UIActivityViewController not passing new line characters to some activities

Question

I am using the following code to set up UIActivityViewController:

NSArray *activityItems = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[self textMessageToShare], nil];

UIActivityViewController *activityViewController = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:activityItems applicationActivities:nil];
        [activityViewController setCompletionHandler:^(NSString *activityType, BOOL completed) {
            if (completed) {
                [self sendFeedbackWithIndexPath:indexPath AndLikeType:100 AndCell:nil];
            }
        }];
[self.navigationController presentViewController:activityViewController
                                                animated:YES
                                              completion:^{
                                                  // ...
                                              }];

Issue is that when I copy a message or post to facebook or twitter or email or gmail app or to default Messages app, the new line characters that are in [self textMessageToShare] are maintained. However, if I share to other activities like WhatsApp or Viber - all the new line characters are removed, and the whole message is sent as one single line.

Whereas, if I share just text through iOS default Notes app, new line characters are maintained when shared to these apps. How would the Notes app be storing the new line characters? I am using \n as the new line character.

For my life unable to even find the reason. Can anyone help?

It probably depends on the app's share extension to see if it allows newline. — Schemetrical, May 15 '15 at 10:28
@Schemetrical It allows - as I mentioned in the question, default Notes app's new lines get passed through. — BufferStack, May 15 '15 at 10:33
Oh, sorry I did not see that. Try inserting a [newline character](http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/000A/index.htm) manually, replacing the `\n`s. — Schemetrical, May 15 '15 at 10:35
@Schemetrical I tried replacing `\n` with `\xA` (if that what you meant), but same results. Donno what is wrong here — BufferStack, May 15 '15 at 10:54
@BufferStack you get new line or not.. same issue with me ... so help me plz.. — ramesh bhuja, Jul 05 '16 at 07:50

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 07 '15 at 06:15

5

I was able to make it work by converting the newline characters to "<br/>":

_myDataString=  self.textview.text;
_myDataString= [_myDataString  stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"\n" withString:@"<br/>"];

edited Jun 07 '15 at 06:15

Dan Getz

8,774
6
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answered Jun 06 '15 at 21:12

MuslimDev2015

74
1

Hey this is superb!! This does solves the issue. But now the other activities - which take \n as new line character are printing `
`. Could you also find a way to selectively apply br replacement for only those activities that follow it? – BufferStack Jun 08 '15 at 11:05
1

i try with this=> NSString *strRemove = [textToShare stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"
" withString:@" \n\n\n"]; but not getting new line in whats app textfield.. – ramesh bhuja Jul 05 '16 at 07:33

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 07 '16 at 09:35

Please check the new line issue in whats app share using uiactivityviewcontroller.

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface ShareActivity : UIActivityItemProvider

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *message;
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSArray *activities;

@end


#import "ShareActivity.h"

@implementation ShareActivity
@synthesize message = _message;
@synthesize activities = _activities;

 - (id) activityViewController:(UIActivityViewController     *)activityViewController itemForActivityType:(NSString *)activityType
{
if([activityType    isEqualToString:@"net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.ShareExtension"])
{
return [self.message stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"\n" withString:@"<br/>"];
}
else if ([self.activities containsObject:activityType]) 
{
return [self.message stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"\n" withString:@"<br/>"];
}
else 
{
    return self.message;
}
return nil;
}

- (id) activityViewControllerPlaceholderItem:(UIActivityViewController *)activityViewController 
{ 
return @"";
}

In View Controller Class on any action button to pop up the share view Apply this action on any button action

-(void)shareAction
{
ShareActivity *shareObj = [[ShareActivity alloc] initWithPlaceholderItem:@""];

NSString *message = @"New\nLine\nText\nMessage";
[shareObj setMessage:message];

NSArray* dataToShare = @[shareObj];
NSArray *excludeActivities = @[UIActivityTypePrint,UIActivityTypeOpenInIBooks,UIActivityTypeAddToReadingList,UIActivityTypePostToTencentWeibo,UIActivityTypeSaveToCameraRoll,UIActivityTypeAirDrop];

UIActivityViewController *activityVC = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:dataToShare applicationActivities:nil];
activityVC.excludedActivityTypes = excludeActivities;
[activityVC setCompletionHandler:^(NSString *act, BOOL done)
{

NSString *ServiceMsg = nil;
if ( [act isEqualToString:UIActivityTypeMail] )
{
ServiceMsg = @"Mail sent!";
}
else if ( [act isEqualToString:UIActivityTypePostToTwitter] )
{
ServiceMsg = @"Post on twitter, ok!";
}
else if ( [act isEqualToString:UIActivityTypePostToFacebook] )
{
ServiceMsg = @"Post on facebook, ok!";
}
else if ( [act isEqualToString:UIActivityTypeCopyToPasteboard] )
{
ServiceMsg = @"Message copy to pasteboard";
}
else if ( [act isEqualToString:UIActivityTypePostToFlickr] )
{
ServiceMsg = @"Message sent to flickr";
}
else if ( [act isEqualToString:UIActivityTypePostToVimeo] )
{
ServiceMsg = @"Message sent to Vimeo";
}
else
{

}

}];
[self presentViewController:activityVC animated:YES completion:nil];

}

How is this different from the accepted answer? Also try to be as precise in answers as possible. — UditS, Jul 07 '16 at 09:44
If we add accepted answer line then whats app activity issue will resolve but add the br/ character in other activities like facebook,imessage ,notes etc. — Rajni Arora, Jul 12 '16 at 05:16
This is the better answer, because it considers the different sharing end points. — AlexVogel, Mar 17 '17 at 13:09

MuslimDev2015 · Answer 3 · 2015-06-30T15:03:04.577

0

hi its me again i was looking for the right answer

and i found that you can do it by using a Custom Share Message to Different Providers .

and you can find an example from this Code check for MyActivityItemProvider class .

https://github.com/apascual/flip-your-phone

i hove a problem posting the code here so i think the link above will help

edited Jun 30 '15 at 15:03

answered Jun 29 '15 at 22:14

MuslimDev2015

1
1

Link only answers are discouraged as links can go stale. Could you put the relevant part in the body of your answer here? – beresfordt Jun 29 '15 at 22:33

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 25 '15 at 10:55

0

Thanks to MuslimDev2015 I have been able to develop a solution: https://github.com/lorenzoPrimi/NewlineActivityItemProvider

Try it and let me know.

answered Nov 25 '15 at 10:55

lorenzop

580
1
6
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Note that [link-only answers](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/tags/link-only-answers/info) are discouraged, SO answers should be the end-point of a search for a solution (vs. yet another stopover of references, which tend to get stale over time). Please consider adding a stand-alone synopsis here, keeping the link as a reference. – kleopatra Nov 25 '15 at 11:27

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 06 '17 at 07:32

0

You can send the text as multiple items each item is just one line.

let lines = text.components(separatedBy: "\n")
let activityViewController = UIActivityViewController(activityItems: lines, applicationActivities: nil)

edited Oct 06 '17 at 07:32

Alessandro Ornano

34,887
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answered May 23 '17 at 18:15

mohamede1945

7,092
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UIActivityViewController not passing new line characters to some activities

5 Answers5