Handling Keyboard Avoiding View in React Native

Managing the keyboard when it appears on the screen is crucial in mobile app development to ensure a seamless user experience. React Native provides several ways to handle this using components like KeyboardAvoidingView, KeyboardAwareScrollView, and platform-specific configurations. Below are some common approaches to manage the keyboard behavior effectively.

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Solution 1. Basic Usage with KeyboardAvoidingView

The KeyboardAvoidingView component is used to adjust the layout of your UI when the keyboard appears. Below is a typical implementation:

import { SafeAreaView, KeyboardAvoidingView } from 'react-native';

<SafeAreaView style={{ flex: 1 }}>
  <KeyboardAvoidingView
    enabled
    behavior={isAndroid ? 'height' : 'padding'}
    style={{ flex: 1 }}
    keyboardVerticalOffset={isAndroid ? 10 : 0} // Adjust space before keyboard
  >
    {/* Your UI components */}
  </KeyboardAvoidingView>
</SafeAreaView>

Key Props:

• behavior: Specifies how the view will behave. Common values are 'height', 'padding', or 'position'.
• keyboardVerticalOffset: Adds extra spacing to avoid overlapping.

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Solution 2. Android-Specific Configurations

For Android, you can configure the MainActivity in your app to handle the keyboard correctly.

Before:

<activity
  android:name=".MainActivity"
  android:label="@string/app_name"
  android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize"
  android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize">

After:

<activity
  android:name=".MainActivity"
  android:label="@string/app_name"
  android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize">

Remove android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize" to let React Native handle the keyboard adjustments.

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Solution 3. Using KeyboardAwareScrollView

The KeyboardAwareScrollView from react-native-keyboard-aware-scroll-view provides additional flexibility and control.

Example:

import { KeyboardAwareScrollView } from 'react-native-keyboard-aware-scroll-view';

<KeyboardAwareScrollView
  keyboardShouldPersistTaps='handled'
  showsVerticalScrollIndicator={false}
  contentContainerStyle={{ flex: 1 }}
  bounces={false}
  enableOnAndroid // Adjust based on need
  scrollEnabled={false} // Adjust based on need
  extraHeight={15} // Adjust based on need
  extraScrollHeight={15} // Adjust based on need
>
  {/* Your UI components */}
</KeyboardAwareScrollView>

Key Props:

• keyboardShouldPersistTaps: Ensures taps outside the keyboard dismiss it. Always set to 'handled'.
• extraHeight: Adds extra scroll height for better adjustment.
• enableOnAndroid: Enables keyboard behavior handling on Android.

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Handling Keyboard in Modals

When working with modals, you can combine Modal and KeyboardAwareScrollView for better keyboard handling.

Example:

import { Modal } from 'react-native';
import { KeyboardAwareScrollView } from 'react-native-keyboard-aware-scroll-view';

<Modal
  isVisible={isModalVisible}
  supportedOrientations={['portrait']}
  transparent={true}
>
  <KeyboardAwareScrollView
    keyboardShouldPersistTaps='handled'
    showsVerticalScrollIndicator={false}
    contentContainerStyle={{ flex: 1 }}
    bounces={false}
    enableOnAndroid // Adjust based on need
    scrollEnabled={false} // Adjust based on need
    extraHeight={15} // Adjust based on need
    extraScrollHeight={15} // Adjust based on need
  >
    {/* Modal content */}
  </KeyboardAwareScrollView>
</Modal>

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Best Practices

• Always use keyboardShouldPersistTaps='handled' to ensure smooth interaction.
• Adjust extraHeight or keyboardVerticalOffset based on your design needs.
• Use platform-specific configurations to handle unique keyboard behaviors on iOS and Android.
• Test thoroughly with different screen sizes and keyboard types to ensure compatibility.

By following these methods, you can effectively handle keyboard behavior in your React Native app, providing a seamless and user-friendly experience.