I am showing a form the user fills in my iPhone app. One of the fields is a set of 2 or 3 dates from which the user has to pick one. Putting a picker, or bringing up a table view just for this takes up too much space, leaving no room for the other fields. Is there any simpler way to do this?
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You can take a view and show it once you need to fetch the value and can put a button like close on the same.You can load the data that you were showing in picker over there. [Check this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8432688/iphone-sdk-display-a-uiview-from-the-appdelegate-over-a-uiviewcontroller). – Yama Jan 18 '12 at 06:22
2 Answers
To do this you can put two or three arrowed label with text like "Select Date" upon click of it you can show one view that allow user to select the date; once selected you can back to the original view. You can do this for all three (or two) dates and get those date on form view.
I am giving you idea of how you can design apps; if you want code i can assist that too but from your question it seems you want design ideas.

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2This is what I ended up doing. But it is like sending an elephant carrying a watch when someone asked for the time! – gigahari Jan 18 '12 at 13:54
You can go for your custom drop down/combo box, but their is no inbuilt functionality present for this. Also following is mentioned in apple HIG guideline, you need to consider those as well- (http://developer.apple.com/library/IOs/#documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/UIElementGuidelines/UIElementGuidelines.html)
Guidelines
Use a picker to make it easy for people to choose from a set of values. It’s often best to use a picker when people are familiar with the entire set of values. This is because many, if not most, of the values are hidden when the wheel is stationary. If you need to provide a large set of choices that aren’t well known to your users, a picker might not be the appropriate control.
Consider using a table view, instead of a picker, if you need to display a very large number of values. This is because the greater height of a table view makes scrolling faster.
Use the translucent selection bar to display contextual information, such as a unit of measurement. Do not display such labels above the picker or on the wheel itself.
On iPad, present a picker only within a popover. A picker is not suitable for the main screen.

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I am scared that my app may get rejected if i put a custom drop down. Is it there in any approved app that u've seen? – gigahari Jan 18 '12 at 13:53
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Yes, you can get approved by Apple with a custom dropdown control. I helped develop a stock trading app (TradeStation Mobile) that has them in several places. It's not uncommon for trading apps. – Swindler Jan 29 '13 at 17:14