Creating Split OTP Input Fields in React Native
As a React Native developer, you may have encountered the challenge of creating authentication flows that require users to enter a one-time password (OTP). In this article, we’ll explore how to create split OTP input fields in React Native without using external packages.
Setting Up the Environment
To start, we’ll set up a new React Native project using the Expo CLI. Once the project is created, we’ll install styled-components for styling our app.
Implementing Split OTP Input Fields
The concept behind implementing split OTP input fields is to use a TextInput component as the source of truth. For each digit entered, we’ll render a styled View in the form of a box. The TextInput component will be hidden and called using the useRef hook as needed.
Rendering the TextInput Component
We’ll create a components folder and inside it, an OTP folder that will house the OTPInput.js and Styles.js files. In the OTPInput.js file, we’ll create two components: TextInputHidden and OTPInputContainer.
Creating Split Input Boxes Components
Next, we’ll create a Pressable component called SplitOTPBoxesContainer and give it some styling. We’ll also create a View component called SplitBoxes to render our split boxes and a Text component called SplitBoxText to display the text.
Highlighting the Current OTP Digit
When a user presses each box, we need to highlight the current input box with its background color and trigger the keyboard. We’ll achieve this by declaring a boolean state to check whether we are in focus.
Adding Dynamism to Our Split Input Fields
To make our app look even better, we can add dynamism to our split input fields. We’ll use the useEffect hook to update the value of setIsPinReady to true whenever all the required digits have been filled.
Hiding Keyboard on Pressing Outside the Split Boxes
If the keyboard is pulled up and a user presses anywhere on the screen outside the boxes, the keyboard should be dismissed. We’ll achieve this by using Pressable and Keyboard from React Native.
Syncing the Submit Button to the OTP Input State
Finally, we’ll create a submit button that will be active or inactive depending on whether all the digits have been entered. We’ll use the isPinReady state to toggle the button’s state.
By following these steps, you can create a split OTP input field in React Native that can be adjusted to the number of digits a user needs to enter.