[iPhone] NumberPad with return key?

Question

[iPhone] NumberPad with return key?

I have a text field that I want to restrict to numeric entry only. The obvious thing seems to be to set textField.keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad, which pops up a modal numeric keyboard as expected. However, the numeric keyboard doesn't have a return key, so it gets stuck on the screen. How do I handle this?

BTW, I know I could use UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation, but the text field should really only have numbers in it, not punctuation.

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Jul 7, 2008 9:36 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 7, 2008 9:41 PM in response to Brandon Fosdick

There's no way to add a Done button to the number pad. In my apps, I've gotten around this by placing a Done button in the right corner of the controller's navigation item; the button is connected to an action that makes the text field resignFirstResponder. (This occasionally means juggling with another button, like a "Save" button, but I think that the movement of the keyboard provides enough of a transition that the swap isn't jarring to the user.)

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Answer 2

Jul 8, 2008 1:13 AM in response to Brandon Fosdick

I'm also having problems with the NumberPad, I want to use this keyboard but I need punction also. Looking at the iPhone Contacts->Edit Contact->Edit PhoneNumber you can see that apple adds a button to the UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad that contains "+*#" I want the same thing but with a punction, is this possible?

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Answer 3

Jul 9, 2008 10:27 AM in response to Brent Royal-Gordon

That might work, thanks. Although, my nav bar already has a done button for when the user is done editing the entire record. It might be confusing to overload that when the keyboard pops up. I wonder if there's some way to either subclass the keyboard or make my own.

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Answer 4

Jul 9, 2008 11:03 AM in response to Brandon Fosdick

There's no way in the SDK. I know the jailbreakers have discovered a UIKeyboard class that can be used to control the keyboard, but I don't know how it works, and you're not supposed to use undocumented APIs in App Store programs.

As for your navigation bar problem, perhaps you could use a more appropriate verb than "Done" for your keyboard. "Save"? "Next"? I don't know exactly what you're doing with it, but that's something to think about. (And for that matter, another thing to think about is dropping the separate edit mode entirely--I've found that they're not really needed that often. Notes doesn't have one, for instance.)

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Answer 5

Jul 10, 2008 10:45 PM in response to Brent Royal-Gordon

On the screen in question my app is displaying a set of fields using a tableview. So far its a pretty standard interface...tap the plus button to go to edit mode then tap a row and a modal keyboard pops up. I'm thinking maybe hiding the keyboard if the user taps the same row again (in lieu of a Done button), but I'm not sure how obvious that will be to the first time user.

I like the idea of getting rid of the tap for edit mode, but I'm not sure how that would work here. ATM I swap out the UITableViewCells for UITextFields upon entering edit mode. I could do that on response to a selection message, but would the row automatically get redrawn when I make the swap? Maybe I can force a redraw somehow. I'll have to play with it. Thanks for the idea.

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Answer 6

Jul 10, 2008 2:16 PM in response to martymart

Anyone know the answe to my question with punctuation and the UIKeyboardTypeNumberPad?

I would be very thankfull if anyone helped me!

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Answer 7

Jul 10, 2008 7:01 PM in response to martymart

We're looking at the same documentation you are. As far as I can see, it doesn't talk about any way to customize the punctuation available on the number pad.

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Answer 8

Jul 10, 2008 10:35 PM in response to martymart

Does UIKeyboardTypeNumbersAndPunctuation not do what you want?

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Answer 9

Jul 11, 2008 1:53 AM in response to Brandon Fosdick

Yes it works but as I only want numbers it had been much cleaner to use just the numberpad. Its strange because apple adds the "+*#"-button, but I can't find it in the documentation.

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Answer 10

oefe

Level 1

0 points

Jul 20, 2008 9:37 AM in response to martymart

martymart wrote:
Its strange because apple adds the "+*#"-button, but I can't find it in the documentation.

That's simply another keyboard type (UIKeyboardTypePhonePad).

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