I need a little help to understand the viewDidLAyoutSubviewsmethod and how to safely use it.
I need to edit some of my subviews programmatically before the viewDidAppear method. And in order for it to work properly I of course need to wait until the targeted subviews are layed out before I edit them.
Now I thought this was what the viewDidLayoutSubviewsmethod was for, but when I tested it I found out that it was actually called two times before my viewDidAppear method. I tried to edit my subviews only the first time viewDidLayoutSubviews was called, because I just want to run [self editMySubviews] once, but then the targeted subview wasn't ready and it got messed up. This is how I tried:
- (void)viewDidLayoutSubviews {
if (!myBoolean) {
[self editMySubviews];
myBoolean = YES;
}
}
Of course if I remove the if-statement it fixes itself next time the method is called, but I only want [self editMySubviews]to be called once.
So my question is, when I can call the [self editMySubviews] method before the viewDidAppear method, and be 100% sure that all subviews are ready to be edited? Now in my case the viewDidLayoutSubviews gets called two times before viewDidAppear, but will that be the case every time? Is it safe to just call [self editMySubviews] after the second time viewDidLayputSubviews is called?
According to your comment you said
Editing some button constraints according to its superView.frame.size.width which is different on different devices
After viewdidload you will get the proper size from view.bounds
so you can easily set/update constraint and add at the end of this
setNeedsUpdateConstraints and layoutIfNeeded method call
I need to update a constraint programmatically in my project to adjust a view's height accordingly (based on different subviews). I've made outlet of the constraint in my controller but facing an issue.
when I try to update this for the first time (in viewDidLoad or viewWillAppear method), it's not updated. and if i update it afterwards (because of some rotation etc), then it is done correctly. Kindly tell me why this is happening and what is the right way/place to do this? (As i feel that the constraint is updated somewhere again after my updation in viewWillAppear/DidLoad).
I tried view.layoutIfNeeded as well but it didn't help. I guess it has something to do with viewDidLoad and other viewController delegate methods
P.S. I'm also using size classes in my project but I think it has nothing to do with that as it's working in some cases.
Updating constraints may not work in viewWillAppear.
It will, however, work in viewDidAppear.
There are other places you may overwrite, such as: (using static BOOL shouldRefreshView = NO; for the first time)
- (void)viewDidLayoutSubviews
{
[super viewDidLayoutSubviews];
if(shouldRefreshView) {
shouldRefreshView = NO;
[self.view layoutIfNeeded];
}
}
In the UIViewControllers where I don't use .xib files, I've been creating my UI elements in the viewDidLoad methods. E.g.,
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
// Setup table
self.tableView=[[UITableView alloc] initWithFrame:self.view.frame];
[self.tableView setDataSource:self];
[self.tableView setDelegate:self];
[self.view addSubview:self.tableView];
// Setup custom cells
UINib *lessonNib=[UINib nibWithNibName:#"CustomCell" bundle:nil];
[[self tableView] registerNib:lessonNib forCellReuseIdentifier:#"CustomCellID"];
}
For the most part, this is working fine. But, in the process of investigating a bug associated with dynamic cell heights, I'm curious: is this the appropriate spot to add my UI elements?
Thanks for reading.
I would say it is the right place, yes. Since this method is only called once for sure and is called before anything of your view is shown on screen. And therefore you don´t risk creating them twice or even more often or too late.
But your layout should be done at a different place - in viewWillLayoutSubviews:
When a view's bounds change, the view adjusts the position of its subviews. Your view controller can override this method to make changes before the view lays out its subviews. The default implementation of this method does nothing.
You could also overwrite the corresponding viewDidLayoutSubviews
Regarding your comment: yes, layout information is not yet present in viewDidLoad, self.view.frame for example is not guaranteed to be the actual frame that your view will be displayed in later on. Further more a frame change by some part of your code would cause your UI to not respond if you set their size and position only on load.
Note: Setting up your subviews via code is far more tedious than just designing them in a storyboard - I would heavily recommend that if you don´t have serious concerns against using them.
I see different examples where constraints are set. Some set them in viewDidLoad / loadView (after the subview was added). Others set them in the method updateViewConstraints, which gets called by viewDidAppear.
When I try setting constraints in updateViewContraints there can be a jumpiness to the layout, e.g. slight delay before the view appears. Also, if I use this method, should I clear out existing constraints first i.e. [self.view [removeConstraints:self.view.constraints]?
I set up my constraints in viewDidLoad/loadView (I'm targeting iOS >= 6). updateViewConstraints is useful for changing values of constraints, e.g. if some constraint is dependent on the orientation of the screen (I know, it's a bad practice) you can change its constant in this method.
Adding constraints in viewDidLoad is showed during the session "Introduction to Auto Layout for iOS and OS X" (WWDC 2012), starting from 39:22. I think it's one of those things that are said during lectures but don't land in the documentation.
UPDATE: I've noticed the mention of setting up constraints in Resource Management in View Controllers:
If you prefer to create views programmatically, instead of using a
storyboard, you do so by overriding your view controller’s loadView
method. Your implementation of this method should do the following:
(...)
