Question

I am very new to iOS development. I need to add calender on a UITextField click. How can I add a custom calendar as I dont want to add a UIDatePicker.

Answer 1

First for implement Calendar many ways. But most populate and easy to get calendar by TapkuLibrary http://github.com/devinross/tapkulibrary and then implement this TapkuLibrary in your class file. After implementing following code for display calendar

headerFile.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "Libraries/TapkuLibrary/TKCalendarMonthView.h"

@interface calendarViewController : UIViewController<TKCalendarMonthViewDelegate,TKCalendarMonthViewDataSource, UITextFieldDelegate> 
{
    TKCalendarMonthView *calendar;
    UITextField *txtField;
}
@property(nonatomic,retain)UITextField *txtField; 

@end

implementationFile.h

// @synthesize…………..

- (BOOL)textFieldShouldBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField
{
   [self doAddAction];   
    return YES;
}


-(void)doAddAction
{
    calendar=[[TKCalendarMonthView alloc] init];
    calendar.frame=CGRectMake(0,0,calendar.frame.size.width,calendar.frame.size.height);
    calendar.delegate=self;
    calendar.dataSource=self;
    [self.view addSubview:calendar];
}
#pragma mark -
#pragma mark TKCalendarMonthViewDelegate methods

- (void)calendarMonthView:(TKCalendarMonthView *)monthView didSelectDate:(NSDate *)d
{
    NSDateFormatter *objDateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [objDateFormatter setDateFormat:@"dd-MM-yyyy"];
   NSLog(@"%@",[objDateFormatter stringFromDate:d]);

}

- (void)calendarMonthView:(TKCalendarMonthView *)monthView monthDidChange:(NSDate *)d {
    NSLog(@"calendarMonthView monthDidChange");
}

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark TKCalendarMonthViewDataSource methods

- (NSArray*)calendarMonthView:(TKCalendarMonthView *)monthView marksFromDate:(NSDate *)startDate toDate:(NSDate *)lastDate {
    NSLog(@"calendarMonthView marksFromDate toDate");
    NSLog(@"Make sure to update 'data' variable to pull from CoreData, website, User Defaults, or some other source.");
    // When testing initially you will have to update the dates in this array so they are visible at the
    // time frame you are testing the code.
    NSArray *data = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                     @"2011-01-01 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-09 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-22 00:00:00 +0000",
                     @"2011-01-10 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-11 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-12 00:00:00 +0000",
                     @"2011-01-15 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-28 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-04 00:00:00 +0000",
                     @"2011-01-16 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-18 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-19 00:00:00 +0000",
                     @"2011-01-23 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-24 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-01-25 00:00:00 +0000",
                     @"2011-02-01 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-03-01 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-04-01 00:00:00 +0000",
                     @"2011-05-01 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-06-01 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-07-01 00:00:00 +0000",
                     @"2011-08-01 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-09-01 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-10-01 00:00:00 +0000",
                     @"2011-11-01 00:00:00 +0000", @"2011-12-01 00:00:00 +0000", nil];


    // Initialise empty marks array, this will be populated with TRUE/FALSE in order for each day a marker should be placed on.
    NSMutableArray *marks = [NSMutableArray array];

    // Initialise calendar to current type and set the timezone to never have daylight saving
    NSCalendar *cal = [NSCalendar currentCalendar];
    [cal setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneForSecondsFromGMT:0]];

    // Construct DateComponents based on startDate so the iterating date can be created.
    // Its massively important to do this assigning via the NSCalendar and NSDateComponents because of daylight saving has been removed
    // with the timezone that was set above. If you just used "startDate" directly (ie, NSDate *date = startDate;) as the first
    // iterating date then times would go up and down based on daylight savings.
    NSDateComponents *comp = [cal components:(NSMonthCalendarUnit | NSMinuteCalendarUnit | NSYearCalendarUnit |
                                              NSDayCalendarUnit | NSWeekdayCalendarUnit | NSHourCalendarUnit | NSSecondCalendarUnit)
                                    fromDate:startDate];
    NSDate *d = [cal dateFromComponents:comp];

    // Init offset components to increment days in the loop by one each time
    NSDateComponents *offsetComponents = [[NSDateComponents alloc] init];
    [offsetComponents setDay:1];


    // for each date between start date and end date check if they exist in the data array
    while (YES) {
        // Is the date beyond the last date? If so, exit the loop.
        // NSOrderedDescending = the left value is greater than the right
        if ([d compare:lastDate] == NSOrderedDescending) {
            break;
        }

        // If the date is in the data array, add it to the marks array, else don't
        if ([data containsObject:[d description]]) {
            [marks addObject:[NSNumber numberWithBool:YES]];
        } else {
            [marks addObject:[NSNumber numberWithBool:NO]];
        }

        // Increment day using offset components (ie, 1 day in this instance)
        d = [cal dateByAddingComponents:offsetComponents toDate:d options:0];
    }

    [offsetComponents release];

    return [NSArray arrayWithArray:marks];
}