swift player widget over all controllers - ios

Question

I'm doing radio player in my app. And want to have widget with info + control buttons, that will be persisted over all controllers in app while playing. Like in itunes or like google chromecast container that will push from bottom all the elements of other viewcontroller (not overlay elements)
I know that overlay view can be added in appdelegate to keywindow, as GoogleCast Container added:
let appStoryboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
let navigationController = appStoryboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "MainNavigation")
let castContainerVC: GCKUICastContainerViewController = GCKCastContext.sharedInstance().createCastContainerController(for: navigationController)
castContainerVC.miniMediaControlsItemEnabled = true
self.window = UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
self.window?.rootViewController = castContainerVC
self.window?.makeKeyAndVisible()
But I can't understand, how I can design and instantiate my controller + add it to window + hide when nothing is playing.
I forgot to mention, that app is already up and running. There are about 30 view controllers inside navigation bar

Answer 1

I would create a window on top of the current window to which I would put that radio view. Then the radio view would be always on top of the view hierarchy in the standard window. To allow touch events be processed by the standard window that is under the radio window, you would need to override hitTest in the radio window to make sure it wont process events that are not supposed to be processed by it.
You can take this as an example:
import UIKit
class RadioController: UIViewController {
fileprivate struct Static {
static let window: UIHigherWindow = {
let window = UIHigherWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
window.rootViewController = RadioController()
window.windowLevel = UIWindowLevelAlert - 1
return window
}()
}
override func loadView() {
// use passView, as it will pass the touch events tu underlying window
self.view = PassView()
self.view.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// configure whatever subview you want, in your case the radio view
let radioView = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: UIScreen.main.bounds.height - 50, width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: 50))
radioView.backgroundColor = .red
self.view.addSubview(radioView)
}
override var preferredStatusBarStyle: UIStatusBarStyle {
// this will now define the status bar style, as it will become the topmost window for most of the time
return .default
}
static var showing: Bool {
get {
return !Static.window.isHidden
}
}
static func present() {
Static.window.isHidden = false
}
static func hide() {
Static.window.isHidden = true
}
}
// MARK: Passing touch events to the back view
class PassView: UIView {}
class UIHigherWindow: UIWindow {
// this will allow touch events to be processed by the default window
override func hitTest(_ point: CGPoint, with event: UIEvent?) -> UIView? {
let hitView = super.hitTest(point, with: event)
if hitView!.isKind(of: PassView.self) {
return nil
}
return hitView
}
}

Answer 2

Solution
Embed your initial view controller inside a container view controller
Add your subviews to the bottom of the view for the container vc
Align the subviews so that they are offscreen below the main view
Create a method that when called animates the subview up from the
bottom to the appropriate position and another to animate the
subview back below the bottom
Place calls to the animation methods where appropriate in your code
Notes
You will want to add a custom class to your container vc so you can
call the animation methods on it