Placeholder in Uitextview

Placeholder in UITextView

I made a few minor modifications to bcd's solution to allow for initialization from a Xib file, text wrapping, and to maintain background color. Hopefully it will save others the trouble.

UIPlaceHolderTextView.h:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
IB_DESIGNABLE
@interface UIPlaceHolderTextView : UITextView

@property (nonatomic, retain) IBInspectable NSString *placeholder;
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBInspectable UIColor *placeholderColor;

-(void)textChanged:(NSNotification*)notification;

@end

UIPlaceHolderTextView.m:

#import "UIPlaceHolderTextView.h"

@interface UIPlaceHolderTextView ()

@property (nonatomic, retain) UILabel *placeHolderLabel;

@end

@implementation UIPlaceHolderTextView

CGFloat const UI_PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_CHANGED_ANIMATION_DURATION = 0.25;

- (void)dealloc
{
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self];
#if __has_feature(objc_arc)
#else
    [_placeHolderLabel release]; _placeHolderLabel = nil;
    [_placeholderColor release]; _placeholderColor = nil;
    [_placeholder release]; _placeholder = nil;
    [super dealloc];
#endif
}

- (void)awakeFromNib
{
    [super awakeFromNib];

    // Use Interface Builder User Defined Runtime Attributes to set
    // placeholder and placeholderColor in Interface Builder.
    if (!self.placeholder) {
        [self setPlaceholder:@""];
    }

    if (!self.placeholderColor) {
        [self setPlaceholderColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
    }

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
}

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
    if( (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) )
    {
        [self setPlaceholder:@""];
        [self setPlaceholderColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
        [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)textChanged:(NSNotification *)notification
{
    if([[self placeholder] length] == 0)
    {
        return;
    }

    [UIView animateWithDuration:UI_PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_CHANGED_ANIMATION_DURATION animations:^{
    if([[self text] length] == 0)
    {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    }
    else
    {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:0];
    }
    }];
}

- (void)setText:(NSString *)text {
    [super setText:text];
    [self textChanged:nil];
}

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
    if( [[self placeholder] length] > 0 )
    {
        if (_placeHolderLabel == nil )
        {
            _placeHolderLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8,8,self.bounds.size.width - 16,0)];
            _placeHolderLabel.lineBreakMode = NSLineBreakByWordWrapping;
            _placeHolderLabel.numberOfLines = 0;
            _placeHolderLabel.font = self.font;
            _placeHolderLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
            _placeHolderLabel.textColor = self.placeholderColor;
            _placeHolderLabel.alpha = 0;
            _placeHolderLabel.tag = 999;
            [self addSubview:_placeHolderLabel];
        }

        _placeHolderLabel.text = self.placeholder;
        [_placeHolderLabel sizeToFit];
        [self sendSubviewToBack:_placeHolderLabel];
    }

    if( [[self text] length] == 0 && [[self placeholder] length] > 0 )
    {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    }

    [super drawRect:rect];
}

@end

Add placeholder text inside UITextView in Swift?

Updated for Swift 4

UITextView doesn't inherently have a placeholder property so you'd have to create and manipulate one programmatically using UITextViewDelegate methods. I recommend using either solution #1 or #2 below depending on the desired behavior.

Note: For either solution, add UITextViewDelegate to the class and set textView.delegate = self to use the text view’s delegate methods.

Solution #1 - If you want the placeholder to disappear as soon as the user selects the text view:

First set the UITextView to contain the placeholder text and set it to a light gray color to mimic the look of a UITextField's placeholder text. Either do so in the viewDidLoad or upon the text view's creation.

textView.text = "Placeholder"
textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray

Then when the user begins to edit the text view, if the text view contains a placeholder (i.e. if its text color is light gray) clear the placeholder text and set the text color to black in order to accommodate the user's entry.

