WatchKit InterfaceController vs ViewController - ios

Question

Are awakeWithContext, willActivate, didDeactivate the same as viewDidLoad, viewWillAppear, viewDidAppear in terms of functionality?
I am porting code from a Swift Apple Watch tutorial that was created back when people had to add their own watch AppViewController file to test their watch apps.
The included files and things have changed with the official watch release of Xcode obviously so I’m wondering where to put where.
For example there is some code in the older AppViewController file and so I just copy/pasted it into the new InterfaceController. I put code that was in viewDidLoad, viewWillAppear, viewDidAppear into awakeWithContext, willActivate, didDeactivate respectively.
It seems the methods are different. I got 1 error saying that setText doesn’t exist:
bpmLabel.setText(currentBeatPattern.bpm) = "\(currentBeatPattern.bpm)"
…and 2 errors saying view doesn’t exist:
iconLabel.frame = self.view.bounds
self.view.insertSubview(iconLabel, atIndex: 1)
It’s like WatchKit doesn’t use some of the normal property methods or something.
Error Messages:
http://i.imgur.com/wXMdt3c.png
override func awakeWithContext(context: AnyObject?) {
super.awakeWithContext(context)
self.view.insertSubview(iconLabel, atIndex: 1) // Xcode error
}
override func willActivate() {
super.willActivate()
iconLabel.frame = self.view.bounds // Xcode error
iconLabel.textAlignment = .Center
iconLabel.font = UIFont.boldSystemFontOfSize(132)
}
override func didDeactivate() {
// This method is called when watch view controller is no longer visible
super.didDeactivate()
newBeat()
NSTimer.scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval(8,
target: self,
selector: Selector("newBeat"),
userInfo: nil,
repeats: true)
beat()
}
func newBeat() {
// 1
if ++currentBeatPatternIndex == beatPatterns.count {
currentBeatPatternIndex = 0
}
// 2
currentBeatPattern = beatPatterns[currentBeatPatternIndex]
// 3
bpmLabel.setText(currentBeatPattern.bpm) = "\(currentBeatPattern.bpm)" // Xcode error
iconLabel.text = currentBeatPattern.icon
}
func beat() {
// 1
UIView.animateWithDuration(currentBeatPattern.duration / 2,
delay: 0.0,
options: .CurveEaseInOut,
animations: {
// 2
self.iconLabel.transform = CGAffineTransformScale(
self.iconLabel.transform, self.shrinkFactor, self.shrinkFactor)
},
completion: { _ in
// 3
UIView.animateWithDuration(self.currentBeatPattern.duration / 2,
delay: 0.0,
options: .CurveEaseInOut,
animations: {
// 4
self.iconLabel.transform = CGAffineTransformScale(
self.iconLabel.transform, self.expandFactor, self.expandFactor)
},
completion: { _ in
// 5
self.beat()
}
)
}
)
}
}

Answer 1

You are right that awakeWithContext, willActivate, and didDeactivate are very similar to the existing UIViewController methods like viewDidLoad, viewWillAppear, and viewDidUnload. The errors you're seeing however are related to the way WatchKit currently works. In order for a watch app to run, all the code is executed on an iPhone but the Apple Watch itself assumes responsibility for the UI elements. What that means is that any views that constitute your watch app MUST be included on your watch app's storyboard. Also, as a direct result, views cannot be instantiated and added to a parent view. All UI elements must be included in your watch app's storyboard and the watch will lay them out based on their arrangement in interface builder. This means you cannot call addSubview and you cannot set an element's frame. You can only adjust its size and set its hidden property to hide or show it on the watch. As far as this method goes –
bpmLabel.setText(currentBeatPattern.bpm) = "\(currentBeatPattern.bpm)"
You are calling the method wrong. In swift the parameters are included in the parentheses. You can call it this way if it's what you mean
bpmLabel.setText("\(currentBeatPattern.bpm)")
but setText is a method that takes a string parameter and cannot be assigned with =
As far as the animations go, I think you're out of luck. Watch apps currently are more like widgets than iOS apps and things like UIView animations and frame math are not available you. You should definitely read
up on WatchKit because there's no way you'll be able to port an iOS app directly to the watch like this.