Swift: Limit Characters # in textField without disabling/interfering with other functions

Question

I want to limit the number of characters a user can use in a textField. I took a function from this link: Max length UITextField (Imanou Petit)

However, in my viewDidLoad() I have several textFields that I'm already referencing the delegate because I want the keyboard to "Return" when the user presses the Return key on the keyboard. This I'm doing through the textFieldShouldReturn like this (I also have a touchesBegan method but I want the user to also have the option of the Return key):

 func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField!) -> Bool {


 self.stuffOneTextField.resignFirstResponder()
    self.linkTextField.resignFirstResponder()
    self.descriptionTextField.resignFirstResponder()
    self.ogTextField.resignFirstResponder()
    self.priceTextField.resignFirstResponder()

    return true

}

If I add in this function below to the viewDidLoad, then the 'Return' key on the keyboard doesn't work and it limits ALL of the textFields (I have 5).

 override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()


    self.stuffOneTextField.delegate = self
    self.linkTextField.delegate = self
    self.descriptionTextField.delegate = self
    self.ogTextField.delegate = self
    self.priceTextField.delegate = self
}

  func textField(textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersInRange range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {
    guard let text = textField.text else { return true }
    let newLength = text.characters.count + string.characters.count - range.length
        return newLength <= limitLength
   }

I only need to limit 2 textFields. I've tried just putting in the specific textField name instead of all the textFields as textFields and then it limits 1 textField and doesn't let me type in the others... Very strange...

How do I go around this?

Any help means a lot.

Don · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-22T20:49:07.963

2

You're being given the textField that is changing characters in the delegate function. Here, you can compare it to the specific fields that you want to limit:

func textField(textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersInRange range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {
    guard let text = textField.text else { return true }
    if !(textField == stuffOneTextField || textField == descriptionTextField) {
        return true
    }
    let newLength = text.characters.count + string.characters.count - range.length
    return newLength <= limitLength
}

Also, func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField!) -> Bool is giving you a text field, and you can call resignFirstResponder() on that, if that is what you want to do there.

edited Oct 22 '15 at 20:49

answered Oct 22 '15 at 20:00

Don

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Thanks for the reply. Where do I specify how long I want to limit the characters? Confused by the newLength constant and what's being returned... And where is this method being placed? Within another method? @Don – Lukesivi Oct 22 '15 at 20:26
I've updated the answer to show that this would be in the body of the func textField(textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersInRange range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) function. What's being returned is a boolean value indicating whether the typed string is under your size limit, limitLength. As in the answer to the question you linked to above, `limitLength` is a constant defined in your class. – Don Oct 22 '15 at 20:52
Beautiful. Thank you so much. – Lukesivi Oct 22 '15 at 20:56

Swift: Limit Characters # in textField without disabling/interfering with other functions

1 Answers1