NEW: My new book Pro SwiftUI is out now – level up your SwiftUI skills today! >>

How to make a TextField or TextEditor have default focus

Paul Hudson    @twostraws   

Updated for Xcode 14.2

SwiftUI on macOS provides a defaultFocus() modifier that lets us activate one view as the first responder to user input as soon as a view is shown. Sadly it doesn’t exist on iOS, but we can work around that using onAppear().

First, here’s the code with the workaround in place, suitable for use on iOS:

struct ContentView: View {
    enum FocusedField {
        case firstName, lastName
    }

    @State private var firstName = ""
    @State private var lastName = ""
    @FocusState private var focusedField: FocusedField?

    var body: some View {
        Form {
            TextField("First name", text: $firstName)
                .focused($focusedField, equals: .firstName)

            TextField("Last name", text: $lastName)
                .focused($focusedField, equals: .lastName)
        }
        .onAppear {
            focusedField = .firstName
        }
    }
}

Download this as an Xcode project

And here’s the code using defaultFocus(), suitable for use on macOS:

struct ContentView: View {
    enum FocusedField {
        case firstName, lastName
    }

    @State private var firstName = ""
    @State private var lastName = ""
    @FocusState private var focusedField: FocusedField?

    var body: some View {
        Form {
            TextField("First name", text: $firstName)
                .focused($focusedField, equals: .firstName)

            TextField("Last name", text: $lastName)
                .focused($focusedField, equals: .lastName)
        }
        .defaultFocus($focusedField, .firstName)
    }
}

Hopefully defaultFocus() comes to iOS in a future update!

Hacking with Swift is sponsored by Stream

SPONSORED Build a functional Twitter clone using APIs and SwiftUI with Stream's 7-part tutorial series. In just four days, learn how to create your own Twitter using Stream Chat, Algolia, 100ms, Mux, and RevenueCat.

Try now!

Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!

Similar solutions…

BUY OUR BOOKS
Buy Pro Swift Buy Pro SwiftUI Buy Swift Design Patterns Buy Testing Swift Buy Hacking with iOS Buy Swift Coding Challenges Buy Swift on Sundays Volume One Buy Server-Side Swift Buy Advanced iOS Volume One Buy Advanced iOS Volume Two Buy Advanced iOS Volume Three Buy Hacking with watchOS Buy Hacking with tvOS Buy Hacking with macOS Buy Dive Into SpriteKit Buy Swift in Sixty Seconds Buy Objective-C for Swift Developers Buy Beyond Code

Was this page useful? Let us know!

Average rating: 5.0/5

 
Unknown user

You are not logged in

Log in or create account
 

Link copied to your pasteboard.