How to enable UITextView to receive pasted images

Question

I need to support pasting of images into a UITextView. With an image copied to the clipboard, the "Paste" option doesn't seem to pop up. It does when there's text on the clipboard.

This is how to override the paste option in a custom UITextView. But I need help on how to get the option to show up to begin with...

// This gets called when user presses menu "Paste" option
- (void)paste:(id)sender{

    UIImage *image = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard].image;

    if (image) {
        NSTextAttachment *textAttachment = [[NSTextAttachment alloc] init];
        textAttachment.image = image;
        NSAttributedString *imageString = [NSAttributedString attributedStringWithAttachment:textAttachment];
        self.attributedText = imageString;
    } else {
        // Call the normal paste action
        [super paste:sender];
    }
}

I came across a few related questions, but they weren't helpful for an inexperienced developer like myself: How to get UIMenuController work for a custom view?, How to paste image from pasteboard on UITextView?

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 28 '15 at 17:06

12

I answered my own question. All you have to do is have the UITextView say "I can receive pasted images" by overriding this UITextView method:

- (BOOL)canPerformAction:(SEL)action withSender:(id)sender
{
    if (action == @selector(paste:) && [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard].image)
        return YES;
    else
        return [super canPerformAction:action withSender:sender];
}

You're welcome.

answered Dec 28 '15 at 17:06

Matt Koala

2,171
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14

Your code is correct, but my paste option is not coming after i copy an image . How to resolve this ? – Sushree Swagatika Oct 26 '16 at 10:58
Did you remember to set the UITextView to be an instance of the custom class you created with this code? – Matt Koala Oct 27 '16 at 15:18
@MattKoala Thanks your answer is perfect. – Urmi Sep 15 '17 at 15:21

Gokul G · Answer 2 · 2021-05-17T11:44:44.480

Thanks @Matt your answer helped me. Just extending your answer which may help some one,

Subclassing UITextview, which shows paste option on long press when you have image in pasteboard.

class MyTextView:UITextView {
    var onPasteImage:(()->Void)?
    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()
    }
    override func canPerformAction(_ action: Selector, withSender sender: Any?) -> Bool {
        if action == #selector(paste(_:)) && UIPasteboard.general.image != nil {
            return true
        }else{
            return super.canPerformAction(action, withSender: sender)
        }
    }
    
    override func paste(_ sender: Any?) {
        super.paste(sender)
        if UIPasteboard.general.image != nil {
            onPasteImage?()
        }
    }
}

And wait for onPasteImage closure to be called on tap paste in textview,

inputFieldForReply.textView.onPasteImage = { [weak self] in
    if let image = UIPasteboard.general.image {
        // Process pasted image
    }
}

thank you! but where do you concatenate the imge with the rest of the text in the UITEXTVIEW? — Nat Serrano, Sep 16 '22 at 22:17
i don't think so we can insert image in the same textview, Refer WhatsApp for the behaviour!. When an image is pasted from clipboard we can show a new screen with pasted image and a textview at bottom which contain user typed text. — Gokul G, Sep 19 '22 at 01:44

How to enable UITextView to receive pasted images

2 Answers2