[ios] UITapGestureRecognizer - single tap and double tap

I am trying to add 2 UITapGestureRecognizers to a view, one for single tap and one for double tap events. The single tap recognizer is working as expected (on its own). But I don't seem to be able to get the double tap recognizer working.

Have tried to experiment with properties like : cancelsTouchesInView, delaysTouchesBegan and delaysTouchesEnded but still doesn't work.

When I double tap, the single tap recognizer would always be activated and the double tap event would also be sent to the super view. But the custom double tap recognizer does not seem to be notified at all.

Documentations seem to suggest that the 3 properties mentioned above could be used for the purpose. But I am just not sure what values should be set and on which recognizer(s) (single, double or both). Hope somebody familiar with this could help.

The following is the latest updated code block.

// ****** gesture recognizers ******

- (void)addSingleAndDoubleTapGestureRecognizersToView:(UIView *)view
{
    // single tap    
    UITapGestureRecognizer *singleTapRecognizer = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget: tableViewController action: @selector(handleSingleTapOnView:)];                                 
    [singleTapRecognizer setNumberOfTouchesRequired:1];
    [view addGestureRecognizer: singleTapRecognizer];

    // double tap 
    UITapGestureRecognizer *doubleTapRecognizer = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget: tableViewController action: @selector (handleDoubleTapOnView:)];        
    [doubleTapRecognizer setNumberOfTouchesRequired:2];         
    [singleTapRecognizer requireGestureRecognizerToFail: doubleTapRecognizer];
    [view addGestureRecognizer: doubleTapRecognizer];         
}

- (void)handleSingleTapOnView:(id)sender
{

}

- (void)handleDoubleTapOnView:(id)sender
{

}

Solution for Swift 2:

let singleTapGesture = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleSingleTap))
singleTapGesture.numberOfTapsRequired = 1 // Optional for single tap
view.addGestureRecognizer(singleTapGesture)

let doubleTapGesture = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleDoubleTap))
doubleTapGesture.numberOfTapsRequired = 2
view.addGestureRecognizer(doubleTapGesture)

singleTapGesture.requireGestureRecognizerToFail(doubleTapGesture)

Not sure if that's exactly what are you looking for, but I did single/double taps without gesture recognizers. I'm using it in a UITableView, so I used that code in the didSelectRowAtIndexPath method

    tapCount++;
    switch (tapCount)
    {
        case 1: //single tap
            [self performSelector:@selector(singleTap:) withObject: indexPath afterDelay: 0.2];
            break;
        case 2: //double tap
            [NSObject cancelPreviousPerformRequestsWithTarget:self selector:@selector(singleTap:) object:indexPath];
            [self performSelector:@selector(doubleTap:) withObject: indexPath];
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
    if (tapCount>2) tapCount=0;

Methods singleTap and doubleTap are just void with NSIndexPath as a parameter:

- (void)singleTap:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
  //do your stuff for a single tap
}

- (void)doubleTap:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
  //do your stuff for a double tap
}

Hope it helps

Some view have there own double tap recognizers built in (MKMapView being an example). To get around this you will need to implement UIGestureRecognizerDelegate method shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWithGestureRecognizer and return YES:

First implement your double and single recognizers:

// setup gesture recognizers
UITapGestureRecognizer* singleTapRecognizer = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self
                                                                                action:@selector(mapViewTapped:)];
singleTapRecognizer.delegate = self;
singleTapRecognizer.numberOfTapsRequired = 1;


UITapGestureRecognizer* doubleTapRecognizer = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self
                                                                                      action:@selector(mapViewDoubleTapped:)];
doubleTapRecognizer.delegate = self;    // this allows
doubleTapRecognizer.numberOfTapsRequired = 2;
[singleTapRecognizer requireGestureRecognizerToFail:doubleTapRecognizer];

And then implement:

#pragma mark UIGestureRecognizerDelegate
- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWithGestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer
*)otherGestureRecognizer {  return YES; }

You need to use the requireGestureRecognizerToFail: method. Something like this:

[singleTapRecognizer requireGestureRecognizerToFail:doubleTapRecognizer];

//----firstly you have to alloc the double and single tap gesture-------//

UITapGestureRecognizer* doubleTap = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget : self action : @selector (handleDoubleTap:)];

UITapGestureRecognizer* singleTap = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget : self action : @selector (handleSingleTap:)];

[singleTap requireGestureRecognizerToFail : doubleTap];
[doubleTap setDelaysTouchesBegan : YES];
[singleTap setDelaysTouchesBegan : YES];

//-----------------------number of tap----------------//

[doubleTap setNumberOfTapsRequired : 2];
[singleTap setNumberOfTapsRequired : 1];

//------- add double tap and single tap gesture on the view or button--------//

[self.view addGestureRecognizer : doubleTap];
[self.view addGestureRecognizer : singleTap];

I implemented UIGestureRecognizerDelegate methods to detect both singleTap and doubleTap.

Just do this .

 UITapGestureRecognizer *doubleTap = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc]initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleDoubleTapGesture:)];
    [doubleTap setDelegate:self];
    doubleTap.numberOfTapsRequired = 2;
    [self.headerView addGestureRecognizer:doubleTap];

    UITapGestureRecognizer *singleTap = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc]initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleSingleTapGesture:)];
    singleTap.numberOfTapsRequired = 1;
    [singleTap setDelegate:self];
    [doubleTap setDelaysTouchesBegan:YES];
    [singleTap setDelaysTouchesBegan:YES];
    [singleTap requireGestureRecognizerToFail:doubleTap];
    [self.headerView addGestureRecognizer:singleTap];

Then implement these delegate methods.

- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldReceiveTouch:(UITouch *)touch{
    return  YES;
}

- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWithGestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)otherGestureRecognizer{
    return YES;
}

In reference to @stanley's comment -

Don't try and use tap gestures to row selections to work in UITableView as it already has full tap handling....

But you must set 'Cancels Touches in View' to 'NO' on your single tap gesture recognizers or it will never get the tap events.

Swift 3 solution:

let singleTap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action:#selector(self.singleTapAction(_:)))
singleTap.numberOfTapsRequired = 1
view.addGestureRecognizer(singleTap)

let doubleTap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action:#selector(self.doubleTapAction(_:)))
doubleTap.numberOfTapsRequired = 2
view.addGestureRecognizer(doubleTap)

singleTap.require(toFail: doubleTap)

In the code line singleTap.require(toFail: doubleTap) we are forcing the single tap to wait and ensure that the tap event is not a double tap.