[ios] Add placeholder text inside UITextView in Swift?

Here's something that can be dropped into a UIStackView, it will size itself using an internal height constraint. Tweaking may be required to suit specific requirements.

import UIKit

public protocol PlaceholderTextViewDelegate: class {
  func placeholderTextViewTextChanged(_ textView: PlaceholderTextView, text: String)
}

public class PlaceholderTextView: UIView {

  public weak var delegate: PlaceholderTextViewDelegate?
  private var heightConstraint: NSLayoutConstraint?

  public override init(frame: CGRect) {
    self.allowsNewLines = true

    super.init(frame: frame)

    self.heightConstraint = self.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 0)
    self.heightConstraint?.isActive = true

    self.addSubview(self.placeholderTextView)
    self.addSubview(self.textView)

    self.pinToCorners(self.placeholderTextView)
    self.pinToCorners(self.textView)

    self.updateHeight()
  }

  public override func didMoveToSuperview() {
    super.didMoveToSuperview()

    self.updateHeight()
  }

  private func pinToCorners(_ view: UIView) {
    NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
      view.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.leadingAnchor),
      view.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.trailingAnchor),
      view.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor),
      view.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.bottomAnchor)
    ])
  }

  // Accessors
  public var text: String? {
    didSet {
      self.textView.text = text
      self.textViewDidChange(self.textView)
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public var textColor: UIColor? {
    didSet {
      self.textView.textColor = textColor
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public var font: UIFont? {
    didSet {
      self.textView.font = font
      self.placeholderTextView.font = font
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public override var tintColor: UIColor? {
    didSet {
      self.textView.tintColor = tintColor
      self.placeholderTextView.tintColor = tintColor
    }
  }

  public var placeholderText: String? {
    didSet {
      self.placeholderTextView.text = placeholderText
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public var placeholderTextColor: UIColor? {
    didSet {
      self.placeholderTextView.textColor = placeholderTextColor
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public var allowsNewLines: Bool

  public required init?(coder _: NSCoder) {
    fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
  }

  private lazy var textView: UITextView = self.newTextView()
  private lazy var placeholderTextView: UITextView = self.newTextView()

  private func newTextView() -> UITextView {
    let textView = UITextView()
    textView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    textView.isScrollEnabled = false
    textView.delegate = self
    textView.backgroundColor = .clear
    return textView
  }

  private func updateHeight() {
    let maxSize = CGSize(width: self.frame.size.width, height: .greatestFiniteMagnitude)

    let textViewSize = self.textView.sizeThatFits(maxSize)
    let placeholderSize = self.placeholderTextView.sizeThatFits(maxSize)

    let maxHeight = ceil(CGFloat.maximum(textViewSize.height, placeholderSize.height))

    self.heightConstraint?.constant = maxHeight
  }
}

extension PlaceholderTextView: UITextViewDelegate {
  public func textViewDidChangeSelection(_: UITextView) {
    self.placeholderTextView.alpha = self.textView.text.isEmpty ? 1 : 0
    self.updateHeight()
  }

  public func textViewDidChange(_: UITextView) {
    self.delegate?.placeholderTextViewTextChanged(self, text: self.textView.text)
  }

  public func textView(_: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn _: NSRange,
                       replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
    let containsNewLines = text.rangeOfCharacter(from: .newlines)?.isEmpty == .some(false)
    guard !containsNewLines || self.allowsNewLines else { return false }

    return true
  }
}