How to apply multiple masks to UIView - ios

Question

I have a question about how to apply multiple masks to a UIView that already has a mask.
The situation:
I have a view with an active mask that creates a hole in its top left corner, this is a template UIView that is reused everywhere in the project. Later in the project I would like to be able to create a second hole but this time in the bottom right corner, this without the need to create a completely new UIView.
The problem:
When I apply the bottom mask, it of course replaces the first one thus removing the top hole ... Is there a way to combine them both? And for that matter to combine any existing mask with a new one?
Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Based on #Sharad's answer, I realised that re-adding the view's rect would enable me to combine the original and new mask into one.
Here is my solution:
func cutCircle(inView view: UIView, withRect rect: CGRect) {
// Create new path and mask
let newMask = CAShapeLayer()
let newPath = UIBezierPath(ovalIn: rect)
// Create path to clip
let newClipPath = UIBezierPath(rect: view.bounds)
newClipPath.append(newPath)
// If view already has a mask
if let originalMask = view.layer.mask,
let originalShape = originalMask as? CAShapeLayer,
let originalPath = originalShape.path {
// Create bezierpath from original mask's path
let originalBezierPath = UIBezierPath(cgPath: originalPath)
// Append view's bounds to "reset" the mask path before we re-apply the original
newClipPath.append(UIBezierPath(rect: view.bounds))
// Combine new and original paths
newClipPath.append(originalBezierPath)
}
// Apply new mask
newMask.path = newClipPath.cgPath
newMask.fillRule = kCAFillRuleEvenOdd
view.layer.mask = newMask
}

Answer 2

This is code I have used in my project to create one circle and one rectangle mask in UIView, you can replace the UIBezierPath line with same arc code :
func createCircleMask(view: UIView, x: CGFloat, y: CGFloat, radius: CGFloat, downloadRect: CGRect){
self.layer.sublayers?.forEach { ($0 as? CAShapeLayer)?.removeFromSuperlayer() }
let mutablePath = CGMutablePath()
mutablePath.addArc(center: CGPoint(x: x, y: y + radius), radius: radius, startAngle: 0.0, endAngle: 2 * 3.14, clockwise: false)
mutablePath.addRect(view.bounds)
let path = UIBezierPath(roundedRect: downloadRect, byRoundingCorners: [.topLeft, .bottomRight], cornerRadii: CGSize(width: 5, height: 5))
mutablePath.addPath(path.cgPath)
let mask = CAShapeLayer()
mask.path = mutablePath
mask.fillRule = kCAFillRuleEvenOdd
mask.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear.cgColor
view.layer.mask = mask
}
Pass your same UIView, it removes previous layers and applies new masks on same UIView.
Here mask.fillRule = kCAFillRuleEvenOdd is important. If you notice there are 3 mutablePath.addPath() functions, what kCAFillRuleEvenOdd does is, it first creates a hole with the arc then adds Rect of that view's bound and then another mask to create 2nd hole.

Answer 3

You can do something like the following, if you don't only have "simple shapes" but actual layers from e.g. other views, like UILabel or UIImageView.
let maskLayer = CALayer()
maskLayer.frame = viewToBeMasked.bounds
maskLayer.addSublayer(self.imageView.layer)
maskLayer.addSublayer(self.label.layer)
viewToBeMasked.bounds.layer.mask = maskLayer
So basically I just create a maskLayer, that contains all the other view's layer as sublayer and then use this as a mask.