Default keyboard is not coming when Barcode Scanner Device is Connected by Bluetooth in IOS

Question

I am facing issue with keyboard when barcode scanner device is connected using bluetooth.

Flow:

1) I have turned on Bluetooth, and connected barcode scanner device using bluetooth by entering displayed code in it to connect.

2) I am able to use scanner, but the default keyboard is not displaying even we call becomeFirstResponder.

3) When I disconnect the scanner device or turn off bluetooth connectivity then the keyboard is coming.

Note: Below is the link for the Barcode Scanner device i am using

Barcode Scanner Device Information

Anyone faced this kind of issue? Please suggest how to fix this issue.

Thanks in Advance..!

Cerebritis

Can you look into view debugger if keyboard is hidden behinde some views ? – Dooley

A scanner that connects as an external keyboard will prevent the onscreen keyboard from appearing. – Law

@Paulw .How to fix this issue, Can we turn off the bluetooth connection at textFieldShouldBegin delegate method? so that keyboard will appear. – Cerebritis

You can't. The user needs to turn off the scanner. Some HID scanners have a button to display the on-screen keyboard. It seems that this one doesn't. MFI or BLE scanners are a better approach – Law

@Cerebritis did you find solution for this? I am also facing the same issue. – Whiskey

Answer 1

This solution only works on Ipad. when the soft keyboard disappears just press and hold the down arrow on the bottom right of the screen and the soft keyboard will be back.

Insinuation

Awesome. Interested to hear how you came across that information. Now I just need to track down something similar for Android... – Slosberg

Answer 2

We are clear and there is no question that Bluetooth Scanner is pretending to be a Bluetooth keyboard, so iOS thinks that it does not need to show the on screen one.

For Barcode Scanner type socket mobile are now adding a feature to open the iPad onscreen keyboard. For example, the Socket CHS has a new button press option. You can check if your device have the same functionality*(It is likely to be of some help)*

Bring Up the Virtual Keyboard With a Real Keyboard can be a good idea.

When you have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to your iPad, the virtual keyboard will cease to appear. (This is a good thing.) However, what if, for some random reason, you needed that virtual keyboard? Don't unpair your Bluetooth. Just... Hit the eject key on Apple's physical keyboard. It'll bring up the virtual one.

There is another way to try to solve this, personally I tried it and it was very unstable. Taking into account that it is a kind of hack, expected unstable behavior.

This answer to a related question (https://mcmap.net/q/211593/-show-iphone-soft-keyboard-even-though-a-hardware-keyboard-is-connected) has what seems like a hack based on a UITextField's inputAccessoryView.

Even the user @Kurt Arnlund in this answer mentions a external app called KeysPlease link here. I really have not tried it, you can try.

In summary, there seems to be a clean way to solve this, I think these may be the best attempts to reach a solution

Sources:
Bluetooth Scanner sets system-wide keyboard, UITextFields wont show soft keyboard on responder
Force on screen keyboard to show when bluetooth keyboard connected
Show iPhone soft keyboard even though a hardware keyboard is connected

Verne