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray {
        textView.text = nil
        textView.textColor = UIColor.black
    }
}

Then when the user finishes editing the text view and it's resigned as the first responder, if the text view is empty, reset its placeholder by re-adding the placeholder text and setting its color to light gray.

func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if textView.text.isEmpty {
        textView.text = "Placeholder"
        textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
    }
}

Solution #2 - If you want the placeholder to show whenever the text view is empty, even if the text view’s selected:

First set the placeholder in the viewDidLoad:

textView.text = "Placeholder"
textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray

textView.becomeFirstResponder()

textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRange(from: textView.beginningOfDocument, to: textView.beginningOfDocument)

(Note: Since the OP wanted to have the text view selected as soon as the view loads, I incorporated text view selection into the above code. If this is not your desired behavior and you do not want the text view selected upon view load, remove the last two lines from the above code chunk.)

Then utilize the shouldChangeTextInRange UITextViewDelegate method, like so:

func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {

    // Combine the textView text and the replacement text to
    // create the updated text string
    let currentText:String = textView.text
    let updatedText = (currentText as NSString).replacingCharacters(in: range, with: text)

    // If updated text view will be empty, add the placeholder
    // and set the cursor to the beginning of the text view
    if updatedText.isEmpty {

        textView.text = "Placeholder"
        textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray

        textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRange(from: textView.beginningOfDocument, to: textView.beginningOfDocument)
    }

    // Else if the text view's placeholder is showing and the
    // length of the replacement string is greater than 0, set 
    // the text color to black then set its text to the
    // replacement string
     else if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray && !text.isEmpty {
        textView.textColor = UIColor.black
        textView.text = text
    }

    // For every other case, the text should change with the usual
    // behavior...
    else {
        return true
    }

    // ...otherwise return false since the updates have already
    // been made
    return false
}

And also implement textViewDidChangeSelection to prevent the user from changing the position of the cursor while the placeholder's visible. (Note: textViewDidChangeSelection is called before the view loads so only check the text view's color if the window is visible):

func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if self.view.window != nil {
        if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray {
            textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRange(from: textView.beginningOfDocument, to: textView.beginningOfDocument)
        }
    }
}

Add placeholder text inside UITextView in Swift?

Updated for Swift 4

Note: For either solution, add UITextViewDelegate to the class and set textView.delegate = self to use the text view’s delegate methods.

Solution #1 - If you want the placeholder to disappear as soon as the user selects the text view:

textView.text = "Placeholder"
textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray {
        textView.text = nil
        textView.textColor = UIColor.black
    }
}

func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if textView.text.isEmpty {
        textView.text = "Placeholder"
        textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
    }
}

Solution #2 - If you want the placeholder to show whenever the text view is empty, even if the text view’s selected:

First set the placeholder in the viewDidLoad:

textView.text = "Placeholder"
textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray

textView.becomeFirstResponder()

textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRange(from: textView.beginningOfDocument, to: textView.beginningOfDocument)

Then utilize the shouldChangeTextInRange UITextViewDelegate method, like so:

func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {

    // Combine the textView text and the replacement text to
    // create the updated text string
    let currentText:String = textView.text
    let updatedText = (currentText as NSString).replacingCharacters(in: range, with: text)

    // If updated text view will be empty, add the placeholder
    // and set the cursor to the beginning of the text view
    if updatedText.isEmpty {

        textView.text = "Placeholder"
        textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray

        textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRange(from: textView.beginningOfDocument, to: textView.beginningOfDocument)
    }

    // Else if the text view's placeholder is showing and the
    // length of the replacement string is greater than 0, set 
    // the text color to black then set its text to the
    // replacement string
     else if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray && !text.isEmpty {
        textView.textColor = UIColor.black
        textView.text = text
    }

    // For every other case, the text should change with the usual
    // behavior...
    else {
        return true
    }

    // ...otherwise return false since the updates have already
    // been made
    return false
}

func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if self.view.window != nil {
        if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray {
            textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRange(from: textView.beginningOfDocument, to: textView.beginningOfDocument)
        }
    }
}

How to insert placeholder in UITextView?

It is not possible to create placeholder in UITextView but you can generate effect like place holder by this.

