Placeholder in UITextView

Question

My application uses an UITextView. Now I want the UITextView to have a placeholder similar to the one you can set for an UITextField.

How to do this?

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

Easy way, just create placeholder text in UITextView by using the following UITextViewDelegate methods:

- (void)textViewDidBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@"placeholder text here..."]) {
         textView.text = @"";
         textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor]; //optional
    }
    [textView becomeFirstResponder];
}

- (void)textViewDidEndEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@""]) {
        textView.text = @"placeholder text here...";
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional
    }
    [textView resignFirstResponder];
}

just remember to set myUITextView with the exact text on creation e.g.

UITextView *myUITextView = [[UITextView alloc] init];
myUITextView.delegate = self;
myUITextView.text = @"placeholder text here...";
myUITextView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional

and make the parent class a UITextViewDelegate before including these methods e.g.

@interface MyClass () <UITextViewDelegate>
@end

Code for Swift 3.1

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) 
{
    if (textView.text == "placeholder text here..." && textView.textColor == .lightGray)
    {
        textView.text = ""
        textView.textColor = .black
    }
    textView.becomeFirstResponder() //Optional
}

func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView)
{
    if (textView.text == "")
    {
        textView.text = "placeholder text here..."
        textView.textColor = .lightGray
    }
    textView.resignFirstResponder()
}

just remember to set myUITextView with the exact text on creation e.g.

 let myUITextView = UITextView.init()
 myUITextView.delegate = self
 myUITextView.text = "placeholder text here..."
 myUITextView.textColor = .lightGray

and make the parent class a UITextViewDelegate before including these methods e.g.

class MyClass: UITextViewDelegate
{

}

Answer 3

I wasn't too happy with any of the solutions posted as they were a bit heavy. Adding views to the view isn't really ideal (especially in drawRect:). They both had leaks, which isn't acceptable either.

Here is my solution: SAMTextView

SAMTextView.h

//
//  SAMTextView.h
//  SAMTextView
//
//  Created by Sam Soffes on 8/18/10.
//  Copyright 2010-2013 Sam Soffes. All rights reserved.
//

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

/**
 UITextView subclass that adds placeholder support like UITextField has.
 */
@interface SAMTextView : UITextView

/**
 The string that is displayed when there is no other text in the text view.

 The default value is `nil`.
 */
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *placeholder;

/**
 The color of the placeholder.

 The default is `[UIColor lightGrayColor]`.
 */
@property (nonatomic, strong) UIColor *placeholderTextColor;

/**
 Returns the drawing rectangle for the text views’s placeholder text.

 @param bounds The bounding rectangle of the receiver.
 @return The computed drawing rectangle for the placeholder text.
 */
- (CGRect)placeholderRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds;

@end

SAMTextView.m

//
//  SAMTextView.m
//  SAMTextView
//
//  Created by Sam Soffes on 8/18/10.
//  Copyright 2010-2013 Sam Soffes. All rights reserved.
//

#import "SAMTextView.h"

@implementation SAMTextView

#pragma mark - Accessors

@synthesize placeholder = _placeholder;
@synthesize placeholderTextColor = _placeholderTextColor;

- (void)setText:(NSString *)string {
  [super setText:string];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)insertText:(NSString *)string {
  [super insertText:string];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setAttributedText:(NSAttributedString *)attributedText {
  [super setAttributedText:attributedText];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setPlaceholder:(NSString *)string {
  if ([string isEqual:_placeholder]) {
    return;
  }

  _placeholder = string;
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setContentInset:(UIEdgeInsets)contentInset {
  [super setContentInset:contentInset];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setFont:(UIFont *)font {
  [super setFont:font];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setTextAlignment:(NSTextAlignment)textAlignment {
  [super setTextAlignment:textAlignment];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


#pragma mark - NSObject

- (void)dealloc {
  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:self];
}


#pragma mark - UIView

- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder {
  if ((self = [super initWithCoder:aDecoder])) {
    [self initialize];
  }
  return self;
}


- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
  if ((self = [super initWithFrame:frame])) {
    [self initialize];
  }
  return self;
}


- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
  [super drawRect:rect];

  if (self.text.length == 0 && self.placeholder) {
    rect = [self placeholderRectForBounds:self.bounds];

    UIFont *font = self.font ? self.font : self.typingAttributes[NSFontAttributeName];

    // Draw the text
    [self.placeholderTextColor set];
    [self.placeholder drawInRect:rect withFont:font lineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail alignment:self.textAlignment];
  }
}


#pragma mark - Placeholder

- (CGRect)placeholderRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds {
  // Inset the rect
  CGRect rect = UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(bounds, self.contentInset);

  if (self.typingAttributes) {
    NSParagraphStyle *style = self.typingAttributes[NSParagraphStyleAttributeName];
    if (style) {
      rect.origin.x += style.headIndent;
      rect.origin.y += style.firstLineHeadIndent;
    }
  }

  return rect;
}


#pragma mark - Private

- (void)initialize {
  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:self];

  self.placeholderTextColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.702f alpha:1.0f];
}


- (void)textChanged:(NSNotification *)notification {
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}

@end

It's a lot simpler than the others, as it doesn't use subviews (or have leaks). Feel free to use it.

Update 11/10/11: It is now documented and supports use in Interface Builder.

Update 11/24/13: Point to new repo.

Answer 4

I found myself a very easy way to imitate a place-holder

1. in the NIB or code set your textView's textColor to lightGrayColor (most of the time)
2. make sure that your textView's delegate is linked to file's owner and implement UITextViewDelegate in your header file
3. set the default text of your text view to (example: "Foobar placeholder")
4. implement: (BOOL) textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView

Edit:

Changed if statements to compare tags rather than text. If the user deleted their text it was possible to also accidentally delete a portion of the place holder @"Foobar placeholder".This meant if the user re-entered the textView the following delegate method, -(BOOL) textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *) textView, it would not work as expected. I tried comparing by the color of the text in the if statement but found that light grey color set in interface builder is not the same as light grey color set in code with [UIColor lightGreyColor]

- (BOOL) textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if(textView.tag == 0) {
        textView.text = @"";
        textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
        textView.tag = 1;
    }
    return YES;
}

It is also possible to reset the placeholder text when the keyboard returns and the [textView length] == 0

EDIT:

Just to make the last part clearer - here's is how you can set the placeholder text back:

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
   if([textView.text length] == 0)
   {
       textView.text = @"Foobar placeholder";
       textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
       textView.tag = 0;
   }
}

Answer 5

What you can do is set up the text view with some initial value in the text property, and change the textColor to [UIColor grayColor] or something similar. Then, whenever the text view becomes editable, clear the text and present a cursor, and if the text field is ever empty again, put your placeholder text back. Change the color to [UIColor blackColor] as appropriate.

It's not exactly the same as the placeholder functionality in a UITextField, but it's close.

Answer 6

You can set the label on the UITextView by

[UITextView addSubView:lblPlaceHoldaer];

and hide it on TextViewdidChange method.

This is the simple & easy way.

Answer 7

Simple Swift 3 solution

Add UITextViewDelegate to your class

Set yourTextView.delegate = self

Create placeholderLabel and position it inside yourTextView

Now just animate placeholderLabel.alpha on textViewDidChange:

  func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
    let newAlpha: CGFloat = textView.text.isEmpty ? 1 : 0
    if placeholderLabel.alpha != newAlpha {
      UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.3) {
        self.placeholderLabel.alpha = newAlpha
      }
    }
  }

you might have to play with placeholderLabel position to set it up right, but that shouldn't be too hard

Answer 8

If someone needs a Solution for Swift:

Add UITextViewDelegate to your class

var placeHolderText = "Placeholder Text..."

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    textView.delegate = self
}

func textViewShouldBeginEditing(textView: UITextView) -> Bool {

    self.textView.textColor = .black

    if(self.textView.text == placeHolderText) {
        self.textView.text = ""
    }

    return true
}

func textViewDidEndEditing(textView: UITextView) {
    if(textView.text == "") {
        self.textView.text = placeHolderText
        self.textView.textColor = .lightGray
    }
}

override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) {

    if(currentQuestion.answerDisplayValue == "") {
        self.textView.text = placeHolderText
        self.textView.textColor = .lightGray
    } else {
        self.textView.text = "xxx" // load default text / or stored 
        self.textView.textColor = .black
    }
}

Answer 9

I extended KmKndy's answer, so that the placeholder remains visible until the user starts editing the UITextView rather than just taps on it. This mirrors the functionality in the Twitter and Facebook apps. My solution doesn't require you to subclass and works if the user types directly or pastes text!

