in the searchField or at any other point before using the text.

-(void)textFieldDidBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField{
    //adding a whitespace at first start sets the clearButton active
    textField.text = @" ";
}


-(BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string{
    ...
    NSString *completeNewString = [textField.text stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:range withString:string];
    //remove the dummyWhitespace (here or later in code, as needed)
    self.searchString = [completeNewString stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]];
    ...
    return YES;
}

How to show Xbutton(clear button) always visible in uisearchbar

Code (Not working)

Goal:

5 Answers5

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