Enable Search button when searching string is empty in default search bar

Question

In my application I am using search functionality using default IOS search bar, If i place some string for search its working fine but after the first search i need to display the entire data Source (original content) My functionality is if the search string is empty it will display the entire data source. My issue is if i make the search string as empty in default search bar, the search button automatically come to hide state. I need to enable the search button even the string is empty.

Create your custom search bar. AFAIK, its not possible with native search bar. — Apurv, Jan 11 '13 at 05:06
you refine search as soon as user type or when user press search button? — CRDave, Jan 11 '13 at 05:09
Content in the source table is too high. If i do searching like that means it will create performance issue's for me.Data source contains lot of images also. — Ganapathy, Jan 11 '13 at 05:15

score 37 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 10 '14 at 10:10

37

Actually you can just set searchBar.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = NO; Tested on iOS 7+

answered Dec 10 '14 at 10:10

laura

491
4
4

Strangely it works... If just uncheck the flag in UI builder, doesn't work, but added this line in viewDidLoad: and made the trick. Magic. – Paulius Vindzigelskis Jul 10 '17 at 21:37

score 24 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 31 '21 at 15:28

24

This code display Search Button if you have empty string.

- (void)searchBarTextDidBeginEditing:(UISearchBar *)searchBar 
{
    [self.searchBar setShowsCancelButton:YES animated:YES];
    self.tblView.allowsSelection = NO;
    self.tblView.scrollEnabled = NO;
    
    UITextField *searchBarTextField = nil;
    for (UIView *subview in self.searchBar.subviews)
    {
        if ([subview isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]])
        {
            searchBarTextField = (UITextField *)subview;
            break;
        }
    }
    searchBarTextField.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = NO;
}

edited Oct 31 '21 at 15:28

Nimantha

6,405
6
28
69

answered Jan 11 '13 at 05:17

iPatel

46,010
16
115
137

1

Hello ! I used to use this code but when I updated to iOS 7 the code has stopped working, and I'm trying to figure why. Has someone had the same problem? – MaikaDalila Oct 04 '13 at 15:54
Never mind, a user already found the answer here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18971988/search-a-uisearchbar-with-no-text-in-xcode5-ios7 – MaikaDalila Oct 04 '13 at 16:08
@MaikaDalila - Its good for developer who want to find its on iOS 7.. so thanks for valuable like :) – iPatel Oct 08 '13 at 08:39

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 11 '16 at 14:41

Swift 3/ iOS 10

for view1 in searchBar.subviews {
        for view2 in view1.subviews {
            if let searchBarTextField = view2 as? UITextField {
                searchBarTextField.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = false
                break
            }
        }
    }

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 11 '13 at 05:33

Use the following code for enable return key with no text

  UITextField *searchField = nil;
  for (UIView *subview in searchBar.subviews) {
    if ([subview isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]) {
      searchField = (UITextField *)subview;
      break;
    }
  }

  if (searchField) {
    searchField.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = NO;
  }

Taka · Answer 5 · 2018-02-02T13:13:42.357

3

Maybe is an apple side bug?. Since from the .xib file setting auto-enable return Key does not work as expected.

Just add the following code:

- (BOOL)searchBarShouldBeginEditing:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
    searchBar.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = NO;

    return YES;
}

edited Feb 02 '18 at 13:13

answered Aug 24 '17 at 15:00

Taka

41
4

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 11 '13 at 05:25

Create a custom view & on that view add one button to remove the keyboard. Add that view when - (BOOL)searchBarShouldBeginEditing:(UISearchBar *)searchBar delegate method of UISearchBar. On that button click resign the keyboard as well as the view which you created for that button. Also if you want to search on that button click then you can do it as well. Please see image for more clarification.

enter image description here

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 10 '14 at 05:59

Its almost same as the accepted answer but if You are working with iOS 7 you will need extra for loop due to some changes in search bar

- (void)searchBarTextDidBeginEditing:(UISearchBar *)searchBar 
{
    [self.searchBar setShowsCancelButton:YES animated:YES];
    UITextField *searchBarTextField = nil;
    for (UIView *mainview in self.searchBar.subviews)
    {
        for (UIView *subview in mainview.subviews) {
            if ([subview isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]])
            {
                searchBarTextField = (UITextField *)subview;
                break;
            }

        }  
    }
    searchBarTextField.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = NO;
}

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 05 '14 at 16:51

Use this it works for ios 6 and 7:

- (void)searchBarTextDidBeginEditing:(UISearchBar *)search
{
    UITextField *searchBarTextField = nil;
    for (UIView *mainview in search.subviews) {
        if (floor(NSFoundationVersionNumber) <= NSFoundationVersionNumber_iOS_6_1) {
            if ([mainview isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]) {
                searchBarTextField = (UITextField *)mainview;
                break;
            }
        }
        for (UIView *subview in mainview.subviews) {
            if ([subview isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]) {
                searchBarTextField = (UITextField *)subview;
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    searchBarTextField.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = NO;
}

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 14 '14 at 17:03

If you're looking for a bit more elegant solution, you could use recursion to find the textfield within the searchbar, as shown below. This should work for ios 6, 7, or any other future ios barring any deprecations by apple.

- (void)searchBarTextDidBeginEditing:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
    UITextField* textField = [self findTextFieldInView:searchBar];
    if (textField) {
        textField.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = NO;
    }
}

-(UITextField*)findTextFieldInView:(UIView*)view {
    if ([view isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]) {
        return (UITextField*)view;
    }
    for (UIView* subview in view.subviews) {
        UITextField* textField = [self findTextFieldInView:subview];
        if (textField) {
            return textField;
        }
    }
    return nil;
}

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered May 10 '16 at 09:39

2

Simple Swift version:

if let searchTextField:UITextField = searchBar.subviews[0].subviews[2] as? UITextField {
                searchTextField.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = false
}

answered May 10 '16 at 09:39

odemolliens

2,581
2
32
34

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 28 '15 at 07:19

Here is a solution using Swift. Just paste it in your viewDidLoad function and make sure that you have an IBOutlet of your searchBar in the code. (on my example below, the inputSearchBar variable is the IBOutlet)

   // making the search button available when the search text is empty
    var searchBarTextField : UITextField!
    for view1 in inputSearchBar.subviews {
        for view2 in view1.subviews {
            if view2.isKindOfClass(UITextField) {
                searchBarTextField = view2 as UITextField
                searchBarTextField.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = false
                break
            }
        }
    }

Kunal Nayek · Answer 12 · 2021-04-30T09:36:23.577

0

In swift use UISearchBarDelegate

func searchBarTextDidBeginEditing(_ searchBar: UISearchBar) {
    searchBar.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = false  
}`

edited Apr 30 '21 at 09:36

answered Apr 30 '21 at 09:11

Kunal Nayek

101
2
5

Enable Search button when searching string is empty in default search bar

12 Answers12