3.If you are using auto layout, assign sufficient constraints to each of
the views you just created to control the position and size of your
views. Otherwise, implement the viewWillLayoutSubviews and
viewDidLayoutSubviews methods to adjust the frames of the subviews in
the view hierarchy. See “Resizing the View Controller’s Views.”
UPDATE 2: During WWDC 2015 Apple gave a new explanation of updateConstraints and updateViewConstraints recommended usage:
Really, all this is is a way for views to have a chance to make changes to constraints just in time for the next layout pass, but it's often not actually needed.
All of your initial constraint setup should ideally happen inside Interface Builder.
Or if you really find that you need to allocate your constraints programmatically, some place like viewDidLoad is much better.
Update constraints is really just for work that needs to be repeated periodically.
Also, it's pretty straightforward to just change constraints when you find the need to do that; whereas, if you take that logic apart from the other code that's related to it and you move it into a separate method that gets executed at a later time, your code becomes a lot harder to follow, so it will be harder for you to maintain, it will be a lot harder for other people to understand.
So when would you need to use update constraints?
Well, it boils down to performance.
If you find that just changing your constraints in place is too slow, then update constraints might be able to help you out.
It turns out that changing a constraint inside update constraints is actually faster than changing a constraint at other times.
The reason for that is because the engine is able to treat all the constraint changes that happen in this pass as a batch.
I recommend creating a BOOL and setting them in the -updateConstraints of UIView (or -updateViewConstraints, for UIViewController).
-[UIView updateConstraints]: (apple docs)
Custom views that set up constraints themselves should do so by overriding this method.
Both -updateConstraints and -updateViewConstraints may be called multiple times during a view's lifetime. (Calling setNeedsUpdateConstraints on a view will trigger this to happen, for example.) As a result, you need to make sure to prevent creating and activating duplicate constraints -- either using a BOOL to only perform certain constraint setup only once, or by making sure to deactivate/remove existing constraints before creating & activating new ones.
For example:
- (void)updateConstraints { // for view controllers, use -updateViewConstraints
if (!_hasLoadedConstraints) {
_hasLoadedConstraints = YES;
// create your constraints
}
[super updateConstraints];
}
Cheers to #fresidue in the comments for pointing out that Apple's docs recommend calling super as the last step. If you call super before making changes to some constraints, you may hit a runtime exception (crash).
This should be done in ViewDidLoad, as per WWDC video from Apple and the documentation.
No idea why people recommend updateConstraints. If you do in updateConstraints you will hit issues with NSAutoresizingMaskLayoutConstraint with auto resizing because your views have already taken into account the auto masks. You would need to remove them in updateConstraints to make work.
UpdateConstraints should be for just that, when you need to 'update' them, make changes etc from your initial setup.
Do it in view did layout subviews method
override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
super.viewDidLayoutSubviews()
}
I have this solution to change constraints before those who are in the storyboard are loaded.
This solution removes any lags after the view is loaded.
-(void)updateViewConstraints{
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
//Modify here your Constraint -> Activate the new constraint and deactivate the old one
self.yourContraintA.active = true;
self.yourContraintB.active= false;
//ecc..
});
[super updateViewConstraints]; // This must be the last thing that you do here -> if! ->Crash!
}
You can set them in viewWillLayoutSubviews: too:
override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {
if(!wasViewLoaded){
wasViewLoaded = true
//update constraint
//also maybe add a subview
}
}
This worked for me:
Swift 4.2
override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(animated)
// Modify your constraints in here
...
}
Although honestly I am not sure if it is worth it. It seems a bit slower to load than in viewDidLoad(). I just wanted to move them out of the latter, because it's getting massive.
Add your constraints in viewWillLayoutSubviews() to add constraints programmatically
See Apple Documentation in Custom Layout Section
If possible, use constraints to define all of your layouts. The
resulting layouts are more robust and easier to debug. You should only
override the viewWillLayoutSubviews or layoutSubviews methods when you
need to create a layout that cannot be expressed with constraints
alone.
Following example is to pass any view to another class. create my view from storyboard
Swift 5.0
override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(animated)
DispatchQueue.main.async {
self.abcInstance = ABC(frame: self.myView.frame)
}
}
If you miss DispatchQueue.main.async, it will take time to update constraints in viewWillAppear. Create myView in storyboard and give constraints same as screen width & height, then try printing frame of myView. It will give accurate value in DispatchQueue.main.async or in viewDidAppear but not give accurate value in viewWillAppear without DispatchQueue.main.async.
I have an issue and here how it goes,
I have a view with a subview, the subview is loaded conditionally, only if the parent view is setHidden property is set to YES;
something like [parentView setHidden:YES] and if([parentView isHidden]),
I want to call a method when the orientation changes and that is the cited snippet above, but I have observed that the method shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation is called 4 times during loading and 2 times during runtime, since the method is called more than once, how can I possibly implement a method call ideally since apple's existing method doesn't seem to give me the intuitiveness to put my custom method call with the existing method.
If I would hack this thing, it is possible, but somebody might have a better idea before resorting to things that in the future would just cause me more trouble than benefit.
TIA
Have you tried with
- (void)willAnimateRotationToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)toInterfaceOrientation
duration:(NSTimeInterval)duration {
// check here for your desired rotation
}