Question

I want to have a simple SearchBar in ObjectiveC. Using UISearchBar or UISearchBarDelegate is confusing me. I could have used a UITextField but it does not have the look & feel of a search bar.

As in the image attached, I want just the searchbar no UITableView associated with it. The image has a TableView attached but you get the point. Also after someone enters text into the searchBar & pressed “enter” how do I retrieve the text?

UPDATE: I am aware of these links which discuss the same, but they are more in light with using tables.

http://blog.webscale.co.in/?p=228

http://ved-dimensions.blogspot.com/2009/02/iphone-development-adding-search-bar-in.html

How to implement search bar in iPhone?

UISearchBar Sample Code

UISearchBar in UITableViewController?

Answer 1

Just make your view controller implement the UISearchBarDelegate. In your xib file, all you need to do is to add a UISearchBar to your view and configure it as necessary, create an outlet for it (optional really but helps to be explicit), and assign the delegate outlet to your view controller.

Then, to respond to the search bar events, implement the UISearchBarDelegate protocol methods as necessary. For example:

- (void)searchBarSearchButtonClicked:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
    [self handleSearch:searchBar];
}

- (void)searchBarTextDidEndEditing:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
    [self handleSearch:searchBar];
}

- (void)handleSearch:(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
    NSLog(@"User searched for %@", searchBar.text);
    [searchBar resignFirstResponder]; // if you want the keyboard to go away
}

- (void)searchBarCancelButtonClicked:(UISearchBar *) searchBar {
    NSLog(@"User canceled search");
    [searchBar resignFirstResponder]; // if you want the keyboard to go away
}