- (void)textViewDidChangeSelection:(UITextView *)textView{
    if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@"What's happening?"] && [textView.textColor isEqual:[UIColor lightGrayColor]])[textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];

}

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

    [textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];
}

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if (textView.text.length != 0 && [[textView.text substringFromIndex:1] isEqualToString:@"What's happening?"] && [textView.textColor isEqual:[UIColor lightGrayColor]]){
        textView.text = [textView.text substringToIndex:1];
        textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor]; //optional

    }
    else if(textView.text.length == 0){
        textView.text = @"What's happening?";
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        [textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];
    }
}

- (void)textViewDidEndEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@""]) {
        textView.text = @"What's happening?";
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional
    }
    [textView resignFirstResponder];
}

- (BOOL)textView:(UITextView *)textView shouldChangeTextInRange:(NSRange)range replacementText:(NSString *)text{
    if (textView.text.length > 1 && [textView.text isEqualToString:@"What's happening?"]) {
         textView.text = @"";
         textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
    }

    return YES;
}

just remember to set myUITextView with the exact text on creation e.g.

UITextView *myUITextView = [[UITextView alloc] init];
myUITextView.delegate = self;
myUITextView.text = @"What's happening?";
myUITextView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional

and make the parent class a UITextView delegate before including these methods e.g.

@interface MyClass () <UITextViewDelegate>
@end

Answer 10

Below is a Swift port of "SAMTextView" ObjC code posted as one of the first handful of replies to the question. I tested it on iOS 8. I tweaked a couple of things, including the bounds offset for the placement of the placeholder text, as the original was too high and too far right (used suggestion in one of the comments to that post).

I know there are a lot of simple solutions, but I like the approach of subclassing UITextView because it's reusable and I don't have to clutter classes utilizing it with the mechanisms.

Swift 2.2:

import UIKit

class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView {

    @IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor = UIColor.lightGrayColor()
    @IBInspectable var placeholderText: String = ""

    override var font: UIFont? {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

    override var contentInset: UIEdgeInsets {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

    override var textAlignment: NSTextAlignment {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

    override var text: String? {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

    override var attributedText: NSAttributedString? {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

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

    override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
        super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
    }

    private func setUp() {
        NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(self, selector: #selector(PlaceholderTextView.textChanged(_:)),
                                                         name: UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification, object: self)
    }

    func textChanged(notification: NSNotification) {
        setNeedsDisplay()
    }

    func placeholderRectForBounds(bounds: CGRect) -> CGRect {
        var x = contentInset.left + 4.0
        var y = contentInset.top  + 9.0
        let w = frame.size.width - contentInset.left - contentInset.right - 16.0
        let h = frame.size.height - contentInset.top - contentInset.bottom - 16.0

        if let style = self.typingAttributes[NSParagraphStyleAttributeName] as? NSParagraphStyle {
            x += style.headIndent
            y += style.firstLineHeadIndent
        }
        return CGRect(x: x, y: y, width: w, height: h)
    }

    override func drawRect(rect: CGRect) {
        if text!.isEmpty && !placeholderText.isEmpty {
            let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
            paragraphStyle.alignment = textAlignment
            let attributes: [ String: AnyObject ] = [
                NSFontAttributeName : font!,
                NSForegroundColorAttributeName : placeholderColor,
                NSParagraphStyleAttributeName  : paragraphStyle]

            placeholderText.drawInRect(placeholderRectForBounds(bounds), withAttributes: attributes)
        }
        super.drawRect(rect)
    }
}

Swift 4.2:

import UIKit

class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView {

    @IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor = UIColor.lightGray
    @IBInspectable var placeholderText: String = ""

    override var font: UIFont? {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

    override var contentInset: UIEdgeInsets {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

    override var textAlignment: NSTextAlignment {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

    override var text: String? {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

    override var attributedText: NSAttributedString? {
        didSet {
            setNeedsDisplay()
        }
    }

