UISearchBar x button pressed

Question

How handle the event when press the 'x' button?

I try this method but not works.

-(void)searchBarCancelButtonClicked:(UISearchBar *)searchBar{

}

enter image description here

can you add the code for how you have allocated the search bar? — Ganesh Somani, Mar 19 '15 at 01:25
Check out [this](https://engineeringtheworld.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/detecting-when-clear-is-clicked-in-uisearchbar-x-button/) post — MendyK, Mar 19 '15 at 02:05

score 45 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 01 '15 at 21:57

45

I don't think there's an easy way to hook into the X button.

However, you can hook into its direct consequence: cleared text.

Try this:

func searchBar(searchBar: UISearchBar, textDidChange searchText: String) {
    if searchText == "" {
        print("UISearchBar.text cleared!")
    }
}

The side effect is this also gets called when you manually clear your text.

answered Dec 01 '15 at 21:57

Eric Johnson

1,087
1
11
16

8

A more accurate description is that using this method to detect a clear button press is a hack. I can't believe Apple hasn't fixed this after all these years. – funct7 Oct 03 '18 at 05:29
if it doesn't work, adding _ should do it. That is: (_ searchBar: UISearchBar, textDidChange searchText: String) – Emil Mar 10 '21 at 03:40
With this you can't differentiate between deleting text with keyboard and pressing the x button – lolelo Aug 18 '21 at 15:11

score 21 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 03 '18 at 05:44

A rather hacky way to do it but this works.

private var didTapDeleteKey = false

func searchBar(_ searchBar: UISearchBar,
               shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange,
               replacementText text: String) -> Bool
{
    didTapDeleteKey = text.isEmpty

    return true
}

func searchBar(_ searchBar: UISearchBar,
               textDidChange searchText: String)
{
    if !didTapDeleteKey && searchText.isEmpty {
        // Do something here
    }

    didTapDeleteKey = false
}

The success of this code hinges on the fact that when tapping the clear button of the search bar, searchBar(_:shouldChangeTextIn:replacementText:) -> Bool is not called. Instead when the delete button of the keyboard is tapped, the method is called.

hacking? Apple never realized people would want to tap that X? — Duck, Oct 22 '20 at 13:49

Kedar Sukerkar · Answer 3 · 2020-04-02T13:54:30.670

20

Swift 5.2, Xcode 11.4

This one worked for me.

if let searchTextField = self.categoriesSearchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField , let clearButton = searchTextField.value(forKey: "_clearButton")as? UIButton {

     clearButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(self.yourFunction), for: .touchUpInside)
}

edited Apr 02 '20 at 13:54

answered Feb 10 '20 at 09:19

Kedar Sukerkar

1,410
1
16
22

Where exactly should this code be used? I've been trying to clear the text field for days now! – Guilherme Crozariol Nov 07 '20 at 13:15
@GuilhermeCrozariol , u can put this code anywhere like viewDidLoad() etc. – Kedar Sukerkar Nov 08 '20 at 21:03
2

This relies on keypath "_clearButton" if Apple decides to change this key in the future, this will stop working. – abhinavroy23 Feb 25 '21 at 09:42
Yeah... till then maybe then will directly expose the button property. – Kedar Sukerkar Mar 24 '21 at 17:44
2

This has to be best answer! Thanks Kedar – Vinayak Bhor Nov 27 '21 at 20:19

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 19 '19 at 09:17

9

Simplest solution in Swift 5.0

func searchBar(_ searchBar: UISearchBar, textDidChange searchText: String) {
    if searchText.isEmpty {
        DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.1) {
            searchBar.resignFirstResponder()
        }
    }
}

answered Jun 19 '19 at 09:17

Dejan

139
1
5

Read the docs in the header.... - (void)searchBar:(UISearchBar *)searchBar textDidChange:(NSString *)searchText; // called when text changes (including clear) – zumzum Jun 11 '20 at 20:11

score 7 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 09 '21 at 14:20

As stated in Apple's documentation there is a delegate method textFieldShouldClear(_:) in UITextFieldDelegate.

The text field calls this method in response to the user pressing the built-in clear button.

So

conform to UITextFieldDelegate
set the delegate of your searchBar's text field
implement textFieldShouldClear(_:) method

class MyClass: UITextFieldDelegate {
   weak var seachBar: UISearchBar!

   override func viewDidLoad() {
       if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
          searchBar.searchTextField.delegate = self
       } else {
          searchBar.textField.delegate = self
       }
   }

   func textFieldShouldClear(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
        // your code
        return true
    }
}

This (!!) should be the accepted answer. – Soberman Jun 29 '23 at 15:27 — Soberman, Jun 29 '23 at 15:27

score 4 · Answer 6 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

I had the same issue, tried to solve it with accessing searchBar's subview textField but it caused my app crash, and with a last effort i found this post.

Another issue was that,

- (void)searchBar:(UISearchBar *)searchBar textDidChange:(NSString *)searchText

is being called twice when cancel button clicked, see also this.

