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<img class="center" src="./Resources/Logo.png"> <table><tr> <td width=33%><img src="./Resources/Feature1.png"></td> <td width=33%><img src="./Resources/Feature2.png"></td> <td width=33%><img src="./Resources/Feature3.png"></td> </tr><tr> <td width=33%><p align="center"><img src="./Resources/SelectableTextViewDemo1.gif"></p></td> <td width=33%><p align="center"><img src="./Resources/SelectableTextViewDemo2.gif"></p></td> <td width=33%><p align="center"><img src="./Resources/SelectableTextViewDemo3.gif"></p></td> </tr></table>

The Problem

UILabel and UITextView offer unsatisfying support for text selection.

Existing solutions like TTTAttributedLabel are great but offer a somewhat limited API for text selection.

Features

Installation

CocoaPods

Add the following to your Podfile

pod 'SelectableTextView', '~> 1.0.2'

Carthage

Add the following to your Cartfile

github "jhurray/SelectableTextView" ~> 1.0.2

Add to project Manually

Clone the repo and manually add the Files in /SelectableTextView

Usage

import SelectableTextView

let textView = SelectableTextView()
textView.text = "Hello World!"
textView.truncationMode = .truncateTail
textView.alignment = .center
textView.numberOfLines = 1

let greetingValidator = MatchesTextValidator(text: "hello")
textView.registerValidator(_ validator: greetingValidator) { (validText, validator) in
	// Handle selection of "Hello"
}

let exclamationValidator = SuffixValidator(suffix: "!")
textView.registerValidator(_ validator: exclamationValidator) { (validText, validator) in
	// Handle selection of "World!"
}

Text Selection<a name="text-selection"></a>

To create selectable text, you have to create and register a validator. The validator must conform to the TextSelectionValidator protocol.

let hashtagValidator = PrefixValidator(prefix: "#")
textView.registerValidator(validator: hashtagValidator) { (validText, validator) in
	// Handle selection of hashtag
}

You can unregister a validator at any time.

textView.removeValidator(validator: hashtagValidator)

Custom Validators

Here is a resource for creating custom validators using the TextSelectionValidator protocol.

There are other more specific protocols that make customization easier like ContainerTextSelectionValidator and CompositeTextSelectionValidator.

Prewritten Validators<a name="validators"></a>

There are a few prewritten validators supplied. These can be used as they are, as building blocks for other more complex validators, and as examples on how to build custom validators.

Text Validators
MatchesTextValidator(text: String, caseSensitive: Bool = false)

ContainsTextValidator(text: String, caseSensitive: Bool = false)

PrefixValidator(text: String, caseSensitive: Bool = false)

SuffixValidator(text: String, caseSensitive: Bool = false)

HashtagTextValidator()

AtSymbolTagTextValidator()

QuotationsTextValidator()

HandlebarsValidator(searchableText: String, replacementText: String)
Abstract Validators
ReverseValidator(validator: TextSelectionValidator)

ContainerValidator(validator: TextSelectionValidator, selectionAttributes: [String: Any]? = nil)

CompositeValidator(validators: [TextSelectionValidator], selectionAttributes: [String: Any]? = nil)
Link Validators
LinkValidator() // Validates any link (HTTP, HTTPS, file, etc...)

HTTPLinkValidator() // Validates HTTP and HTTPS links

UnsafeLinkValidator() // Validates HTTP links

HTTPSLinkValidator()

CustomLinkValidator(urlString: String!, replacementText: String? = nil)

Customization is possible using the LinkValidatorAttributes protocol. Example here.

Regex Validators
RegexValidator(pattern: String, options: NSRegularExpression.Options = .caseInsensitive)

EmailValidator()

PhoneNumberValidator()

Text Expansion<a name="text-expansion"></a>

<img align="right" src="./Resources/ExpansionDemo.gif">

You can add a text expansion button with the following method:

<br> 
public func addExpansionButton(collapsedState: (text: String, lines: Int), expandedState: (text: String, lines: Int), attributes: [String: Any]? = nil)

You can remove the expansion button using the following method:

public func removeExpansionButton(numberOfLines: Int = 1)

