Right now i am developing app. One of it's ViewControllers has tableview with list of blog posts. I want to put some control so user can select blog's categories and then app will show posts only from those selected categories.
I thought it would be nice if there will be "filter" button in top right corner of my app's viewcontroller. After pressing it dropdown list of category appears and user can select categories.
What custom UI element can handle it?
Really there's a ton of options at your disposal, not including all the custom elements you can probably grab from GitHub
For an iPad, you can use a UIPopoverController https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/UIKit/Reference/UIPopoverController_class/index.html
Depending on the number of filters and the style of the design, a good starting point could even be a UIActionSheet.
If you want to do something really fancy, you could have a second UITableView hidden underneath by your main UITableView containing the blog posts, and then when the "Filter" button gets hit you can animate your blog UITableView slightly over revealing your filters menu (maybe even shaded slightly darker to give a feeling of depth to the app)
I searched for a while and can recommend CZPicker https://github.com/chenzeyu/CZPicker because it very nice and easy picker view for iOS that supports iOS 7 and is well working not only iPhones but whit iPads too.
Related
For iOS 7 and iOS 8, we're implementing these things that look like drop-downs, but each just launch a modal window.
What makes more sense, using 3 UIButtons, 3 UITableViews with 1 row, or something else? In the past, there would be more than one of these all lined up, so I would put them in a UITableView and set the accessoryView of the UITableViewCell. Using the cell was nice, but three UITableViews seem like overkill here and a maintenance hassel.
The closest post I found regarding this was one about using an UITableViewCell outside of UITableView
What would make the most sense is to follow the iOS design guidelines. Instead of trying to create custom dropdown menus (or worse: showing a drop down menu, but displaying a modal view when the user is expecting a drop down view), that UI could be replaced with 1 UITableView that has 3 UITableViewCells in it. The text on each cell would be the name of the setting to be changed and selecting the cell would push segue to the next page. This will give the app a uniform iOS UX; allowing users to know exactly how to use your app because it works similarly to other apps on their phone. Check out the Settings app on the simulator to see what I am describing.
I don't see any advantage to using a UITableView or a UITableViewCell. I think this is clearly a case for three UIButtons. You can set constraints to keep them nice and clean. One cool thing that might be worth investigating is using a unicode character for the downward arrow. That way you could have the tap feedback on the whole "thing" as you called it.
When I need to create sort of dropdown menus, I usually take advantages from UITableView, one above all is when you will need to add one or more selections in the dropdown you just need to change the data model.
UITableViewCells are easily customizable that means that you can create almost everything you want.
I think that your design doesn't adapt well to a mobile application, those kind of menu are more web style, with 3 buttons and a UIPickerView you can really improve the user experience and also adapt in a really easy way on the ipad embedding the picker in a UIPopoverController.
as i agree with #keithbhunter, but still if you want then may this links will help you.
http://code4app.net/ios/DXPopover/54741ca3e24741c56db03ca0
https://www.cocoacontrols.com/controls/kxmenu
https://www.cocoacontrols.com/controls/nidropdown
This is related to this question
ios filter options similar to the apple store (dropdown list)
I tried using a uitableviewcontroller instead of a pickerview as I couldn't understand how to use the picker view if I need it popping out (any info on it would be appreciated).
Now this is what I did.
I have a VC that calls out a "FilterVC". I only have one FilterVC that is called by 3 different "filter buttons", and I will just populate the VC depending on the button. The issue is, one button might have just 2 items that is needed to be shown, another one might containg up to 50. Was wondering how do I adjust the height of the popovercontroller that contains the uitableview? Also, is this the right way in dealing with popovers, 3 segues connected to one VC??? (It needed an anchor point)
Here's what it looks like
As a follow up question:
Is this the right way to do it on an ipad? I feel like most people prefer the uipicker. The guy that answered my first question said it's more of a design thing. Now since I'm no designer, as a user, do you think uitableview is more appealing?
Thanks for your time!!
In the view that you're showing in the popover, set self.contentSizeForViewInPopover as soon as you know the size and before the view is displayed.
The main benefit of using a table view over a picker is that it has a scroll indicator so you can see how long the list of options is. Also obviously that you can control exactly how the list is displayed. So the table view should be better if it fits in with your UI style and particularly if the list of options is long.
I have been searching for a UI Control and don't know what its called, which makes it tough to find right? What UI Control in iOS 5 or 6 provides a view overlay that can swipe away? Kind of the opposite of a slide-out nav view. I am looking at the TouchArcade app as an example, where you tap an item and this slides out an overlay with an article or review. Its also possible to have several overlay's that can swipe to the right for removal. Is this a custom control? I know this must be an easy question, I just don't know what its called, and therefore, my terms don't help much in Google. The closest thing I have found is ShinobiControls Overlays: http://www.shinobicontrols.com/shinobiessentials/
I'd rather just make my own than rely an somebody else's library I have to keep up to date. On the other hand, that one does look pretty good and would save me time.
Edit:
Picture of TouchArcade as an example overlay view.
You see how the article is presented over the list view below? What controls do that in iOS? It also allows multiple overlays as you click further into each item. You dismiss them by swiping them to the right, dragging them out of view.
I am building an iOS app that allows the user to browse a tableView, click a cell, then navigate deeper into another tableView using a navigationController.
I have a requirement to be able to move any of those items/cells to another place in the navigation stack. Right now my idea is, once the user selects the cells to move, to display a modal tableView that will allow the user to navigate through the same structure as before, but this time choose the location (by pressing and holding) to place those cells.
Are there any other UI ideas or clever programatic ideas that anyone might have that could be a better solution to this problem?
Perhaps take a look at how Apple's iOS Mail moves email messages between different mailboxes?
This also basically displays a modal view controller, but it flattens the hierarchy, by indenting nested items below their parent objects. You than just select the item that is the destination.
This of course only works if your hierarchy is not too deep, otherwise it's probably best to do it like you outlined it. The only thing I would perhaps recommend doing in addition, is to also have some sort of visual method (button?) to select the destination. A long press by itself might not be intuitive enough.
Are there any alternative controls instead of UIPickerView in XCode. If yes, how do they work? Can anyone suggest an alternative for UIPickerView?
You can see one in action if you download the free One Stop Plus app (women's clothes), drill down on the products until you get a view with Color, Size, etc. Tapping those buttons animates a table out of the button, with choices. Selecting one causes the table to animate back into the button. If you like that post a comment to this answer and I can tell you how to do it.
With iPhone interface, it is not feasible to enable a Combo box like a website. (I believe even Apple Guidelines would say not to do it). What you need to do is the use the UITableView to enable users to pick one option.
One thing you can do is decide whether you want to have the choice in a view shared with other controls. OR if your list if too long you can chose to push in a new view with only the choices on them and when a user selects one, the view will pop back one level.
Here is a screen shot of what i mean (maybe not the best example out there):