How do I use Native Text Controls on Mobile
This lesson describes how to interact with the native UITextField class from within your LiveCode application.
Screen captures and sample code are provided.
You can download the sample stack from this url: https://tinyurl.com/y8lyj2x4
Introduction
This lesson shows you how to interact with a native text control within your LiveCode application and demonstrates some of the features that are available. You should review the user guide in order to get updates on the features covered here.
Creating a Test Interface

The interface shown in this step provides a number of option menus that allow you to set properties that control how you interact with the native text field. You can control font size, border style, auto correction type, keyboard type, content type, text color, text align, auto capitalization, keyboard style, return key type and receive the editing, text changed and return key messages. This list is only a subset of the native text field control features that are available in LiveCode.
The option menus do not contain any LiveCode script and are processed purely on the content of their names and labels. A generic message handler probes the content of these values for each option menu and applies the value using the command mobileControlSet.
Setting up the Button Code
The stack in this lesson has three buttons: The Reset Text Changed button, the Create button and the Delete button. Each of these buttons executes a small script. These scripts are listed in this step.
The Reset Text Changed button changes label "Text Changed: true" to "Text Changed: false"
on mouseUp
put "Text Changed: false" into field "textChanged"
end mouseUp
The Create button creates an instance of a text field.
on mouseUp
inputCreate
end mouseUp
The Delete button deletes an instance of a text field.
on mouseUp
inputDelete
end mouseUp
Setting up the Stack Code
The card stack contains a number of message handlers that are responsible for a number of control aspects within the application. The comments in the following message event handler scripts provide details of what each script does.
on closeCard
# Handle the close card event
inputDelete
end closeCard
on inputCreate
# Handle the input creation event
if the environment is "mobile" then
if "testinput" is among the lines of mobileControls() then
# ensure that only one native text input is open
inputDelete
end if
mobileControlCreate "input", "testinput"
# set the native text input field to the size and position of the graphic input rectangle
mobileControlSet "testinput", "rect", the rect of graphic "InputRect"
# make the native text input field visible
mobileControlSet "testinput", "visible", true
# focus on the native text input field
mobileControlDo "testinput", "focus", true
# make sure the selected option menu options are applied to the native text input
updateFieldProps
end if
end inputCreate
on inputDelete
if the environment is "mobile" then
# delete the native text input
mobileControlDelete "testinput"
end if
end inputDelete
on inputFocus
# set the focus to the native text input
mobileControlDo "testinput", "focus"
end inputFocus
on inputBeginEditing
# handle the inputBeingEdited message
# this updates a label field on the interface
put "Editing: true" into field "editing"
end inputBeginEditing
on inputEndEditing
# handle the inputEndEdited message
# this updates a label field on the interface
put "Editing: false" into field "editing"
end inputEndEditing
on inputTextChanged
# handle the inputTextChanged message
# this updates a label field on the interface
put "Text Changed: true" into field "textChanged"
end inputTextChanged
on inputReturnKey
# handle the inputReturnKey message
# this raises a dialog box, indicating that the return key was pressed
# and focus was removed from the text field
answer "The return key was pressed" with "Okay"
end inputReturnKey
on mouseUp
# handle any mouseUp here that is not handled explicitly by a control
if word 1 of the name of the target is "button" then
if the platform is "android" then
// Show the options
// On other platforms the options are shown automatically
local tTarget, tOptions
put the long name of the target into tTarget
put the cOptions of tTarget into tOptions
mobilePick tOptions
put the result into tResult
if tResult is not "cancel" then
set the label of tTarget to line tResult of tOptions
end if
end if
updateFieldProps
end if
end mouseUp
Updating the Properties
As discussed earlier in this lesson, the option menu items do not have LiveCode associated with them. Rather, they are processed using a generic message handler that uses the name and the label of the option menus to set up the respective control that has been changed. updateFieldProps is stored on the stack script and implements this generic process.
on updateFieldProps
local tX
# ensure that we are handling messages from our native text input
if "testinput" is not among the lines of mobileControls() then
exit updateFieldProps
end if
# loop through each control on the card
repeat with tX = 1 to the number of controls
# if the control name does not start with "property" then go to the next item
if word 1 of the short name of control tX is not "property" then
next repeat
end if
# set the native control property using the value of the current card control
mobileControlSet "testinput", word 2 of the short name of control tX, the label of control tX
end repeat
end updateFieldProps
Note: Using a generic process to apply any option menu selection allows you as a developer to add or remove option menus, knowing that any further LiveCode changes are minimal or not needed at all.
Editing Example 1

Once you raise your application on the iOS device of choice, you should be presented with the following or similar display. You have to select the button Create before you can start entering text. Once text has been entered (see next example), you should see how the label content of Text Changed and Editing changes. You can reset the Text Changed label by selecting the Reset Text Changed button. Selecting the option menus and altering their content should have an immediate impact on the content that is displayed in the text field.
Editing Example 2

You can enter text by selecting the text input area. This raises the keyboard you specified under the Keyboard Style option menu. Type in the text as required and complete editing with the return key.
Using the Native Text Control
Once the native text control is created it has all the behavior of a iOS field.
You can touch and hold on the field to show a magnified view or touch and release to show editing options.


Hello, very interesting !
Is it possible to find this stack already done ?
Thank-you
Best regards
Daniel ROBERT