- (void)viewDidLoad {   
    commentTxtView.text = @"Comment";
    commentTxtView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
    commentTxtView.delegate = self;

}
- (BOOL) textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView {
    commentTxtView.text = @"";
    commentTxtView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
    return YES;
}

-(void) textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView {

    if(commentTxtView.text.length == 0) {
        commentTxtView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        commentTxtView.text = @"Comment";
        [commentTxtView resignFirstResponder];
    }
}

-(void) textViewShouldEndEditing:(UITextView *)textView {

    if(commentTxtView.text.length == 0) {
        commentTxtView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        commentTxtView.text = @"Comment";
        [commentTxtView resignFirstResponder];
    }
}

OR you can add label in textview just like

lbl = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10.0, 0.0,textView.frame.size.width - 10.0, 34.0)];

[lbl setText:kDescriptionPlaceholder];
[lbl setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
[lbl setTextColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
textView.delegate = self;

[textView addSubview:lbl];

and set

- (void)textViewDidEndEditing:(UITextView *) textView {
    if (![textView hasText]) {
        lbl.hidden = NO;
    }
}

- (void) textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView {
    if(![textView hasText]) {
        lbl.hidden = NO;
    }
    else {
        lbl.hidden = YES;
    }  
}

Placeholder text inside UITextView in Swift

Couple notes...

I think the Shift is not being released because you return False from shouldChangeTextIn range ... so the textView doesn't fully communicate with the keyboard.

As to the duplicated predictive text... I've run across similar issues. My impression is that the text is already inserted and a new .selectedRange is set by the time shouldChangeTextIn range is called. So the code (as written) duplicates it.

Because of those (and other) complications, here's an example of using a CATextLayer as the "placeholder" text:

class PlaceHolderTestViewController: UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {

    var sampleTextView       = UITextView()
    
    let placeholderText      = "Type Something"
    let placeholderTextColor = UIColor.lightGray
    let normalTextColor      = UIColor.label
    
    let textLayer = CATextLayer()
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        
        view.backgroundColor = .systemGray
        
        if self.navigationController != nil {
            // add a "Done" navigation bar button
            let btn = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .done, target: self, action: #selector(doneTap))
            self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = btn
        }
        
        view.addSubview(sampleTextView)
        sampleTextView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        
        let g = view.safeAreaLayoutGuide
        
        NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
            sampleTextView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.topAnchor, constant: 40),
            sampleTextView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.leadingAnchor, constant: 10),
            sampleTextView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.trailingAnchor, constant: -10),
            sampleTextView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 100)
        ])

        sampleTextView.font = .systemFont(ofSize: 16.0)

        // textLayer properties
        textLayer.contentsScale = UIScreen.main.scale
        textLayer.alignmentMode = .left
        textLayer.isWrapped = true
        textLayer.foregroundColor = placeholderTextColor.cgColor
        textLayer.string = placeholderText
    
        if let fnt = sampleTextView.font {
            textLayer.fontSize = fnt.pointSize
        } else {
            textLayer.fontSize = 12.0
        }

        // insert the textLayer
        sampleTextView.layer.insertSublayer(textLayer, at: 0)

        // set delegate to self
        sampleTextView.delegate = self
    }
    
    func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
        textLayer.opacity = textView.text.isEmpty ? 1.0 : 0.0
    }
    
    override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
        super.viewDidLayoutSubviews()
        // update textLayer frame here
        textLayer.frame = sampleTextView.bounds.insetBy(
            dx: sampleTextView.textContainerInset.left + sampleTextView.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding,
            dy: sampleTextView.textContainerInset.top
        )
    }
    
    @objc func doneTap() -> Void {
        view.endEditing(true)
    }
    
}

and, here's an example of subclassing UITextView to make it easier to reuse -- as well as easily allowing more than one textView at a time:

class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView, UITextViewDelegate {
    
    private let textLayer = CATextLayer()
    
    public var placeholderText: String = "" {
        didSet {
            textLayer.string = placeholderText
            setNeedsLayout()
        }
    }
    public var placeholderTextColor: UIColor = .lightGray {
        didSet {
            textLayer.foregroundColor = placeholderTextColor.cgColor
            setNeedsLayout()
        }
    }
    override var font: UIFont? {
        didSet {
            if let fnt = self.font {
                textLayer.fontSize = fnt.pointSize
            } else {
                textLayer.fontSize = 12.0
            }
        }
    }
    override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
        super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
        commonInit()
    }
    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: coder)
        commonInit()
    }
    private func commonInit() -> Void {
        // textLayer properties
        textLayer.contentsScale = UIScreen.main.scale
        textLayer.alignmentMode = .left
        textLayer.isWrapped = true
        textLayer.foregroundColor = placeholderTextColor.cgColor

        if let fnt = self.font {
            textLayer.fontSize = fnt.pointSize
        } else {
            textLayer.fontSize = 12.0
        }