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

    override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
        super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
    }

    private func setUp() {
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
         selector: #selector(self.textChanged(notification:)),
         name: Notification.Name("UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification"),
         object: nil)
    }

    @objc func textChanged(notification: NSNotification) {
        setNeedsDisplay()
    }

    func placeholderRectForBounds(bounds: CGRect) -> CGRect {
        var x = contentInset.left + 4.0
        var y = contentInset.top  + 9.0
        let w = frame.size.width - contentInset.left - contentInset.right - 16.0
        let h = frame.size.height - contentInset.top - contentInset.bottom - 16.0

        if let style = self.typingAttributes[NSAttributedString.Key.paragraphStyle] as? NSParagraphStyle {
            x += style.headIndent
            y += style.firstLineHeadIndent
        }
        return CGRect(x: x, y: y, width: w, height: h)
    }

    override func draw(_ rect: CGRect) {
        if text!.isEmpty && !placeholderText.isEmpty {
            let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
            paragraphStyle.alignment = textAlignment
            let attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [
            NSAttributedString.Key(rawValue: NSAttributedString.Key.font.rawValue) : font!,
            NSAttributedString.Key(rawValue: NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor.rawValue) : placeholderColor,
            NSAttributedString.Key(rawValue: NSAttributedString.Key.paragraphStyle.rawValue)  : paragraphStyle]

            placeholderText.draw(in: placeholderRectForBounds(bounds: bounds), withAttributes: attributes)
        }
        super.draw(rect)
    }
}

Answer 11

I recommend to use SZTextView.

https://github.com/glaszig/SZTextView

Add your default UITextView from storyboard and then change its custom class to SZTextView like below

Then you will see two new option in the Attribute Inspector

Answer 12

Hi you can use IQTextView available in IQKeyboard Manager it's simple to use and integrate just set class of your textview to IQTextView and you can use its property for setting placeholder label with color you want. You can download the library from IQKeyboardManager

or you can install it from cocoapods.

Answer 13

this is how I did it:

UITextView2.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UITextView2 : UITextView <UITextViewDelegate> {
 NSString *placeholder;
 UIColor *placeholderColor;
}

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

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

@end

UITextView2.m

@implementation UITextView2

@synthesize placeholder, placeholderColor;

- (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*)notif {
    if ([[self placeholder] length]==0)
        return;
    if ([[self text] length]==0) {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    } else {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:0];
    }

}

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
    if ([[self placeholder] length]>0) {
        UILabel *l = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8, 8, 0, 0)];
        [l setFont:self.font];
        [l setTextColor:self.placeholderColor];
        [l setText:self.placeholder];
        [l setAlpha:0];
        [l setTag:999];
        [self addSubview:l];
        [l sizeToFit];
        [self sendSubviewToBack:l];
        [l release];
    }
    if ([[self text] length]==0 && [[self placeholder] length]>0) {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    }
    [super drawRect:rect];
}

- (void)dealloc {
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self];
    [super dealloc];
}


@end

Answer 14

Here's a way easier solution that behaves exactly like UITextField's placeholder but doesn't require drawing custom views, or resigning first responder.

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

    if (textView.text.length == 0){
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        textView.text = placeholderText;
        [textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];
        isPlaceholder = YES;

    } else if (isPlaceholder && ![textView.text isEqualToString:placeholderText]) {
        textView.text = [textView.text substringToIndex:1];
        textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
        isPlaceholder = NO;
    }

}

(the second check in the else if statement is for the case where nothing is entered and the user presses backspace)

Just set your class as a UITextViewDelegate. In viewDidLoad you should initialize like

- (void) viewDidLoad{
    // initialize placeholder text
    placeholderText = @"some placeholder";
    isPlaceholder = YES;
    self.someTextView.text = placeholderText;
    self.someTextView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
    [self.someTextView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];

    // assign UITextViewDelegate
    self.someTextView.delegate = self;
}

Answer 15

Sorry to add another answer, But I just pulled something like this off and this created the closest-to-UITextField kind of placeholder.

