How to let the user paste data into your app

Paul Hudson @twostraws June 7th 2022

Updated for Xcode 14.2

New in iOS 16

SwiftUI has a dedicated PasteButton view that lets us receive any kind of data that conforms to the Transferable protocol, such as String and Data.

For example, we could let the user type into a text field, or add a PasteButton to update the text directly:

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var username = "@twostraws"

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            TextField("Username", text: $username)
                .textFieldStyle(.roundedBorder)

            PasteButton(payloadType: String.self) { strings in
                guard let first = strings.first else { return }
                username = first
            }
            .buttonBorderShape(.capsule)
        }
        .padding()
    }
}

Download this as an Xcode project

Notice how we specify String.self as the payload type, but the input into the closure is an array of strings.

Given that TextField has its own cut, copy, and paste menu options, I think PasteButton will be much more useful in places where you aren’t handling text, e.g. when the user wants to paste a picture into your app.

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How to let the user paste data into your app

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