        // insert the textLayer
        layer.insertSublayer(textLayer, at: 0)

        // set delegate to self
        delegate = self
    }
    override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()
        textLayer.frame = bounds.insetBy(
            dx: textContainerInset.left + textContainer.lineFragmentPadding,
            dy: textContainerInset.top
        )
    }
    func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
        // show / hide the textLayer
        textLayer.opacity = textView.text.isEmpty ? 1.0 : 0.0
    }
}

class PlaceHolderTestViewController: UIViewController {

    let sampleTextView = PlaceholderTextView()

    let placeholderText      = "Type Something"
    let placeholderTextColor = UIColor.lightGray
    let normalTextColor      = UIColor.label

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        
        view.backgroundColor = .systemGray
        
        if self.navigationController != nil {
            // add a "Done" navigation bar button
            let btn = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .done, target: self, action: #selector(doneTap))
            self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = btn
        }

        view.addSubview(sampleTextView)
        sampleTextView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false

        let g = view.safeAreaLayoutGuide
        
        NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
            sampleTextView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.topAnchor, constant: 40),
            sampleTextView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.leadingAnchor, constant: 10),
            sampleTextView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: g.trailingAnchor, constant: -10),
            sampleTextView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 100)
        ])

        sampleTextView.font = .systemFont(ofSize: 16.0)
        sampleTextView.textColor = normalTextColor
        sampleTextView.placeholderTextColor = placeholderTextColor
        sampleTextView.placeholderText = placeholderText

    }
    
    @objc func doneTap() -> Void {
        view.endEditing(true)
    }

}

Note -- this is Example Code Only and should not be considered "Production Ready."

How to create a UITextView or a UITextField that has a placeHolder, multiline and vertically centered?

actually I feel a little silly because the answer was infront of my eye all the time ...

For the PlaceHolder I'll just use the library:
https://github.com/devxoul/UITextView-Placeholder mentioned in my question

then in the UIViewController class I did the following:

class myClass: UIViewController {

      @IBOutlet weak var myTextView: UITextView!

      override func viewDidLoad() {
          super.viewDidLoad()
          // Set the textView to the Delegate 
          myTextView.delegate = self
          // Initialize the textView text Position and accordingly the
          //   placeholder position 
          myTextView.contentInset.top = max(0, (tv_comment.bounds.size.height - tv_comment.contentSize.height * tv_comment.zoomScale) / 2)

      }

       extension myClass: UITextViewDelegate {
              func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
                   // do the same adjustment again every time the textView changes
                   textView.contentInset.top = max(0, (textView.bounds.size.height - textView.contentSize.height * textView.zoomScale) / 2)
              }
       }

Why UITextview does not have placeholder property like UITextField

Why UITextField has a placeholder value and UITextView doesn't has nothing to do with with their inheritance, or even programming. It's about how Apple perceived their use and prefers their use.

UITextField is a one line item. It can be used for entering usernames, passwords, address bits, or pretty much anything. Often you have several of them clumped together, and it might be hard to figure out which field should have which data without placeholder text. The place holder lets us know the purpose of the field.

Text field example

UITextView is a block of text. Usually several lines, which often have a header associated with them. As a result, placeholder text is often not useful. The text view is also more likely to be populated with static text which again, would make placeholder text not really useful.

Do I think Apple should add a placeholder property for UITextView anyway? Yes. It's annoying to have to make my own on the occasion when I need it. Apple also uses placeholder text in some places where it uses a UITextView. The following example is from adding a calendar entry.

Text view example with placeholder