Hope this helps someone.

-(void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView{
    if(textView.textColor == [UIColor lightGrayColor]){
        textView.textColor  = [UIColor blackColor]; // look at the comment section in this answer
        textView.text       = [textView.text substringToIndex: 0];// look at the comment section in this answer
    }else if(textView.text.length == 0){
        textView.text       = @"This is some placeholder text.";
        textView.textColor  = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0);
    }
}

-(void)textViewDidChangeSelection:(UITextView *)textView{
    if(textView.textColor == [UIColor lightGrayColor] && (textView.selectedRange.location != 0 || textView.selectedRange.length != 0)){
        textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0);
    }
}

Answer 16

Simple way to use this within some line of code:

Take one label up to UITextView in .nib connecting this label to your code , After it.

- (BOOL)textView:(UITextView *)textView shouldChangeTextInRange:(NSRange)range replacementText:(NSString *)text{

    if (range.location>0 || text.length!=0) {
        placeholderLabel1.hidden = YES;
    }else{
        placeholderLabel1.hidden = NO;
    }
    return YES;
}

Answer 17

I've modified Sam Soffes' implementation to work with iOS7:

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
    [super drawRect:rect];

    if (_shouldDrawPlaceholder)
    {
        UIEdgeInsets insets = self.textContainerInset;        
        CGRect placeholderRect = CGRectMake(
                insets.left + self.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding,
                insets.top,
                self.frame.size.width - insets.left - insets.right,
                self.frame.size.height - insets.top - insets.bottom);

        [_placeholderText drawWithRect:placeholderRect
                           options:NSStringDrawingUsesLineFragmentOrigin | NSStringDrawingTruncatesLastVisibleLine
                        attributes:self.placeholderAttributes
                           context:nil];
    }
}

- (NSDictionary *)placeholderAttributes
{
    if (_placeholderAttributes == nil)
    {
        _placeholderAttributes = @
        {
            NSFontAttributeName : self.font,
            NSForegroundColorAttributeName : self.placeholderColor
        };
    }

    return _placeholderAttributes;
}

Remember to set _placeholderAttribues = nil in methods that might change the font and other thigns that might affect them. You might also want to skip "lazy" making of the attributes dictionary if that doesn't bug you.

EDIT:

Remember to call setNeedsDisplay in a overridden version of setBounds if you like the placeholder to look good after autolayout animations and the like.

Answer 18

This mimics UITextField's placeholder perfectly, where the place holder text stays until you actually type something.

private let placeholder = "Type here"

@IBOutlet weak var textView: UITextView! {
    didSet {
        textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        textView.text = placeholder
        textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
    }
}

extension ViewController: UITextViewDelegate {

    func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
        // Move cursor to beginning on first tap
        if textView.text == placeholder {
            textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
        }
    }

    func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
        if textView.text == placeholder && !text.isEmpty {
            textView.text = nil
            textView.textColor = UIColor.black
            textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
        }
        return true
    }

    func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.text.isEmpty {
            textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
            textView.text = placeholder
        }
    }
}

Answer 19

You could also create a new class TextViewWithPlaceholder as a subclass of UITextView.

(This code is kind of rough -- but I think it's on the right track.)

@interface TextViewWithPlaceholder : UITextView
{

    NSString *placeholderText;  // make a property
    UIColor *placeholderColor;  // make a property
    UIColor *normalTextColor;   // cache text color here whenever you switch to the placeholderColor
}

- (void) setTextColor: (UIColor*) color
{
   normalTextColor = color;
   [super setTextColor: color];
}

- (void) updateForTextChange
{
    if ([self.text length] == 0)
    { 
        normalTextColor = self.textColor;
        self.textColor = placeholderColor;
        self.text = placeholderText;
    }
    else
    {
        self.textColor = normalTextColor;
    }

}

In your delegate, add this:

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([textView respondsToSelector: @selector(updateForTextChange)])
    {
        [textView updateForTextChange];
    }

}

Answer 20

I made my own version of the subclass of 'UITextView'. I liked Sam Soffes's idea of using the notifications, but I didn't liked the drawRect: overwrite. Seems overkill to me. I think I made a very clean implementation.