And lastly what i did is;

- (void)searchBar:(UISearchBar *)searchBar textDidChange:(NSString *)searchText
{
    if (![searchText isEqualToString:self.searchText]) {
        self.searchText = searchText;
        return;
    }
    NSLog(@"Clear clicked");
}

This solved my issue.

score 4 · Answer 7 · edited Sep 19 '20 at 00:49

4

self.mySearchBar.searchTextField.delegate = self

    extension myViewController: UISearchTextFieldDelegate {

    func textFieldShouldClear(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
        DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.1) {
            self.mySearchBar.searchTextField.resignFirstResponder()
        }
        return true
    }
}

edited Sep 19 '20 at 00:49

David

3,285
1
37
54

answered Nov 29 '19 at 13:37

Mohan

361
1
3
11

Sam · Answer 8 · 2021-03-18T14:55:19.930

3

I think the simplest solution to this question is:

func searchBar(_ searchBar: UISearchBar, textDidChange searchText: String) {
     if searchText.isEmpty {
             DispatchQueue.main.async {
                 searchBar.resignFirstResponder()
             }
 }

edited Mar 18 '21 at 14:55

answered Jul 27 '20 at 11:22

Sam

488
1
5
14

score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 26 '21 at 16:37

I had the same issue and it was solve like that: In search controller that inherits from UISearchController I added conformance to UITextFieldDelegate.

Then in init method the following line was addd:

searchBar.searchTextField.delegate = self

And implementing

func textFieldShouldClear(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool

allows to achieve the information that clear button was pressed

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Apr 25 '18 at 16:05

This works for me

-(UITextField*)getUITexfieldInUISearchBar:(UIView*)aSearchBar{
UITextField *searchBarTextField;
for (UIView *subView in [aSearchBar subviews]){
    if ([subView isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]])
    {
        searchBarTextField = (UITextField *)subView;
        [searchBarTextField setDelegate:self];
        break;

    }else if ([subView isKindOfClass:[UIView class]]){
        [self getUITexfieldInUISearchBar:subView];
    }
}
  return searchBarTextField;
}

And you can use the TextFields Delegate

- (BOOL)textFieldShouldClear:(UITextField *)textField {
   //Do something here...
}

score 2 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 08 '19 at 06:01

2

- (void)searchBar:(UISearchBar *)searchBar textDidChange:(NSString *)searchText
{
    if (searchText.length == 0) {
         //clear button (x) on the search bar is cliecked, so clear the table
        [self clearTable];
    }
}

answered Jan 08 '19 at 06:01

Mona

5,939
3
28
33

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Nov 27 '17 at 11:43

0

func searchBar(_ searchBar: UISearchBar, textDidChange searchText: String){
    print("searchText: \(searchText)")
    if searchText.count > 0
    {
        // Show ur content
    }
    else
    {
        // Hide your content
    }
}

answered Nov 27 '17 at 11:43

Soumya Ranjan

4,817
2
26
51

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Apr 02 '19 at 15:45

... just works

if(searchText.length==0||searchText==nil){
    [self.searchBar resignFirstResponder];
    [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.1
                                     target:self
                                   selector:@selector(hideKeyboard)
                                   userInfo:nil
                                    repeats:NO];
}

- (void)hideKeyboard{
   [self.searchBar resignFirstResponder];
}

MasterMan07 · Answer 14 · 2020-11-17T18:03:52.970

Until apple releases a proper delegate method for clear button event handling this will work as of Xcode 12. Requires: >=iOS13

Get a reference to the searchBar clearButton if possible.

UIButton *searchBarTextFieldClearButton = [self.searchBar.searchTextField valueForKey:@"_clearButton"];
if (searchBarTextFieldClearButton) {
    [searchBarTextFieldClearButton addTarget:self action:@selector(searchTextFieldClearButtonTapHandler) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
}

Swift:

extension UISearchTextField {
   var clearButton: UIButton? {
      return value(forKey: "_clearButton") as? UIButton
   }
}
searchBar.searchTextField.clearButton.addTarget(self, #selector(handler), .touchUpInside) //bllah

Very important to keep in mind that your "action - searchTextFieldClearButtonTapHandler" gets called last. That is, after the delegate method - (void)searchBar:(UISearchBar *)searchBar textDidChange:(NSString *)searchText

score -1 · Answer 15 · answered Dec 28 '16 at 17:09

-1

You can hook up to "Cancel button" clicked event by conforming to "UISearchBarDelegate" and then implement "searchBarCancelButtonClicked" method

answered Dec 28 '16 at 17:09

Vrutin Rathod

900
1
12
16

9

Nope, the cancel button is a different button which appears when setting `searchBar.showsCancelButton = true`. – mattsson Aug 28 '18 at 09:54
1

Cancel button is different and "x" button is different. Did you check before posting if the "searchBarCancelButtonClicked" method is triggered on click of "x" button? – Tejas Mar 13 '20 at 08:07

score -2 · Answer 16 · edited Feb 20 '19 at 11:25

-2

func searchBar(_ searchBar: UISearchBar, textDidChange searchText: String) {


    let inputString = searchText.trimmingCharacters(in: NSCharacterSet.whitespacesAndNewlines)

    if inputString.characters.count > 0
    {

    }
    else
    {
          //Write code here for Clear button action
    }
}

edited Feb 20 '19 at 11:25

bruno

32,421
7
25
37

answered Jul 19 '17 at 14:10

Urvish Modi

1,118
10
11

UISearchBar x button pressed

16 Answers16

Linked