Example:

let attributes = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: purple]
textView.addExpansionButton(collapsedState: ("More...", 2),
                             expandedState: ("Less", 0),
                                attributes: attributes)
                                
...

textView.removeExpansionButton(numberOfLines: 2)

You can customize the background color of the expansion button using the SelectedBackgroundColorAttribute property HighlightedTextSelectionAttributes struct as an attribute key.

let attributes: [String: Any] = [HighlightedTextSelectionAttributes.SelectedBackgroundColorAttribute : UIColor.purple]

Customization<a name="customization"></a>

text

font

textColor

attributedText

textAlignment

lineBreakMode

truncationMode

numberOfLines

lineSpacing

textContainerInsets

selectionAttributes

isExpanded

textContentSize

isSelectionEnabled

isScrollEnabled

scrollDelegate

delegate

Supported Escape Characters

If you want to have text next to to a selectabe portion of text but still validate the text correctly, use the null terminator.

let text = "The period next to the #Hashtag\0. Will not be highlighted if I use a hashtag validator."

Miscelaneous

framesOfWordsMatchingValidator

You can get the relative frames of words within the text view with the method below. This is how I set up the stars effect in the first example gif.

public func framesOfWordsMatchingValidator(_ validator: TextSelectionValidator) -> [CGRect]
Tab Length

You can adjust the number of spaces a tab character creates using TabTextModelConfig.numberOfSpaces. The default value is 4.

TabTextModelConfig.numberOfSpaces = 2

Interface Builder<a name="interface-builder"></a>

You can set most customization properties via interface builder. SelectableTextView is marked as @IBDesignable.

<img align="right" width=65% src="./Resources/IBFeature.png"></img>

Delegate

Default implementations are provided for all SelectableTextViewDelegate methods.

public protocol SelectableTextViewDelegate: class {
    
    /// Resolves conflict between multiple validates that return `true` from their `validate:` method
    //
    // i.e. PrefixTextValidator for `#` and `#my` will both return true for `#myCoolHashtag`,
    // but the actions they are registered for may differ
    //
    /// Default behavior is to choose the first validator in the composite validator's `validators` array
    func resolveValidationConflictsForSelectableTextView(textView: SelectableTextView, conflictingValidators: [TextSelectionValidator]) -> TextSelectionValidator
    
    /// Defaults to `false`
    func animateExpansionButtonForSelectableTextView(textView: SelectableTextView) -> Bool
    
    /// Defaults to `.truncateTail`
    func truncationModeForWordsThatDontFitForSelectableTextView(textView: SelectableTextView) -> TruncationMode
    
    /// Optional, Default empty implementation provideed
    func selectableTextViewContentHeightDidChange(textView: SelectableTextView, oldHeight: CGFloat, newHeight: CGFloat)
}

Scrolling<a name="scrolling"></a>

SelectableTextView supports scrolling and forwards scroll events through SelectableTextViewScrollDelegate.

public protocol SelectableTextViewScrollDelegate: class {
    
    func selectableTextViewDidScroll(_ scrollView: UIScrollView)
    func selectableTextViewWillBeginDragging(_ scrollView: UIScrollView)
    func selectableTextViewWillEndDragging(_ scrollView: UIScrollView, withVelocity velocity: CGPoint, targetContentOffset: UnsafeMutablePointer<CGPoint>)
    func selectableTextViewDidEndDragging(_ scrollView: UIScrollView, willDecelerate decelerate: Bool)
    func selectableTextViewWillBeginDecelerating(_ scrollView: UIScrollView)
    func selectableTextViewDidEndDecelerating(_ scrollView: UIScrollView)
    func selectableTextViewDidEndScrollingAnimation(_ scrollView: UIScrollView)
}

You can also scroll to specific words or the first word that passes a validator.

/// Scrolls to the first instance of the word
/// Attempts to match the text and display text of a word
public func scrollToWord(_ word: String, position: ScrollPosition, animated: Bool)
    
   /// Scrolls to the first instance of a word that passes the provided TextSelectionValidator
public func scrollToWordPassingValidator(_ validator: TextSelectionValidator, position: ScrollPosition, animated: Bool)

Goals<a name="goals"></a>

Contact Info && Contributing

Feel free to email me at jhurray33@gmail.com. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, or see examples where this has been used.

MIT License