[ACCEPTED]-Having a UITextField in a UITableViewCell-uitextfield

Try this out. Works like a charm for me 5 (on iPhone devices). I used this code for 4 a login screen once. I configured the table 3 view to have two sections. You can of course 2 get rid of the section conditionals.

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

UITableViewCell *cell = [self.tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:kCellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil) {
    cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault 
                                   reuseIdentifier:kCellIdentifier] autorelease];
    cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;

    if ([indexPath section] == 0) {
        UITextField *playerTextField = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(110, 10, 185, 30)];
        playerTextField.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = YES;
        playerTextField.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
        if ([indexPath row] == 0) {
            playerTextField.placeholder = @"example@gmail.com";
            playerTextField.keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeEmailAddress;
            playerTextField.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyNext;
        }
        else {
            playerTextField.placeholder = @"Required";
            playerTextField.keyboardType = UIKeyboardTypeDefault;
            playerTextField.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyDone;
            playerTextField.secureTextEntry = YES;
        }       
        playerTextField.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
        playerTextField.autocorrectionType = UITextAutocorrectionTypeNo; // no auto correction support
        playerTextField.autocapitalizationType = UITextAutocapitalizationTypeNone; // no auto capitalization support
        playerTextField.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentLeft;
        playerTextField.tag = 0;
        //playerTextField.delegate = self;

        playerTextField.clearButtonMode = UITextFieldViewModeNever; // no clear 'x' button to the right
        [playerTextField setEnabled: YES];

        [cell.contentView addSubview:playerTextField];

        [playerTextField release];
    }
}
if ([indexPath section] == 0) { // Email & Password Section
    if ([indexPath row] == 0) { // Email
        cell.textLabel.text = @"Email";
    }
    else {
        cell.textLabel.text = @"Password";
    }
}
else { // Login button section
    cell.textLabel.text = @"Log in";
}
return cell;    
}

Result 1 looks like this:

Here is a solution that looks good under iOS6/7/8/9.

Update 2016-06-10: this still works with iOS 9.3.3

Thanks for all your support, this is now on CocoaPods/Carthage/SPM at https://github.com/fulldecent/FDTextFieldTableViewCell

Basically we take the stock UITableViewCellStyleValue1 and staple 4 a UITextField where the detailTextLabel is supposed to be. This gives 3 us automatic placement for all scenarios: iOS6/7/8/9, iPhone/iPad, Image/No-image, Accessory/No-accessory, Portrait/Landscape, 1x/2x/3x.

Note: this 2 is using storyboard with a UITableViewCellStyleValue1 type cell named 1 "word".

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"word"];
    cell.detailTextLabel.hidden = YES;
    [[cell viewWithTag:3] removeFromSuperview];
    textField = [[UITextField alloc] init];
    textField.tag = 3;
    textField.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
    [cell.contentView addSubview:textField];
    [cell addConstraint:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:textField attribute:NSLayoutAttributeLeading relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:cell.textLabel attribute:NSLayoutAttributeTrailing multiplier:1 constant:8]];
    [cell addConstraint:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:textField attribute:NSLayoutAttributeTop relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:cell.contentView attribute:NSLayoutAttributeTop multiplier:1 constant:8]];
    [cell addConstraint:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:textField attribute:NSLayoutAttributeBottom relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:cell.contentView attribute:NSLayoutAttributeBottom multiplier:1 constant:-8]];
    [cell addConstraint:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:textField attribute:NSLayoutAttributeTrailing relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:cell.detailTextLabel attribute:NSLayoutAttributeTrailing multiplier:1 constant:0]];
    textField.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentRight;
    textField.delegate = self;
    return cell;
}

Here is how I have achieved this:

TextFormCell.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

#define CellTextFieldWidth 90.0
#define MarginBetweenControls 20.0

@interface TextFormCell : UITableViewCell {
 UITextField *textField;
}

@property (nonatomic, retain) UITextField *textField;

@end

TextFormCell.m

#import "TextFormCell.h"

@implementation TextFormCell

@synthesize textField;

- (id)initWithReuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier {
    if (self = [super initWithReuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier]) {
  // Adding the text field
  textField = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];
  textField.clearsOnBeginEditing = NO;
  textField.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentRight;
  textField.returnKeyType = UIReturnKeyDone;
  [self.contentView addSubview:textField];
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)dealloc {
 [textField release];
    [super dealloc];
}

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Laying out subviews

- (void)layoutSubviews {
 CGRect rect = CGRectMake(self.contentView.bounds.size.width - 5.0, 
        12.0, 
        -CellTextFieldWidth, 
        25.0);
 [textField setFrame:rect];
 CGRect rect2 = CGRectMake(MarginBetweenControls,
       12.0,
         self.contentView.bounds.size.width - CellTextFieldWidth - MarginBetweenControls,
         25.0);
 UILabel *theTextLabel = (UILabel *)[self textLabel];
 [theTextLabel setFrame:rect2];
}

It may 2 seems a bit verbose, but it works!

