--- title: ASEditableTextNode layout: docs permalink: /docs/editable-text-node.html prevPage: scroll-node.html nextPage: multiplex-image-node.html --- `ASEditableTextNode` is available to be used anywhere you'd normally use a `UITextView` or `UITextField`. Under the hood, it uses a specialized `UITextView` as its backing view. You can access and configure this view directly any time after the node has loaded, as long as you do it on the main thread. It's also important to note that this node does not support layer backing due to the fact that it supports user interaction. ### Basic Usage Using an editable text node as a text input is easy. If you want it to have text by default, you can assign an attributed string to the `attributedText` property.

ASEditableTextNode *editableTextNode = [[ASEditableTextNode alloc] init];

editableTextNode.attributedText = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet."];
editableTextNode.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(8, 8, 8, 8);

let editableTextNode = ASEditableTextNode()

editableTextNode.attributedText = NSAttributedString(string: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.")
editableTextNode.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 8, left: 8, bottom: 8, right: 8)

### Placeholder Text If you want to display a text box with a placeholder that disappears after a user starts typing, just assign an attributed string to the `attributedPlaceholderText` property.

Swift Objective-C

editableTextNode.attributedPlaceholderText = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@"Type something here..."];

editableTextNode.attributedPlaceholderText = NSAttributedString(string: "Type something here...")

The property `isDisplayingPlaceholder` will initially return `YES`, but will toggle to `NO` any time the `attributedText` property is set to a non-empty string. ### Typing Attributes To set up the style of the text your user will type into this text field, you can set the `typingAttributes`.

Swift Objective-C

editableTextNode.typingAttributes = @{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor blueColor], 
                                      NSBackgroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor redColor]};

editableTextNode.typingAttributes = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.blue, 
                                      NSBackgroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.red]

### ASEditableTextNode Delegate In order to respond to events associated with an editable text node, you can use any of the following delegate methods: -- Indicates to the delegate that the text node began editing.

Swift Objective-C

- (void)editableTextNodeDidBeginEditing:(ASEditableTextNode *)editableTextNode;

optional public func editableTextNodeDidBeginEditing(_ editableTextNode: ASEditableTextNode)

-- Asks the delegate whether the specified text should be replaced in the editable text node.

Swift Objective-C

- (BOOL)editableTextNode:(ASEditableTextNode *)editableTextNode shouldChangeTextInRange:(NSRange)range replacementText:(NSString *)text;

optional public func editableTextNode(_ editableTextNode: ASEditableTextNode, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool

-- Indicates to the delegate that the text node's selection has changed.

Swift Objective-C

- (void)editableTextNodeDidChangeSelection:(ASEditableTextNode *)editableTextNode fromSelectedRange:(NSRange)fromSelectedRange toSelectedRange:(NSRange)toSelectedRange dueToEditing:(BOOL)dueToEditing;

optional public func editableTextNodeDidChangeSelection(_ editableTextNode: ASEditableTextNode, fromSelectedRange: NSRange, toSelectedRange: NSRange, dueToEditing: Bool)

-- Indicates to the delegate that the text node's text was updated.

Swift Objective-C

- (void)editableTextNodeDidUpdateText:(ASEditableTextNode *)editableTextNode;

optional public func editableTextNodeDidUpdateText(_ editableTextNode: ASEditableTextNode)

-- Indicates to the delegate that the text node has finished editing.

Swift Objective-C

- (void)editableTextNodeDidFinishEditing:(ASEditableTextNode *)editableTextNode;

optional public func editableTextNodeDidFinishEditing(_ editableTextNode: ASEditableTextNode)