AutoCompletion

Description

A framework which provides text field suggestions as a dropdown list. It is available with iOS 9 and later, Objective-C or Swift.

Project Rationale

The purpose of this framework is to provide a simple, yet very useful feature - autocomplete textfield. IOS autocomplete is an iOS module that behaves like a normal text field with the added functionality that it provides suggestions to the user in a dropdown.

Installation

CocoaPods

Run Terminal

• Navigate to project folder
• Use command:

pod init

• Add code to podfile

platform :ios, '9.0'

target 'YourProjectName' do
  use_frameworks!
    pod 'AutoCompletion'
end

• Remember to open project using workspace

Carthage

Run Terminal

• Navigate to project folder
• Add code to Cartfile:

github "3pillarlabs/ios-autocomplete"

• Run carthage by using command:

carthage update

• Add the "AutoCompletion.framework" to the list of "Embedded Binaries" (located inside Xcode -> Target -> General tab) from Carthage/Build/iOS in project folder

Usage

1. Import AutoCompletion framework. Objective-C

@import AutoCompletion;

Swift

import AutoCompletion

2. Add an autocompletion instance inside a view:

2.1 Drag and drop a UITextField instance in Interface Builder.

2.2 Change it's class to AutoCompletionTextField.

2.3 Aditionally, you can customize the text field from Interface Builder.

2.4 Create a reference of the AutoCompletionTextField.

3. Set the suggestionsResultDataSource. The data source needs to conform to the AutoCompletionTextFieldDataSource protocol:

Swift

class AutoCompletionDataSource: NSObject, AutoCompletionTextFieldDataSource {
	@IBOutlet weak var autoCompletionTextField: AutoCompletionTextField!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        autoCompletionOutlet.suggestionsResultDataSource = self
    }
    // MARK: DataSource

    func fetchSuggestions(forIncompleteString incompleteString: String!,
                          withCompletionBlock completion: FetchCompletionBlock!) {
        ...code...
    }
}

Objective-C

@interface AutoCompletionDataSource: NSObject <AutoCompletionTextFieldDataSource>
@end

@implementation AutoCompletionDataSource
- (void)fetchSuggestionsForIncompleteString:(NSString*)incompleteString
                        withCompletionBlock:(FetchCompletionBlock)completion {
    ...code...
}
@end

...

autoCompletionTextField.suggestionsResultDataSource = [AutoCompletionDataSource new];

4. Optionally, you can set the suggestionsResultDelegate in order to handle the suggestion selection.

Swift

class ViewController: UIViewController, AutoCompletionTextFieldDelegate {    
    @IBOutlet weak var autoCompletionTextField: AutoCompletionTextField!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        autoCompletionTextField.suggestionsResultDelegate = self
    }

    // MARK: Delegate

    func textField(_ textField: AutoCompletionTextField!, didSelectItem selectedItem: Any!) {
		...code...
    }
}

Objective-C

@interface ViewController: UIViewController <AutoCompletionTextFieldDelegate>

@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet AutoCompletionTextField *autoCompletionTextField;

@end

@implementation ViewController

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    self.autoCompletionTextField.suggestionsResultDelegate = self;
}

#pragma mark - Delegate

- (void)textField:(AutoCompletionTextField*)textField didSelectItem:(id)selectedItem {
	...code...
}

5. Also, you can set the animationDelegate in order to provide a custom animation to displaying of the results. It needs to conform to the AutoCompletionAnimator protocol:

Swift

class AutoCompletionAnimation: NSObject, AutoCompletionAnimator {

    func showSuggestions(for textField: AutoCompletionTextField!,
                         table: UITableView!, numberOfItems count: Int) {
    	...code...    
   	 }

    func hideSuggestions(for textField: AutoCompletionTextField!,
                         table: UITableView!) {
    	...code...
    }
}

...

autoCompletionTextField.animationDelegate = AutoCompletionAnimation()

Objective-C

@interface AutoCompletionAnimation: NSObject<AutoCompletionAnimator>
@end

@implementation AutoCompletionAnimation

- (void)showSuggestionsForTextField:(AutoCompletionTextField*)textField
                              table:(UITableView*)table
                      numberOfItems:(NSInteger)count {
	...code...
}
- (void)hideSuggestionsForTextField:(UITextField*)textField
                              table:(UITableView*)table {
	...code...
}

@end

...

autoCompletionTextField.animationDelegate = [AutoCompletionAnimation new];

In the demo branch you're able to see a workable example for AutoCompletion where the suggestions results come from three different scenarios: CoreData, JSON, and API.

Known issues

If written text and suggestion have different letter case or if written text starts shifting to left, the suggestion doesn't overlap correctly the written text.

License

AutoCompletion is released under MIT license. See LICENSE for details.

About this project

AutoCompletion is developed and maintained by 3Pillar Global.