You can look at my subclass here. A demo project is also included.

Answer 21

This thread has had plenty of answers, but here's the version I prefer.

It extends the existing UITextView class so is easily reuseable, and it doesn't intercept the events like textViewDidChange (which might break user's code, if they were already intercepting these events elsewhere).

Using my code (shown below), you can easily add a placeholder to any of your UITextViews like this:

self.textViewComments.placeholder = @"(Enter some comments here.)";

When you set this new placeholder value, it quietly adds a UILabel on top of your UITextView, then hide/shows it as necessary:

Okay, to make these changes, add a "UITextViewHelper.h" file containing this code:

//  UITextViewHelper.h
//  Created by Michael Gledhill on 13/02/15.

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface UITextView (UITextViewHelper)

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString* placeholder;
@property (nonatomic, strong) UILabel* placeholderLabel;
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString* textValue;

-(void)checkIfNeedToDisplayPlaceholder;

@end

...and a UITextViewHelper.m file containing this:

//  UITextViewHelper.m
//  Created by Michael Gledhill on 13/02/15.
//
//  This UITextView category allows us to easily display a PlaceHolder string in our UITextView.
//  The downside is that, your code needs to set the "textValue" rather than the "text" value to safely set the UITextView's text.
//
#import "UITextViewHelper.h"
#import <objc/runtime.h>

@implementation UITextView (UITextViewHelper)

#define UI_PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_COLOR [UIColor colorWithRed:170.0/255.0 green:170.0/255.0 blue:170.0/255.0 alpha:1.0]

@dynamic placeholder;
@dynamic placeholderLabel;
@dynamic textValue;

-(void)setTextValue:(NSString *)textValue
{
    //  Change the text of our UITextView, and check whether we need to display the placeholder.
    self.text = textValue;
    [self checkIfNeedToDisplayPlaceholder];
}
-(NSString*)textValue
{
    return self.text;
}

-(void)checkIfNeedToDisplayPlaceholder
{
    //  If our UITextView is empty, display our Placeholder label (if we have one)
    if (self.placeholderLabel == nil)
        return;

    self.placeholderLabel.hidden = (![self.text isEqualToString:@""]);
}

-(void)onTap
{
    //  When the user taps in our UITextView, we'll see if we need to remove the placeholder text.
    [self checkIfNeedToDisplayPlaceholder];

    //  Make the onscreen keyboard appear.
    [self becomeFirstResponder];
}

-(void)keyPressed:(NSNotification*)notification
{
    //  The user has just typed a character in our UITextView (or pressed the delete key).
    //  Do we need to display our Placeholder label ?
   [self checkIfNeedToDisplayPlaceholder];
}

#pragma mark - Add a "placeHolder" string to the UITextView class

NSString const *kKeyPlaceHolder = @"kKeyPlaceHolder";
-(void)setPlaceholder:(NSString *)_placeholder
{
    //  Sets our "placeholder" text string, creates a new UILabel to contain it, and modifies our UITextView to cope with
    //  showing/hiding the UILabel when needed.
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &kKeyPlaceHolder, (id)_placeholder, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);

    self.placeholderLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:self.frame];
    self.placeholderLabel.numberOfLines = 1;
    self.placeholderLabel.text = _placeholder;
    self.placeholderLabel.textColor = UI_PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_COLOR;
    self.placeholderLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    self.placeholderLabel.userInteractionEnabled = true;
    self.placeholderLabel.font = self.font;
    [self addSubview:self.placeholderLabel];

    [self.placeholderLabel sizeToFit];

    //  Whenever the user taps within the UITextView, we'll give the textview the focus, and hide the placeholder if necessary.
    [self addGestureRecognizer:[[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(onTap)]];

    //  Whenever the user types something in the UITextView, we'll see if we need to hide/show the placeholder label.
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector: @selector(keyPressed:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];

    [self checkIfNeedToDisplayPlaceholder];
}
-(NSString*)placeholder
{
    //  Returns our "placeholder" text string
    return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &kKeyPlaceHolder);
}

#pragma mark - Add a "UILabel" to this UITextView class

NSString const *kKeyLabel = @"kKeyLabel";
-(void)setPlaceholderLabel:(UILabel *)placeholderLabel
{
    //  Stores our new UILabel (which contains our placeholder string)
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &kKeyLabel, (id)placeholderLabel, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);

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

    [self checkIfNeedToDisplayPlaceholder];
}
-(UILabel*)placeholderLabel
{
    //  Returns our new UILabel
    return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &kKeyLabel);
}
@end

Yup, it's a lot of code, but once you've added it to your project and included the .h file...

