I feel like this is a very simple question- I've searched high and low for an answer and came up with nothing.
In my UITableViewController I set the text of a UILabel of my custom UITableViewCell (made in the storyboard). I want the width of the label to be the width of the text (which is not that difficult to calculate) PLUS a constant of about 20. I cant see to find a way of setting this?
Should I have to just create the UILabel programmatically? Can autolayout not help me with this issue?
In interface builder this will probably be impossible as you've described it. One thing you can do is specify a different value for the label's intrinsic content size. Create a mini UILabel subclass:
#interface Plus20UILabel : UILabel
#end
#implementation Plus20UILabel
-(CGSize)intrinsicContentSize{
CGSize contentSize = [super intrinsicContentSize];
return CGSizeMake(contentSize.width + 20, contentSize.height);
}
#end
Then specify the label is a Plus20UILabel in IB. This will feed the new value into the AutoLayout engine and adjust the label and everything accordingly.
Related
Im learning iOS development right now, XCode doesnt allow me to edit width and height of buttons which are in stack view:
In the Storyboard I create a new button of size 30 x 30 with a custom image and then make more 5 copies of that button. Then I embed them after selecting all of them in a Stack View. Now a disaster happens, the buttons are resized to god knows what size and they appear huge and when I try to go to size inspector to resize those buttons I see that "Width" and "Height" fields are disabled.
I tried few suggestions on stackoverflow and selected the stack view and change the distribution of stack view to "Fill Equally" but still the buttons size is being changed. I dont want this to happen. I want a fixed size buttons in a horizontal stack view and putting them in stack view should not change the size or shape of buttons like this. Can anyone please tell me how do I fix this problem?
Please help.
Sometime Interface Builder is not easy to handle because it is a running layout system at design-time / IB_DESIGNABLE. You make changes, IB gets triggered to 'think', changes parameters, layouts again, you see it does not fit and you change again.
It can be easier to fix UIStackView's constrains to your outer layout before dropping content that will be arranged by taking intrinsicContentSize of the subviews into its calculation. Even worse, if the stackview does not have complete constrains already and you drop something in as being arranged, it will take the default size as intrinsicContentSize of the dropped view and change the stackview spacing as it should. This is no surprise but it can be frustrating as convenience is disturbing your workflow here.
The docs tell you should not change intrinsicContentSize because it is not meant to be animated, it will even disturb animations and layout or even break constrains. Well, you can not set intrinsicContentSize, it is read-only. As thats for good reasons they could have written that while UIView's are instanced they can have supportive variables which have to be set before laying out which allows you to make pre-calculations.
While in code this can be tricky also, you can subclass UIView to make arranged subview instances more supportive to your needs.
There is UIView's invalidateIntrinsicContentSize that triggers the layout to take changed intrinsicContentSize into the next layout cycle. You still cant set intrinsicContentSize, but thats not needed when you would have a class designed like shown below.
// IntrinsicView.h
#import UIKit
IB_DESIGNABLE
#interface IntrinsicView : UIView
-(instancetype)initWithFrame:(CGRect)rect;
#property IBInspectable CGFloat intrinsicHeight;
#property IBInspectable CGFloat intrinsicWidth;
#end
// IntrinsicView.m
#import "IntrinsicView.h"
#implementation IntrinsicView {
CGFloat _intrinsicHeight;
CGFloat _intrinsicWidth;
}
- (instancetype)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
_intrinsicHeight = frame.size.height;
_intrinsicWidth = frame.size.width;
if ( !(self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) ) return nil;
// your stuff here..
return self;
}
-(CGSize)intrinsicContentSize {
return CGSizeMake(_intrinsicWidth, _intrinsicHeight);
}
-(void)prepareForInterfaceBuilder {
self.frame = CGRectMake(self.frame.origin.x, self.frame.origin.y, _intrinsicWidth,_intrinsicHeight);
}
#end
Now this gives you control of the behaviour when UIStackView will layout.
Let's look at instancing of your UIStackView.
