AutoLayout Understanding Multiplier - ios

I have a problem with multiplier and cannot understand how this feature works. For example i have view has 6:1 multiplier(To SuperView.Leading) as below.
When i change the multiplier to 2:1 it seems like below picture.
My question is in the 6:1 relation what does 6 and 1 mean. And also in 2:1 relation what does 2 and 1 mean. Similar consider you have three view like the picture below. Totally there 4 blank areas between subViews and superView. How can i say every blank area must be the SuperView.Width / 6 (and every blank width must be equal)
Thanks in advance.

When working with autolayout, especially when you are working with proportional layouts, you have to use multiplier.
I have to explain here some mathematics.
We know straight line equation.
Y = Mx + C
In above equation. Assume M is your multiplier and C is your Constant.
Thus suppose you have superview (in case of iphone 6s plus) of
414(width) x 736(height) size. On that view suppose you created subview.
Now if you want subview size exacly half of superview size, then just drag two constraints from subview to superview. (i.e. Equal Width and Equal Height)
See this Image
Obviously now you will get an error. just like I'm getting. (See below Image)
Now click on both of the constraints one by one, and use multiplier as 0.5. Then use above straight line equation.
Here 0.5 means you want width of subview = superviewWidth / 2.0 i.e. 207 px.
In other words you can provide multiplier as 207:414 also.
Y i.e. subviewWidth = ((M i.e. 0.5) * (x i.e. 414 i.e. superviewWidth)) + (Constant i.e. Zero)
Finally you get subviewWidth = 207 px
Similarly do for height of subview. Provide multiplier 0.5 or 368:736.
When done all things, don't forget to click on subview and update frames.
This way constants and multiplier will works.

Multiplier is there for creating Proportional Constraint. Auto Layout calculates the first item’s attribute to be the product of the second item’s attribute and this multiplier. Any value other than 1 creates a proportional constraint.
In your case, 6:1 means multiplier is 6/1 = 6. Which means
view.leading = Superview.leadingMargin*6
replace : with / - you will understand what it means.

In my example multiplier is 1:2 = 0.5
height red view is 0.5 times greater than the superview

When it comes to the multiplier it depends on what constraints you are dealing with. You have the views leading constraint connected to the superview leading margin. When the constant is 0 that gives you an 8 points gap. When you change the multiplier you will be effecting that gap. That's why when you do 2:1 you see it go to the right 8 points. Essentially multiplying the original 8 point gap by 2. If you do 1:2 it will go from 8 points to 4 points, essentially dividing the original 8 point margin by 2.
Now when you look at Adrians example, he only multiplied it by 1:2 so how did that make it half of the entire screen? That's because he did that on the height constraint. The view was originally the full size of the superview, but when he multiplied it by 1:2, he indicated that he wanted it to be 1/2 of its original height. Giving you that end result.
So the important thing to understand is that multiplier may seem to act different depending on the situation but that's because it depends on what constraints you are dealing with.
here is a good answer that goes into this more:
Understanding multiplier in auto layout to use relative positioning
the link details how if you wanted to make the leading edge 10% and trailing edge 90% you would need to set both constraints in relation to the trailing edge.
Multiplying the trailing constraint by 0.9 and the leading constraints by 0.1.
In regards to your question about the equally separated views, you should use a stack view. They were made for situations like this so you didn't have to deal with all the constraints. You just need to set constraints for the stack view and configure it accordingly.

Related

Autolayout minimum gap between UIStackViews

I have 3 UIStackViews laid as follows edge to edge:
SV1 ---- SV2 ---- SV3
SV1 sits at a fixed distance of 5 points to superview leading, SV2 center is aligned with center of superview, and SV3 is at a fixed distance of 5 points to views trailing. Problem is on iPhone SE, SV2 is too wide and too close to SV1 and SV3. How do I set autolayout constraints so that SV2 is at a minimum distance D to SV1 and SV3?
You can create two constraints: first between sv2 and sv1 and second between sv2 and sv3. The trick is to set the constraint not equals to a a value but greater than.
You can create horizontal spacing constraints between the stack views and set them to greater-or-equal. This takes care of the minimum space between them.
But since they were to close together this means at least one of them has to get smaller to make space for the separation. You control which one by setting the content compression resistance priority of the views inside your stack views. The one with the lowest value shrinks.
If all three stack views have different widths you also could lower the priority of the center constraint to a value below the spacing constraints priority. That would mean that the center view is pushed to one side to make room for the spacing.
There are lots of possibilities that depend on your exact views. The best way is to experiment a bit with the priorities.

