Swift: centering a label with another control in the way - ios

I'm wondering if I can move a label to the center of a view even if there are other hidden controls in the way. I'm using Swift 1.2 and I'm using auto-layout for the initial position.
So I really have two questions:
How can I move a label to the center? I've found plenty of examples of moving to a particular location based on the original position. I just want the center. I tried this:
self.labelTest.center = self.view.center
Will it work 'over' hidden controls or do I have to move them too? i.e., to get them out of the way
Thanks

self.labelTest.center = self.view.center
This instruction won't be affected by the existence of any other views on your self.view if autolayout is off. However if autolayout is enabled depending on what constraints you've set they may interfere with the positioning of your views. So either turn off AutoLayout or ensure the constraints don't hinder your view being centered.

Related

Gravity in iOS like in android

Is there any easy way to center controls in a view in iOS like using android:gravity="center_horizontal" in android? I could calculate the position for each control before adding it and recalculate when the screen is rotated, but I'm wondering if there is a better solution for this.
Please pay attention, layout_gravity is different from gravity in Android.
layout_gravity is for the alignment in container view and gravity for the content alignment in self.
After reading your question, I think you mean layout_gravity not gravity.
Okay, Let's discuss about UIStackView.
What is UIStackView ,as the documentation said , it is just a container view which can control the distribution, aligment, spacing ,xxx on its subviews, and is created with autoLayout, it means you don't need to manage those constraints on the subviews.
As you see, the alignment of stackView will apply to all the controls on it not single one.
To achieve the effect like layout_gravity , you have to manage the constraints manually .
and the constraints on the center button .

Animating views constrained with auto layout

Just for fun I started to play with animations after successfully applying them to some basic background color changes. I have some different images on my "welcome/splash" view that I would like to animate. One image should appear from the bottom, another from the top and so on.
I immediately ran into trouble since I am using auto layout it was not that easy as animating background colors. I found this post How do I animate constraint changes? and after doing what was described at least my image was animating. However, is it correct that the console window should be filled with warnings/info/errors about constraint violations? Also, animating the vertical position of one image causes all the other image to animate too, probably because of some constraint relations.
How are you supposed to deal with that? when animating the "Bottom layout attribute" with a new constant value I expect only the view it belongs to animate, not the whole screen.
And how are you supposed to refer to the constraints? By outlets?
I am creating my views and constraints in storyboard. I deleted my code for animating the image views since it was just a mess. But whats done with the button and textfields in this tutorial is pretty much what I am trying to do with my images. Without animating one image causing the whole view to animate with it. http://www.raywenderlich.com/113674/ios-animation-tutorial-getting-started
However, is it correct that the console window should be filled with warnings/info/errors about constraint violations?
Learning Auto layout can be a challenge which will fill your days with such warnings/info/errors about constraints. Many iOS developer's struggle with Auto Layout at first. Auto layout is an addition to the layout process. The issue here is how are you going to deal with them. I suggest reading the Apple Auto Layout Guide, it contains a section on debugging. Also look at the Debugging Tricks and Tips section.
Here's a great article explaining more of the concepts behind Auto layout.
Build a simply app that has only one view and a subview, so that you can reduce the noise around layout constraint errors in more complicated layouts.
Here is a code snippet of how to animate a constraint.
if myViewTrailingConstraint.constant == -2 {
myViewTrailingConstraint.constant = 200
} else {
myViewTrailingConstraint.constant = -2
}
UIView.animateWithDuration(0.3,
animations: {
self.view.layoutIfNeeded()
},
completion: nil)
How are you supposed to deal with that?
Auto layout is an inter connected system of relationships between your views. A constraint represents a relationship. So you really need to think through your view's layout and plan your constraints first. Why? because if you plan to animate certain views you need to need to make sure that the constraint constant you are going to change will effect only that view in question.
And how are you supposed to refer to the constraints? By outlets?
You can create constraints solely in code or with the interface builder (outlets). I would suggest that you start with interface builder as even when you are comfortable working in code, it is useful and time saving to be able to do your initial layout in interface builder - so learn to use both.
Warnings are not normal - you have to solve them to avoid strange effects.
If animating a constraint value of one image moves other images, then indeed you must have some constraints in place that also change - e.g "equal width" constraints or such. Normally it just works - if it doesn't, you have to show the warnings you get and the constraints you set in order for someone to see what is going wrong.

Why do autolayout constraints in Xcode cause my subview to disappear off screen?

I'm trying to figure out how to use autolayout, and there seems to be a lack of info about it on the internet. I placed a view within my view controller with three buttons inside it. Before I place any constraints, the buttons show up on the preview. However, as soon as I make ANY constraints, the whole sub view completely stops showing up in the preview. I made a constraint to center vertically, and then one to place it 25 pixels from the left edge. It should know exactly where to place it, but still nothing shows up.
Any ideas on why constraints cause my buttons to not show up?
With Autolayouts the constraints should be as clear as possible. You can try by adding size constraints as well as fix(right, top or bottom) constraints if necessary.
When you don't use auto-layout it positions everything manually. When you enable auto-layout it switches this behaviour off so you have an unconstrained object, which is why it dissappeared.
Turns out I didn't have constraints on the size of the sub view, so it didn't know how to center it. I didn't think I needed that because I thought it would default to what it's already at.

UIView added with autolayout does not receive taps/events

When I add a subview with autolayout by settings its left, right, top, and height constraints, I cannot add a tap gesture and my buttons do not receive taps.
When I manually set the frame to the position I need and do not use autolayout, I can add gesture recognizers and my buttons are interactive.
Why would a view added with autolayout not respond to events?
I would like to use autolayout since I would like to respond to different orientations and sizes that are more complex than I would like to deal with with manual frame adjustment.
This can happen if you have restricted your view too much using autolayout. For example, you may have accidentally set the height of the view to zero or positioned it outside the area where you put your buttons. Note that the buttons themselves can be positioned in a place that appears correct when you look at them, but they are actually outside the area that the autolayout engine has calculated for the parent view.
Another thing that can hit you, is that if you added all your autolayout contraints programmatically, some contraints in the Interface Builder may still be enabled. You can make sure that IB contraints are ignored by setting view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
Also, pay attention to any runtime autolayout warnings in the console window, they will often tell you if some contraints don't play well together.

How to make subview's position change relate to its superview?Using storyboard's auto layout

when I use old AutosizingMask, I got this
but when switch to new AutoLayout, it seems that I must set an/muti edge of screen, but actually I need none of them.
Why I need this is I want to use just one storyboard to adapt both iphone3.5/4 and ipad,
is there any solution to solve this or achieve my purpose?
thx :)
If I am understanding correctly you want the red square to grow if the container grows.
So for that you would add fixed user constraints to the top, left, bottom and top of a fixed value.
I would recommend using a different Storyboard for the iPad thought because you could preview the changes is Interface Builder.

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