Don't 1 forget to set the delegate!

This should not be difficult. When creating 9 a cell for your table, add a UITextField 8 object to the cell's content view

UITextField *txtField = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame....]
...
[cell.contentView addSubview:txtField]

Set the 7 delegate of the UITextField as self (ie 6 your viewcontroller) Give a tag to the text 5 field so you can identify which textfield 4 was edited in your delegate methods. The 3 keyboard should pop up when the user taps 2 the text field. I got it working like this. Hope 1 it helps.

Try this one. It can handle scrolling as 3 well and you can reuse the cells without 2 the hassle of removing subviews you added 1 before.

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)table numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section{
    return 10;
}   

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)table cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    UITableViewCell *cell = [table dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"Cell"];
    if( cell == nil)
        cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:@"Cell"] autorelease];   

    cell.textLabel.text = [[NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"First",@"Second",@"Third",@"Forth",@"Fifth",@"Sixth",@"Seventh",@"Eighth",@"Nineth",@"Tenth",nil] 
                           objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];

    if (indexPath.row % 2) {
        UITextField *textField = [[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 21)];
        textField.placeholder = @"Enter Text";
        textField.text = [inputTexts objectAtIndex:indexPath.row/2];
        textField.tag = indexPath.row/2;
        textField.delegate = self;
        cell.accessoryView = textField;
        [textField release];
    } else
        cell.accessoryView = nil;

    cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;
    return cell;        
}

- (BOOL)textFieldShouldEndEditing:(UITextField *)textField {
    [inputTexts replaceObjectAtIndex:textField.tag withObject:textField.text];
    return YES;
}

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    inputTexts = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithObjects:@"",@"",@"",@"",@"",nil];
    [super viewDidLoad];
}

Details

• Xcode 10.2 (10E125), Swift 5

Full Sample Code

TextFieldInTableViewCell

import UIKit

protocol TextFieldInTableViewCellDelegate: class {
    func textField(editingDidBeginIn cell:TextFieldInTableViewCell)
    func textField(editingChangedInTextField newText: String, in cell: TextFieldInTableViewCell)
}

class TextFieldInTableViewCell: UITableViewCell {

    private(set) weak var textField: UITextField?
    private(set) weak var descriptionLabel: UILabel?

    weak var delegate: TextFieldInTableViewCellDelegate?

    override init(style: UITableViewCell.CellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) {
        super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier)
        setupSubviews()
    }

    private func setupSubviews() {
        let stackView = UIStackView()
        stackView.distribution = .fill
        stackView.alignment = .leading
        stackView.spacing = 8
        contentView.addSubview(stackView)
        stackView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        stackView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: topAnchor, constant: 6).isActive = true
        stackView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: bottomAnchor, constant: -6).isActive = true
        stackView.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: leftAnchor, constant: 16).isActive = true
        stackView.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: rightAnchor, constant: -16).isActive = true

        let label = UILabel()
        label.text = "Label"
        stackView.addArrangedSubview(label)
        descriptionLabel = label

        let textField = UITextField()
        textField.textAlignment = .left
        textField.placeholder = "enter text"
        textField.setContentHuggingPriority(.fittingSizeLevel, for: .horizontal)
        stackView.addArrangedSubview(textField)
        textField.addTarget(self, action: #selector(textFieldValueChanged(_:)), for: .editingChanged)
        textField.addTarget(self, action: #selector(editingDidBegin), for: .editingDidBegin)
        self.textField = textField

        stackView.layoutSubviews()
        selectionStyle = .none

        let gesture = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(didSelectCell))
        addGestureRecognizer(gesture)
    }

    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) { super.init(coder: aDecoder) }
}

extension TextFieldInTableViewCell {
    @objc func didSelectCell() { textField?.becomeFirstResponder() }
    @objc func editingDidBegin() { delegate?.textField(editingDidBeginIn: self) }
    @objc func textFieldValueChanged(_ sender: UITextField) {
        if let text = sender.text { delegate?.textField(editingChangedInTextField: text, in: self) }
    }
}

