Migration Guide: v.6
This update brings breaking changes. Namely, the autocomplete flag is now a part of the CaretGravity enum, thus the Mask::apply call is now single-argument, as all the necessary information is included into the CaretString structure.
v.6 introduces the «autoskip» feature, which allows the cursor to jump over formatting blocks of symbols in the middle of the text as if they were a single char when hitting Backspace, and this feature also allows to trim formatting characters on backspacing at the end of the line.
Make sure to take a look at our CHANGELOG.
Description
Input Mask is an Android & iOS native library allowing to format user input on the fly.
The library provides you with a text field listener; when attached, it puts separators into the text while user types it in, and gets rid of unwanted symbols, all according to custom predefined pattern.
This allows to reformat whole strings pasted from the clipboard, e.g. turning pasted 8 800 123-45-67 into
8 (800) 123 45 67.
Each pattern allows to extract valuable symbols from the entered text, returning you the immediate result with the text field listener's callback when the text changes. Such that, you'll be able to extract 1234567 from 8 (800) 123 45 67 or 19991234567 from 1 (999) 123 45 67 with two different patterns.
All separators and valuable symbol placeholders have their own syntax. We call such patterns "masks".
Mask examples:
- International phone numbers:
+1 ([000]) [000] [00] [00] - Local phone numbers:
([000]) [000]-[00]-[00] - Names:
[A][-----------------------------------------------------] - Text:
[A…] - Dates:
[00]{.}[00]{.}[9900] - Serial numbers:
[AA]-[00000099] - IPv4:
[099]{.}[099]{.}[099]{.}[099] - Visa card numbers:
[0000] [0000] [0000] [0000] - MM/YY:
[00]{/}[00] - UK IBAN:
GB[00] [____] [0000] [0000] [0000] [00]
Questions & Issues
Check out our wiki for further reading.
Please also take a closer look at our Known issues section before you incorporate our library into your project.
For your bugreports and feature requests please file new issues as usually.
Should you have any questions, search for closed issues or open new ones at StackOverflow with the input-mask tag.
We also have a community-driven cookbook of recipes, be sure to check it out, too.
Installation
CocoaPods
pod 'InputMask'
Carthage
git "https://github.com/RedMadRobot/input-mask-ios.git"
Swift Package Manager
dependencies: [
.Package(url: "https://github.com/RedMadRobot/input-mask-ios", majorVersion: 6)
]
Manual
git clonethis repository;- Add
InputMask.xcodeprojinto your project/workspace; - Go to your target's settings, add
InputMask.frameworkunder theEmbedded Binariessection - For
ObjCprojects:- (~Xcode 8.x) make sure
Build OptionshasEmbedded Content Contains Swift Codeenabled; - import bridging header.
- (~Xcode 8.x) make sure
Known issues
UITextFieldTextDidChange notification and target-action editingChanged event
UITextField with assigned MaskedTextFieldDelegate object won't issue UITextFieldTextDidChange notifications and editingChanged control events. This happens due to the textField(_:shouldChangeCharactersIn:replacementString:) method implementation, which always returns false.
Consider using following workaround in case if you do really need to catch editing events:
class NotifyingMaskedTextFieldDelegate: MaskedTextFieldDelegate {
weak var editingListener: NotifyingMaskedTextFieldDelegateListener?
override func textField(
_ textField: UITextField,
shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange,
replacementString string: String
) -> Bool {
defer {
self.editingListener?.onEditingChanged(inTextField: textField)
}
return super.textField(textField, shouldChangeCharactersIn: range, replacementString: string)
}
}
protocol NotifyingMaskedTextFieldDelegateListener: class {
func onEditingChanged(inTextField: UITextField)
}
Please, avoid at all costs sending SDK events and notifications manually.
Carthage vs. IBDesignables, IBInspectables, views and their outlets
Interface Builder struggles to support modules imported in a form of a dynamic framework. For instance, custom views annotated as IBDesignable, containing IBInspectable and IBOutlet fields aren't recognized properly from the drag'n'dropped *.framework.
In case you are using our library as a Carthage-built dynamic framework, be aware you won't be able to easily wire your MaskedTextFieldDelegate objects and their listeners from storyboards in your project. There is a couple of workarounds described in the corresponding discussion, though.
Also, consider filing a radar to Apple, like this one.
Cut action doesn't put text into the pasteboard
When you cut text, characters get deleted yet you won't be able to paste them somewhere as they aren't actually in your pasteboard.
iOS hardwires UIMenuController's cut action to the UITextFieldDelegate's textField(_:shouldChangeCharactersIn:replacementString:) return value. This means "Cut" behaviour actually depends on the ability to edit the text.
Bad news are, our library returns false in textField(_:shouldChangeCharactersIn:replacementString:), and heavily depends on this false. It would require us to rewrite a lot of logic in order to change this design, and there's no guarantee we'll be able to do so.
Essentially, there's no distinct way to differentiate "Cut selection" and "Delete selection" actions on the UITextFieldDelegate side. However, you may consider using a workaround, which will require you to subclass UITextField overriding its cut(sender:) method like this:
class UITextFieldMonkeyPatch: UITextField {
override func cut(_ sender: Any?) {
copy(sender)
super.cut(sender)
}
}
From our library perspective, this looks like a highly invasive solution. Thus, in the long term, we are going to investigate a "costly" method to bring the behaviour matching the iOS SDK logic. Yet, here "long term" might mean months.
Incorrect cursor position after pasting
Shortly after new text is being pasted from the clipboard, every UITextInput receives a new value for its selectedTextRange property from the system. This new range is not consistent with the formatted text and calculated caret position most of the time, yet it's being assigned just after set caretPosition call.
To ensure correct caret position is set, it might be assigned asynchronously (presumably after a vanishingly small delay), if caret movement is set to be non-atomic; see MaskedTextFieldDelegate.atomicCursorMovement property.
MaskedTextInputListener
In case you are wondering why do we have two separate UITextFieldDelegate and UITextViewDelegate implementations, the answer is simple: prior to iOS 11 UITextField and UITextView had different behaviour in some key situations, which made it difficult to implement common logic.
Both had the same bug with the UITextInput.beginningOfDocument property, which rendered impossible to use the generic UITextInput protocol UITextField and UITextView have in common.
Since iOS 11 most of the things received their fixes (except for the UITextView edge case). In case your project is not going to support anything below 11, consider using the modern MaskedTextInputListener.
References
The list of projects that are using this library which were kind enough to share that information.
Feel free to add yours below.
Special thanks
These folks rock:
- Mikhail while366 Zhadko
- Sergey SergeyCHiP Germanovich
- Luiz LuizZak Fernando
- Ivan vani Vavilov
- Diego diegotl Trevisan
- Martin martintreurnicht Treurnicht
License
The library is distributed under the MIT LICENSE.
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