Creating a dynamically sizing UILabel in the Xcode interface builder

I want to be able to create a UILabel that will adjust it's size in a more complex way than normal AutoLayout. I've looked over the internet for an answer to this, but to no avail.
Here's what I want it to do.
Say you're viewing it on an iPhone. I want it to be 16 points away from either edge centered in the middle. (Height does not matter in any of this)
However, when the screen gets wider, I want the UILabel to stretch so that it's 16 points away form each edge UNTIL it reaches, say, 500 width. Once it reaches 500 width, I don't want it to get any wider. This is where the 16 points on either side increases, still keeping the label in the center.
Now you're viewing it on an iPad landscape. The UILabel is exactly 500 points wide and in the center.
If possible, I would like to be able to accomplish this using AutoLayout, and not code, but if code is a must, I can deal with that.
Thank you for your consideration. All help is appreciated.
You can do this with 3 constraints:
center the label horizontally in the view
set a width constraint of <= 500
set a leading space constraint of 16. Give this a priority of < 1000.
When the view is wide (like on an iPad), the label will stretch to its full width of 500. Auto Layout will keep the label centered, and it will try its best to satisfy the 3rd constraint by keeping the the leading space as close to 16 as possible. It chooses to break this constraint because the priority is less than 1000.
When the view is narrow (like on an iPhone), the label will have a leading space of 16 (and trailing space of 16 because the label is centered). The width will be whatever is left, because that satisfies the width <= 500 constraint.

Resizing buttons and position on a static background image

I am working to have my buttons height and position adapt to screen size changes like the pictures shown above. The buttons themselves will remain clear and only serve as a simple way to handle taps that trigger the segues to different screens. My goal is to make it so that as the image stretches across different screen sizes, I would like the buttons to keep equal height and width and position with the windows. I know that if the windows had properties I could simply make the buttons have an equal size and width to them and be done, but as I mentioned the image is static and it has to stay that way for the time being. I've tried creating constraints for the buttons and that has only proven to be a headache and I don't know if stack views will help me here either, I know this is fairly complex, but I'm ok with that I just need some direction.
UPDATE: In an effort to follow the instructions LGP listed properly I started from step 1. As I mentioned in the comments, I believe it's simply the ratio and the constraints conflicts since when I remove one or two it works fine, but then how do I set the constraints so it fills the entire screen and maintains the ratio of the picture? Also shown are the constraint conflicts for the image view an it isn't showing the aspect ratio of the parent container view either
If you want to do it in interface builder it is not too hard. You should use spacer views and proportional sizes to position the buttons. That way, whatever size your background will have, all the elements will follow.
1. Create a container that has the same proportions as you image. Add a regular UIView and set an Aspect Ratio constraint with a multiplier of 852:568. This is the dimension of your background photo, 852 x 568 pixels, but the actual values don't matter, as long as the aspect ratio is the same. (Don't forget to also tie up the container view to however you want it in your view controller. See the UPDATE below on how to do this.)
2. Place the background image in the container. Add an image view as a child to the container. Set the constraints to touch all four edges of the container. Set the Image property to you image, and set Content Mode to Aspect Fit.
3. Add the first spacer view. Add a regular UIView to the container view (see leftmost, white view below) and set the constraints as follows:
height = 1 (not important, I used 10 in the image)
Top space to Superview = 90 (not important)
Leading space to Superview = 0
Width equal to Superview with multiplier dw:cw <- This makes it proportional! dw is the distance from the left edge to the first window/button, and cw is the width of the container. If your container is 375 wide, and your distance to the first button is 105, the multiplier will be 105:375.
4. Add the second space view. This is the vertical spacer, going from top to first button. Set it up similar as the first spacer, except make the height proportional to the containers height, and the width fixed.
5. Add the first button. Constrain its left and top edges to the spacers, then make its width and height proportional to the container.
6. Add the remaining spacers and buttons. They are all the same. Just remember where to make them proportional. All buttons are constraint to the single vertical spacer.
Finally, you should make the spacer views hidden. You can easily try it within your Storyboard by selecting different devices.
I chose to add everything on iPhone 8, but it is not really important. Here is what it looks like when I change to iPad Pro 12.9" and iPhone SE. Note how the buttons are positioned correctly. The spacer move around a little because they have partly fixed distances, but it works fine anyway.
UPDATE: Here is how to constrain the container view in the view controller's view to make the container fill the whole view and still keep its aspect ratio.
First, set the image view's (the one you added in step 2 above) Content Compression Resistance Priority to 200 for both Horizontal and Vertical. This will allow the image to compress rather then expand if it has a choice.
Second, Add the following constraints to you container:
Align Center X to Superview
Align Center Y to Superview
Equal Width to Superview >= 0
Equal Height to Superview >= 0
852:568 Ratio to View <- This you should already have!
Now the container will always center on screen, it will always fill at least the entire screen, but will also allow it to fill beyond in both X and Y.
UPDATE 2: If you want to ignore the photo's aspect ratio, and always fill the screen with the photo, you just add constraints for the container view to each side to its superview. Your container view's constraints should look like this.
In step 2 you will need to set the image's Content Mode to Scale to fill. The rest should be the same.
Use percentage based positions and size. Identify the positions of windows in percentage basis, and create the origin in x and y dimension by multiplying the percentage to the width and height of the screen. I am assuming that you are using ScaleToFill as content mode of the ImageView.
Similarly for calculating size, identify the width and height of the ImageView on percentage basis, and multiply the values in percent with the total width and height of the screen.
For example, to calculate the position of Window one-
Suppose, window1.x in percentage basis is 25% & total image view width is 400 (for example), than window1.x pixel position will be-
window1X = (25 * 400) / 100 = 100
Suppose, window1.y in percentage basis is 25% & total image view height is 300 (for example), than window1.y pixel position will be-
window1Y = (25 * 300) / 100 = 75
Suppose, width is 7% of image views width, than width in pixel will be -
window1Width = (7 * 400) /100 = 28
Suppose, height is 12% of image views height, than height in pixel will be -
window1Height = (12 * 300) /100 = 36
window1.frame = CGRectMake (window1X, window1Y, window1Width, window1Height)
Same approach for other windows, to calculate their positions(size will be same as window 1)
This approach will work across all screen resolutions, since it uses percentage based calculations & ScaleToFill as content mode for image view.