ViewController

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    private weak var tableView: UITableView?
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        setupTableView()
    }
}

extension ViewController {

    func setupTableView() {

        let tableView = UITableView(frame: .zero)
        tableView.register(TextFieldInTableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: "TextFieldInTableViewCell")
        view.addSubview(tableView)
        tableView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        tableView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.topAnchor).isActive = true
        tableView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
        tableView.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leftAnchor).isActive = true
        tableView.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.rightAnchor).isActive = true
        tableView.rowHeight = UITableView.automaticDimension
        tableView.estimatedRowHeight = UITableView.automaticDimension
        tableView.tableFooterView = UIView()
        self.tableView = tableView
        tableView.dataSource = self

        let gesture = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: tableView, action: #selector(UITextView.endEditing(_:)))
        tableView.addGestureRecognizer(gesture)
    }
}

extension ViewController: UITableViewDataSource {

    func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int { return 1 }
    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int { return 2 }
    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "TextFieldInTableViewCell") as! TextFieldInTableViewCell
        cell.delegate = self
        return cell
    }
}

extension ViewController: TextFieldInTableViewCellDelegate {

    func textField(editingDidBeginIn cell: TextFieldInTableViewCell) {
        if let indexPath = tableView?.indexPath(for: cell) {
            print("textfield selected in cell at \(indexPath)")
        }
    }

    func textField(editingChangedInTextField newText: String, in cell: TextFieldInTableViewCell) {
        if let indexPath = tableView?.indexPath(for: cell) {
            print("updated text in textfield in cell as \(indexPath), value = \"\(newText)\"")
        }
    }
}

Result

0

I had been avoiding this by calling a method 7 to run [cell.contentView bringSubviewToFront:textField] every time my cells appeared, but 6 then I discovered this relatively simple 5 technique:

cell.accessoryView = textField;

Doesn't seem to have the same 4 background-overpasting issue, and it aligns 3 itself on its own (somewhat). Also, the 2 textLabel auto-truncates to avoid overflowing 1 into (or under) it, which is handy.

I ran into the same problem. It seems that 4 setting the cell.textlabel.text property brings the UILabel 3 to the front of the contentView of the cell. Add 2 the textView after setting textLabel.text, or (if that's 1 not possible) call this:

[cell.contentView bringSubviewToFront:textField]

I really struggled with this task on the 10 iPad, with text fields showing up invisible 9 in the UITableView, and the whole row turning 8 blue when it gets focus.

What worked for 7 me in the end was the technique described 6 under "The Technique for Static Row 5 Content" in Apple's Table View Programming Guide. I put both the 4 label and the textField in a UITableViewCell 3 in the NIB for the view, and pull that cell 2 out via an outlet in cellForRowAtIndexPath:. The resulting code 1 is much neater than UICatalog.

Here's how its done i believe the correct 24 way. It works on Ipad and Iphone as i tested 23 it. We have to create our own customCells 22 by classing a uitableviewcell:

start off 21 in interfaceBuilder ... create a new UIViewcontroller 20 call it customCell (volunteer for a xib 19 while your there) Make sure customCell is 18 a subclass of uitableviewcell

erase all 17 views now and create one view make it the 16 size of a individual cell. make that view 15 subclass customcell. now create two other 14 views (duplicate the first).
Go to your 13 connections inspector and find 2 IBOutlets 12 you can connect to these views now.

-backgroundView -SelectedBackground

connect 11 these to the last two views you just duplicated 10 and dont worry about them. the very first 9 view that extends customCell, put your label 8 and uitextfield inside of it. got into customCell.h 7 and hook up your label and textfield. Set 6 the height of this view to say 75 (height 5 of each cell) all done.

In your customCell.m 4 file make sure the constructor looks something 3 like this:

- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];
if (self) {
    // Initialization code
    NSArray *nibArray = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"CustomCell"       owner:self options:nil]; 
    self = [nibArray objectAtIndex:0];
}
return self;
}

Now create a UITableViewcontroller 2 and in this method use the customCell class 1 like this :

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"Cell";
// lets use our customCell which has a label and textfield already installed for us

customCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil) {
    //cell = [[[customCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] autorelease];


    NSArray *topLevelsObjects = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"NewUserCustomCell" owner:nil options:nil];
    for (id currentObject in topLevelsObjects){
        if ([currentObject  isKindOfClass:[UITableViewCell class]]){
            cell = (customCell *) currentObject;
            break;
        }
    }

    NSUInteger row = [indexPath row];

switch (row) {
    case 0:
    {

        cell.titleLabel.text = @"First Name"; //label we made (uitextfield also available now)

        break;
    }


        }
return cell;

}

- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{

return 75.0;
}

Here's a drop-in subclass for UITableViewCell which replaces 7 the detailTextLabel with an editable UITextField (or, in case of UITableViewCellStyleDefault, replaces 6 the textLabel). This has the benefit that it allows 5 you to re-use all the familiar UITableViewCellStyles, accessoryViews, etc, just 4 now the detail is editable!

