Swift TextField Method Not Called, Delegate is Set, now BAD_ACCESS Errors

Question

there are many similar questions about TextFields delegate method textfieldshouldreturn not being called, but all were solved by setting the delegate. Ive set the delegate, and also have a perfectly fine example in another project I've copied almost line for line. A print statement confirms no call is made. Whats more curious is that I set a random variable to test if I was even accessing the right object, but when I tried to access that variable, it crashed with a BAD_ACCESS error.

class TitleTextField: UITextField, UITextFieldDelegate {


var randomElement: Bool = true

func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {

    textField.resignFirstResponder()

    print("text field return pressed")

    return true
}

}

and here is where I'm using it

class EditViewController: UIViewController {


@IBOutlet weak var titleTextField: TitleTextField!


func configureView() {

    navigationItem.title = "Edit Goal"
}

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    print("editor loaded")

    configureView()

    titleTextField.text = "placeholder"

    titleTextField.delegate = titleTextField
    titleTextField.delegate = titleTextField.self
    if let textField = titleTextField {

        textField.delegate = titleTextField
    }

    print("textfield delegate = \(titleTextField?.delegate)")

}

If listed some of the different ways I tried setting the delegate. I even conformed the viewController to UITextFieldDelegate and set the delegate to self but that didn't matter either. I added "randomVariable" to TitleTextField to make sure I was accessing the correct object, but when I used titleTextField.randomVariable = true in viewDidLoad, I got a BAD_ACCESS crash.

Ive also double checked the storyboard connection. I even deleted the connection and IBoutlet and redid them, no difference. cleaned project etc.

Did you try restarting Xcode? Sometimes it has strange issues, and a restart seems to fix them. — Alexander, Mar 05 '16 at 02:46

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 05 '16 at 19:37

1

Wow ok, so the problem was I hadnt set the textfield class to TitleTextField in my identity inspector. I had it programmatically set, I guess I didnt realize i had to do it in the storyboard too.

answered Mar 05 '16 at 19:37

R.P. Carson

439
5
20

Ah, that'll get ya! I find myself running into this issue on occasion. Glad you found the problem! – Alexander Mar 06 '16 at 02:20

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

The issue is that you're conforming to the UITextFieldDelegate on your custom TitleTextField itself. Instead, you should conform to the protocol on your UIViewController, like so:

class EditViewController: UIViewController, UITextFieldDelegate {


@IBOutlet weak var titleTextField: TitleTextField!


func configureView() {

    navigationItem.title = "Edit Goal"
}

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    print("editor loaded")

    configureView()

    titleTextField.text = "placeholder"

    titleTextField.delegate = self

    print("textfield delegate = \(titleTextField?.delegate)")

}

func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField) -> Bool {

    textField.resignFirstResponder()

    print("text field return pressed")

    return true
}

The purpose of the delegate is to respond to editing-related messages from the text field (link to docs). This means that the UITextField is already aware of these editing events. What you need to do is allow the class containing your custom UITextField to listen to the events that it is sending out. In your situation, that class is EditViewController. You can make EditViewController listen to the UITextView's events by setting it as the delegate.

The reason for your BAD_ACCESS error is a memory-related issue. Your UITextField is calling itself infinitely through recursion. If you look through the calling stack you'll probably see it calling the same method hundreds of times. See this post for more insight.

The whole purpose of my making a new class is to keep my ViewController from handling the textfield's delegate methods. I have a different project where I use the same setup im using here and it works fine. — R.P. Carson, Mar 05 '16 at 19:02
i got rid of the delegate method and all that. just put a simple func that prints a line in the custom TextField class, it crashes with BAD ACCESS when i try to call it. no delegates being used — R.P. Carson, Mar 05 '16 at 19:27

Swift TextField Method Not Called, Delegate is Set, now BAD_ACCESS Errors

2 Answers2