A mini popup keyboard for iPad apps
I know, this is a little weird. It may even be bad human interface design, and you may get mocked for even reading this page.
BUT. I've been noodling this idea for years: when editing small bits of text on the iPad, it feels cumbersome to change context from the text label to a giant-ass keyboard that slides up from the bottom of the screen! With a popover keyboard that was similar in size to the iPhone keyboard, you could stay in-context with the textfield you're editing, and it would feel faster.
iPadPopupKeyboard is my attempt to prove the idea has merit. I'm using it in an app I'm developing, but I want to share it with the world in case anyone else finds it interesting.
Here's what it looks like:
##How to Use
This repo is a demo app that contains the code you need. You can run the demo app and include it in your project by copying these files:
- INOKeyboardTextField.swift
- INOKeyboardViewController.swift
- INOKeyboardButton.swift
- INOKeyboardViewController.xib
In Interface Builder, drop a UITextField onto your view, and give it a custom classname, INOKeyboardTextField.
In your view controller, connect the button to an @IBOutlet and then, in the viewDidLoad: method, assign the controller to the property:
self.textField.viewController = self
That's it!
##Why is this a bad idea?
Well... it's not a standard UIKit component. It lacks basic accessibility features. It only supports Roman languages. I did this as much as a proof of concept as something that you want to use in a production app. I think it's cool, and if you do too, maybe you'd consider helping add those missing features? Why not.