How to use Autolayout to achieve result as per shown screen

I'm developing an app where I'm facing an issue to achieve one UI layout only for iPhone devices. This is the layout that I'd like to achieve:
I want to achieve overlapped views that layout should be same on every device from 5s to 7 plus.
The key is setting proportional constraints.
Start with adding a UIView to hold the 4 elements - background, man, woman and heart.
Add a UIImage for the background, and pin the edges to the edges of the view - that's the easy part.
Add a UIImage for the Man...
Set the Aspect Ratio to 1:1 to keep it square (well, round in this case).
Set the Height constraint equal to the Height of the "containing" view, but then set the multiplier to less than 1 to make it relative to the view. In this case, 0.6 is pretty close.
Set constraints for Centered Horizontally and Vertically... then set the Multipliers to keep the image left and above the centers. 0.64 on horizontal, and 0.9 on vertical work pretty good.
Add a UIImage for the Woman...
Set the Height and Width constraints equal to the Man image.
Set constraints for Centered Horizontally and Vertically... then set the Multipliers to keep the image right and below the centers. 1.4 on horizontal, and 1.2 on vertical work pretty good.
Add a UIImage for the Heart...
Set the Aspect Ratio to 1:1 (or whatever gives you the proper ratio for your heart image).
Set the Height constraint equal to the Height of the "containing" view, but then set the multiplier to less than 1 to make it relative to the view. In this case, 0.15 is pretty close.
Set constraints for Centered Horizontally and Vertically... then it will need a little adjustment o note Vertical 1.05 worked for me.
Now, you just need to set appropriate constraints for the "containing" view, and all the elements will scale and position themselves within it.
When you're all done, it should (hopefully) look like this:
I put the project up in a GitHub repo for you to look at: https://github.com/DonMag/AnotherLayoutExample

Ios swift spacing between views and/or margins in percentage %

there is a way to set horizontal space between 2 view or between 1 view and one margin in percentage?
I can set horizontal spacing or trailing space to superview or leading space to superview with constanst value (in pixels or some similar unit).
My personal solution was put a view A between what i want to pad (ie view B) and margin then i set view A width equals to superview and 0.3 (ie for 30%) at moltiplier.
Each constraint in iOS has the following format
item1.attribute1 = multiplier × item2.attribute2 + constant
So, when you set e.g. spacing with constant value you define that constant variable, and multiplier is set to 1 (no sense).
To set e.g. spacing in percentage you need to edit multiplier value, let say to 0.3 for 30% (or could be 1.3). You can do it in Interface builder, just select you constraint and define multiplier value. (from document outline or directly from IB)
Experiment with it, and also First/Second item.

Resources