How to set a default Value of a UIPickerView

Question

I have a problem with my UIPickerView. I have 3 values in it EU AP and NA. When I start the app EU seems to be selected but when I make a NSLog(@"%@", [regions objectAtIndex:row]); I only get back (null), now when I touch the UIPickerView the EU value is selected and I get "EU" back from a NSLog.

My question is:

How can I define a default value which is selected (not only the label) when the user only starts the app and touches nothing.

Edit: Here is my code to get the selected item:

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark PickerView DataSource

- (NSInteger)numberOfComponentsInPickerView:
(UIPickerView *)pickerView
{
    return 1;
}
- (NSInteger)pickerView:(UIPickerView *)pickerView
numberOfRowsInComponent:(NSInteger)component
{
    return [regions count];
}
- (NSString *)pickerView:(UIPickerView *)pickerView
             titleForRow:(NSInteger)row
            forComponent:(NSInteger)component
{
    return [regions objectAtIndex:row];
}

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark PickerView Delegate
-(void)pickerView:(UIPickerView *)pickerView didSelectRow:(NSInteger)row
      inComponent:(NSInteger)component
{

                selectedRegion = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:
                              @"%@", [regions objectAtIndex:row]];
    NSLog(@"%@", selectedRegion);


}

Solution 1

TL:DR version:

//Objective-C
[self.picker selectRow:2 inComponent:0 animated:YES];
//Swift
picker.selectRow(2, inComponent:0, animated:true)

---

Either you didn't set your picker to select the row (which you say you seem to have done but anyhow):

- (void)selectRow:(NSInteger)row inComponent:(NSInteger)component animated:(BOOL)animated

OR you didn't use the the following method to get the selected item from your picker

- (NSInteger)selectedRowInComponent:(NSInteger)component

This will get the selected row as Integer from your picker and do as you please with it. This should do the trick for yah. Good luck.

Anyhow read the ref: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uipickerview

---

EDIT:

An example of manually setting and getting of a selected row in a UIPickerView:

the .h file:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface ViewController : UIViewController <UIPickerViewDelegate, UIPickerViewDataSource>
{
    UIPickerView *picker;
    NSMutableArray *source;
}

@property (nonatomic,retain) UIPickerView *picker;
@property (nonatomic,retain) NSMutableArray *source;

-(void)pressed;

@end

the .m file:

#import "ViewController.h"

@interface ViewController ()

@end
@implementation ViewController

@synthesize picker;
@synthesize source;

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
}

- (void)viewDidUnload
{
    [super viewDidUnload];
    // Release any retained subviews of the main view.
}

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
    return YES;
}

- (void) viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super viewWillAppear:animated];

    self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor yellowColor];

    self.source = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithObjects:@"EU", @"USA", @"ASIA", nil];

    UIButton *pressme = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20, 20, 280, 80)];
    [pressme setTitle:@"Press me!!!" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    pressme.backgroundColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
    [pressme addTarget:self action:@selector(pressed) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [self.view addSubview:pressme];

    self.picker = [[UIPickerView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20, 110, 280, 300)];
    self.picker.delegate = self;
    self.picker.dataSource = self;
    [self.view addSubview:self.picker];

    //This is how you manually SET(!!) a selection!
    [self.picker selectRow:2 inComponent:0 animated:YES];
}

//logs the current selection of the picker manually
-(void)pressed
{
    //This is how you manually GET(!!) a selection
    int row = [self.picker selectedRowInComponent:0];

    NSLog(@"%@", [source objectAtIndex:row]);
}

- (NSInteger)numberOfComponentsInPickerView:
(UIPickerView *)pickerView
{
    return 1;
}

- (NSInteger)pickerView:(UIPickerView *)pickerView
numberOfRowsInComponent:(NSInteger)component
{
    return [source count];
}

- (NSString *)pickerView:(UIPickerView *)pickerView
             titleForRow:(NSInteger)row
            forComponent:(NSInteger)component
{
    return [source objectAtIndex:row];
}

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark PickerView Delegate
-(void)pickerView:(UIPickerView *)pickerView didSelectRow:(NSInteger)row
      inComponent:(NSInteger)component
{
//    NSLog(@"%@", [source objectAtIndex:row]);
}

@end

---

EDIT for Swift solution (Source: Dan Beaulieu's answer)

Define an Outlet:

@IBOutlet weak var pickerView: UIPickerView!  // for example

Then in your viewWillAppear or your viewDidLoad, for example, you can use the following:

pickerView.selectRow(rowMin, inComponent: 0, animated: true)
pickerView.selectRow(rowSec, inComponent: 1, animated: true)

If you inspect the Swift 2.0 framework you'll see .selectRow defined as:

func selectRow(row: Int, inComponent component: Int, animated: Bool) 

option clicking .selectRow in Xcode displays the following:

Solution 2

This is How to set a default Value of a UIPickerView

[self.picker selectRow:4 inComponent:0 animated:YES];

Solution 3

Swift solution:

Define an Outlet:

@IBOutlet weak var pickerView: UIPickerView!  // for example

Then in your viewWillAppear or your viewDidLoad, for example, you can use the following:

pickerView.selectRow(rowMin, inComponent: 0, animated: true)
pickerView.selectRow(rowSec, inComponent: 1, animated: true)

If you inspect the Swift 2.0 framework you'll see .selectRow defined as:

func selectRow(row: Int, inComponent component: Int, animated: Bool) 

option clicking .selectRow in Xcode displays the following:

Solution 4

I too had this problem. But apparently there is an issue of the order of method calls. You must call:

[self.picker selectRow:2 inComponent:0 animated:YES];

after calling

[self.view addSubview:self.picker];

Solution 5

You have to send - (void)selectRow:(NSInteger)row inComponent:(NSInteger)component animated:(BOOL)animated to the picker view before it appears. The documentation states that the method selectedRowInComp... will give -1, thus it is possible that the picker view is in a state with no selected row. It turns out to be in that state when created.

View more solutions

Comments

[Chris]

where should i send this to the picker? sry i'm a beginner at Xcode :(

[Totumus Maximus]

Well the delegate only activates if you touch the picker and let it become active. If you want default values outside the pickerfocus you can't rely on those delegates. You need to set and get the defaults manually. The way you want it to work (with those delegates) won't work.

[Chris]

mhmm i tried to implent it into my project but it did not work :( do you have any simple example with that? sry i am very new to objective C programming :/

[Totumus Maximus]

Sure I'll add one in a moment or 2

[Totumus Maximus]

Here is a quick example on setting and getting of the picker selection. Of course you will need to use it in your own way still but the basics should be clear. This will help you. Good luck.

[Orkhan Alikhanov]

Picture shows Availability iOS 8.1+ while it is iOS 2.0+. Weird (:

[Totumus Maximus]

@OrkhanAlikhanov the image was made in 2015. There were probably some changes on the apple document page. They seem to have removed the availability section.

[ekashking]

However, if your picker is attached to field.inputView = picker then, after, you have to call it with a slight delay like this: dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(0.05 * NSEC_PER_SEC)), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{ [self.picker selectRow:2 inComponent:0 animated:YES]; });

[Dave]

You can't set the value before the picker view appears because it isn't in the view hierarchy yet. Invoking this method on a pickerview with no superview will generally result in an exception being thrown which crashes your app.