@interface GSBEditableTableViewCell : UITableViewCell <UITextFieldDelegate>
@property UITextField *textField;
@end

@interface GSBEditableTableViewCell ()
@property UILabel *replace;
@end

@implementation GSBEditableTableViewCell

- (instancetype)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
    self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];
    if (self) {
        _replace = (style == UITableViewCellStyleDefault)? self.textLabel : self.detailTextLabel;
        _replace.hidden = YES;

        // Impersonate UILabel with an identical UITextField
        _textField = UITextField.new;
        [self.contentView addSubview:_textField];
        _textField.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
        [_textField.leftAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:_replace.leftAnchor].active = YES;
        [_textField.rightAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:_replace.rightAnchor].active = YES;
        [_textField.topAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:_replace.topAnchor].active = YES;
        [_textField.bottomAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:_replace.bottomAnchor].active = YES;
        _textField.font = _replace.font;
        _textField.textColor = _replace.textColor;
        _textField.textAlignment = _replace.textAlignment;

        // Dont want to intercept UITextFieldDelegate, so use UITextFieldTextDidChangeNotification instead
        [NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter addObserver:self
                                           selector:@selector(textDidChange:)
                                               name:UITextFieldTextDidChangeNotification
                                             object:_textField];

        // Also need KVO because UITextFieldTextDidChangeNotification not fired when change programmatically
        [_textField addObserver:self forKeyPath:@"text" options:0 context:nil];
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)textDidChange:(NSNotification*)notification
{
    // Update (hidden) UILabel to ensure correct layout
    if (_textField.text.length) {
        _replace.text = _textField.text;
    } else if (_textField.placeholder.length) {
        _replace.text = _textField.placeholder;
    } else {
        _replace.text = @" "; // otherwise UILabel removed from cell (!?)
    }
    [self setNeedsLayout];
}

- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object change:(NSDictionary *)change context:(void *)context
{
    if ((object == _textField) && [keyPath isEqualToString:@"text"]) [self textDidChange:nil];
}

- (void)dealloc
{
    [_textField removeObserver:self forKeyPath:@"text"];
}

@end

Simple to use 3 - just create your cell as before, but now 2 use cell.textField instead of cell.detailTextLabel (or cell.textLabel in case of UITableViewCellStyleDefault). eg

GSBEditableTableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"Cell"];
if (!cell) cell = [GSBEditableTableViewCell.alloc initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleValue2 reuseIdentifier:@"Cell"];

cell.textLabel.text = @"Name";
cell.textField.text = _editablename;
cell.textField.delegate = self; // to pickup edits
...

Inspired 1 by, and improved upon, FD's answer

For next/return events on multiple UITextfield 3 inside UITableViewCell in this method I 2 had taken UITextField in storyboard.

@interface MyViewController () {
    NSInteger currentTxtRow;
}
@end
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSIndexPath   *currentIndex;//Current Selected Row

@implementation MyViewController


- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

        UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"CELL" forIndexPath:indexPath];
        cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;

        UITextField *txtDetails = (UITextField *)[cell.contentView viewWithTag:100];
        txtDetails.delegate = self;

        txtDetails.placeholder = self.arrReciversDetails[indexPath.row];
        return cell;
}


#pragma mark - UITextFieldDelegate
- (BOOL)textFieldShouldBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField {

    CGPoint point = [textField convertPoint:CGPointZero toView:self.tableView];
    self.currentIndex = [self.tableView indexPathForRowAtPoint:point];//Get Current UITableView row
    currentTxtRow = self.currentIndex.row;
    return YES;
}


- (BOOL)textFieldShouldReturn:(UITextField *)textField {
    currentTxtRow += 1;
    self.currentIndex = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:currentTxtRow inSection:0];

    UITableViewCell *cell = [self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:self.currentIndex];
    UITextField *currentTxtfield = (UITextField *)[cell.contentView viewWithTag:100];
    if (currentTxtRow < 3) {//Currently I have 3 Cells each cell have 1 UITextfield
        [currentTxtfield becomeFirstResponder];
    } else {
        [self.view endEditing:YES];
        [currentTxtfield resignFirstResponder];
    }

}  

To grab 1 the text from textfield-

- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string {
      switch (self.currentIndex.row) {

            case 0:
                NSLog(@"%@",[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@",textField.text,string]);//Take current word and previous text from textfield
                break;

            case 1:
                 NSLog(@"%@",[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@",textField.text,string]);//Take current word and previous text from textfield
                break;

            case 2:
                 NSLog(@"%@",[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@",textField.text,string]);//Take current word and previous text from textfield
                break;

            default:
                break;
        }
}