Common React Native TextInput Events

React Native’s TextInput component is a core element for collecting user input. Beyond just rendering an input field, this component provides a rich set of event-handling capabilities. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the common events supported by TextInput and how to use them effectively in your app.

Prerequisites

• A working React Native development environment
• Basic understanding of React Native and JavaScript

Common TextInput Events

onChangeText

The most straightforward event for TextInput is onChangeText. It gets triggered each time the text changes.

<TextInput
  placeholder="Type here"
  onChangeText={(text) => console.log("Current input: ", text)}
/>

onChangeText receives the updated text as its argument and can be used to perform actions like validation or state updates.

onFocus and onBlur

These events are triggered when the TextInput gains or loses focus.

<TextInput
  placeholder="Click me"
  onFocus={() => console.log("Input focused!")}
  onBlur={() => console.log("Input blurred!")}
/>

onFocus fires when the user taps on the TextInput. onBlur fires when the TextInput loses focus, either by tapping outside it or hitting the “Done” button.

onSubmitEditing

This event is triggered when the user taps the “Done” button or hits the return key on the keyboard.

<TextInput
  placeholder="Hit 'Done' when finished"
  onSubmitEditing={() => console.log("Done pressed!")}
/>

onSubmitEditing is useful when you want to trigger a specific action, like sending a message or performing a search, after the user is done typing.

Advanced Usage

Using onKeyPress

For more granular control, you can use onKeyPress to capture key press events.

<TextInput
  placeholder="Type here"
  onKeyPress={({ nativeEvent }) => {
    console.log(`Key pressed: ${nativeEvent.key}`);
  }}
/>

The onKeyPress event provides a nativeEvent object, which contains the key that was pressed. There are also other events such as onChange, onEndEditing, etc.

React Native’s TextInput offers a variety of events for different aspects of text input and user interaction. These events range from text change and focus events to more advanced use-cases like capturing key presses. Utilizing these effectively can drastically improve the user experience in your app.