#import "UITextViewHelper.h"

...you can easily use placeholders in UITextViews.

There's one gotcha though.

If you do this:

self.textViewComments.placeholder = @"(Enter some comments here.)";
self.textViewComments.text = @"Ooooh, hello there";

...the placeholder will appear on top of the text. When you set the text value, none of the regular notifications gets called, so I couldn't work out how to call my function to decide whether to show/hide the placeholder.

The solution is to set the textValue rather than text:

self.textViewComments.placeholder = @"(Enter some comments here.)";
self.textViewComments.textValue = @"Ooooh, hello there";

Alternatively, you can set the text value, then call checkIfNeedToDisplayPlaceholder.

self.textViewComments.text = @"Ooooh, hello there";
[self.textViewComments checkIfNeedToDisplayPlaceholder];

I like solutions like this, as they "fill the gap" between what Apple provides us with, and what we (as developers) actually need in our apps. You write this code once, add it to your library of "helper" .m/.h files, and, over time, the SDK actually starts becoming less frustrating.

(I wrote a similar helper for adding a "clear" button to my UITextViews, another thing which annoyingly exists in UITextField but not in UITextView...)

Answer 22

First take a label in .h file.

Here I take

UILabel * lbl;

Then in .m under viewDidLoad declare it

lbl = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8.0, 0.0,250, 34.0)];

lbl.font=[UIFont systemFontOfSize:14.0];

[lbl setText:@"Write a message..."];

[lbl setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];

[lbl setTextColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];

[textview addSubview:lbl];

textview is my TextView.

Now declare

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

 if (![textView hasText]){

    lbl.hidden = NO;

 }
 else{
    lbl.hidden = YES;
 }

}

And your Textview placeholder is ready !

Answer 23

I recommend use pod 'UITextView+Placeholder'

pod 'UITextView+Placeholder'

on your code

#import "UITextView+Placeholder.h"

////    

UITextView *textView = [[UITextView alloc] init];
textView.placeholder = @"How are you?";
textView.placeholderColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];

Answer 24

Based on some of the great suggestions here already, I was able to put together the following lightweight, Interface-Builder-compatible subclass of UITextView, which:

• Includes configurable placeholder text, styled just like that of UITextField.
• Doesn't require any additional subviews or constraints.
• Doesn't require any delegation or other behaviour from the ViewController.
• Doesn't require any notifications.
• Keeps that text fully separated from any outside classes looking at the field's text property.

Improvement suggestions are welcome.

Edit 1: Updated to reset placeholder formatting if actual text is set programmatically.

Edit 2: The placeholder text color can now be retrieved programmatically.

Swift v5:

import UIKit
@IBDesignable class TextViewWithPlaceholder: UITextView {
    
    override var text: String! { // Ensures that the placeholder text is never returned as the field's text
        get {
            if showingPlaceholder {
                return "" // When showing the placeholder, there's no real text to return
            } else { return super.text }
        }
        set {
            if showingPlaceholder {
                removePlaceholderFormatting() // If the placeholder text is what's being changed, it's no longer the placeholder
            }
            super.text = newValue
        }
    }
    @IBInspectable var placeholderText: String = ""
    @IBInspectable var placeholderTextColor: UIColor = .placeholderText
    private var showingPlaceholder: Bool = true // Keeps track of whether the field is currently showing a placeholder
    
    override func didMoveToWindow() {
        super.didMoveToWindow()
        if text.isEmpty {
            showPlaceholderText() // Load up the placeholder text when first appearing, but not if coming back to a view where text was already entered
        }
    }
    
    override public func becomeFirstResponder() -> Bool {
        
        // If the current text is the placeholder, remove it
        if showingPlaceholder {
            text = nil
            removePlaceholderFormatting()
        }
        return super.becomeFirstResponder()
    }
    
    override public func resignFirstResponder() -> Bool {
        
        // If there's no text, put the placeholder back
        if text.isEmpty {
            showPlaceholderText()
        }
        return super.resignFirstResponder()
    }
    
    private func showPlaceholderText() {
        
        text = placeholderText
        showingPlaceholder = true
        textColor = placeholderTextColor
    }
    
    private func removePlaceholderFormatting() {
        
        showingPlaceholder = false
        textColor = nil // Put the text back to the default, unmodified color
    }
}

Answer 25

    - (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
    placeholderLabel.hidden = YES;
}

put a label over the textview.

Answer 26

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];
    }
    }

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 *)theTextView
{
     if (![textView hasText]) {
     lbl.hidden = NO;
}
}

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

Answer 27

Here's yet another way to do it, one that reproduces the slight indentation of UITextField's placeholder:

Drag a UITextField right under the UITextView so that their top left corners are aligned. Add your placeholder text to the text field.

In viewDidLoad, add:

[tView setDelegate:self];
tView.contentInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(-8,-8,0,0);
tView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];

Then add:

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView {
    if (textView.text.length == 0) {
        textView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];            
    } else {
        textView.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
    }
}

Answer 28

Lets make it easy

Create one UILabel and place it on your text view(Give the text as Placeholder-set color gray-you can do all this in your xib) Now in you header file declare the UILabel and also the the textviewDelegate Now you can simply hide the label when you click on the textview

complete code below

header

@interface ViewController :UIViewController<UITextViewDelegate>{
 }
   @property (nonatomic,strong) IBOutlet UILabel *PlceHolder_label;
   @property (nonatomic,strong) IBOutlet UITextView *TextView;

@end

implementation

@implementation UploadFoodImageViewController
@synthesize PlceHolder_label,TextView;

  - (void)viewDidLoad
    {
       [super viewDidLoad];
    }


 - (BOOL)textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView{

       if([textView isEqual:TextView]){
            [PlceHolder_label setHidden:YES];
            [self.tabScrlVw setContentOffset:CGPointMake(0,150) animated:YES];
          }
      return YES;
    }

@end

Dont forget to connect the textView and UILabel to filesowner from xib

Answer 29

Take a look at UTPlaceholderTextView.

This is a convenient subclass of UITextView that supports placeholder similiar to that of UITextField. Main peculiarities:

• Does not use subviews
• Does not override drawRect:
• Placeholder could be of arbitrary length, and rendered just the same way as usual text

Answer 30

I read through all of these, but came up with a very short, Swift 3, solution that has worked in all of my tests. It could stand a little more generality, but the process is simple. Here's the entire thing which I call "TextViewWithPlaceholder".

import UIKit

class TextViewWithPlaceholder: UITextView {

    public var placeholder: String?
    public var placeholderColor = UIColor.lightGray

    private var placeholderLabel: UILabel?

    // Set up notification listener when created from a XIB or storyboard.
    // You can also set up init() functions if you plan on creating
    // these programmatically.
    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()

        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
                                           selector: #selector(TextViewWithPlaceholder.textDidChangeHandler(notification:)),
                                           name: .UITextViewTextDidChange,
                                           object: self)

        placeholderLabel = UILabel()
        placeholderLabel?.alpha = 0.85
        placeholderLabel?.textColor = placeholderColor
    }

    // By using layoutSubviews, you can size and position the placeholder
    // more accurately. I chose to hard-code the size of the placeholder
    // but you can combine this with other techniques shown in previous replies.
    override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()

        placeholderLabel?.textColor = placeholderColor
        placeholderLabel?.text = placeholder

        placeholderLabel?.frame = CGRect(x: 6, y: 4, width: self.bounds.size.width-16, height: 24)

        if text.isEmpty {
            addSubview(placeholderLabel!)
            bringSubview(toFront: placeholderLabel!)
        } else {
            placeholderLabel?.removeFromSuperview()
        }
    }

    // Whenever the text changes, just trigger a new layout pass.
    func textDidChangeHandler(notification: Notification) {
        layoutSubviews()
    }
}