#import "IntrinsicView.h"
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
UIStackView *column = [[UIStackView alloc] initWithFrame:self.view.frame];
column.spacing = 2;
column.alignment = UIStackViewAlignmentFill;
column.axis = UILayoutConstraintAxisVertical; //Up-Down
column.distribution = UIStackViewDistributionFillEqually;
CGFloat quadratur = 30.0;
for (int row=0; row<5; row++) {
IntrinsicView *supportiveView = [[IntrinsicView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, quadratur, quadratur)];
// supportiveView stuff here..
[column addArrangedSubview:supportiveView];
}
[self.view addSubview:column];
}
Don't forget IntrinsicView's intrinsicContentSize is set before instancing is complete, so this example takes frame size at initWithFrame as intended and stores that size to be used when intrinsicContentSize is asked. Having that still needs that UIStackView is large enough to layout nicely but you forced the arranged subviews to that intrinsic size. Btw. the example is arranged up..down.
You can use the IntrinsicView in Interface Builder, just change the views inside UIStackView to the above written class. IB will automatically update the designable API and serve you propertys you can set up. This still needs the StackView to have at least width and height set and also constrains if needed. But it takes away the impression your width and height of arranged views would have any effect other than expected, because IntrinicViews height + width is inactive in IB then.
Just to show you how much this improves your possibilities in IB, see image
I am using a UITableViewCell which contains few ImageView and Labels. I have given the image of how the cell looks for your reference. I need the Content label to expand and contract based on the text within it, without disturbing any other views inside the cell. I am new to AutoLayouts and I am facing issues with it. Please help.
You need to add a NSLayoutConstraint in the storyboard and then hook it up to a property in your code. Here is an example of one I did with width, but you can do the same with height.
The referencing outlet in the .h file is:
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet NSLayoutConstraint *constraintAuctionHouseNameWidth;
Then in the .m Controller file I figure out the size of the new label and set the constraint to that as shown below.
You then need to figure out the size of the text in your label, which is going to determine the size of the label to show it in. Here is how I do it: (auctionHouseObject.name is the text that goes into the label)
//calculate width of label
CGRect r = [auctionHouseObject.name boundingRectWithSize:CGSizeMake(350, 0)
options:NSStringDrawingUsesLineFragmentOrigin
attributes:#{NSFontAttributeName:[UIFont fontWithName:#"Montserrat-Bold" size:15]}
context:nil];
Then I set the width programmatically. (auctionHouseNameLabelMaxWidth is different depending on the screen width of the phone)
if(r.size.width < auctionHouseNameLabelMaxWidth){
cell.constraintAuctionHouseNameWidth.constant = r.size.width + 2;
}
else{
cell.constraintAuctionHouseNameWidth.constant = auctionHouseNameLabelMaxWidth;
}
Set the other constraints in the storyboard and Autolayout should take care of the rest.
I am struggling with maybe a bit of a rookie issue. I have a UIView within which I display some price. I want the UIView to be of a dynamic width according to the price, if its 1 Euro, then it will be e.g. 20pt, if its 2300 Euro, then it will be like 50pt in width.
I was trying to use the storyboard's constraints but without luck. Is it possible to do it within storyboard or do I have to calculate the width of UILabel and then set the width of UIView programmatically?
Thank you in advance.
Yes, you can do this in the storyboard. Add a label to your view and pin it to the left and right edge (top and bottom if you want also). Give the view constraints to its superview in the x and y directions, but do not give it a width constraint (it will need a height constraint if you didn't pin the top and bottom of the label to it). The view should then expand with the label depending on its content.
In general, auto layout is performed in a top-down fashion. In other words, a parent view layout is performed first, and then any child view layouts are performed. So asking the system to size the parent based on the child is a bit like swimming upstream, harder to do, but still possible with some work.
One solution is to use the intrinsic size of a view.
For example, a UILabel has an intrinsic size based on the text in the label. If a UILabel has a leading constraint and a top constraint, but no other constraints, then its width and height are determined by its intrinsic size.
You can do the same thing with a custom view class that encloses a UILabel. By setting the intrinsic size of the custom view class based on the intrinsic size of the UILabel, you get a view that automatically resizes based on the text in the label.
Here's what the code looks like for the custom class. The .h file defines a single property text. The .m file has an IBOutlet to the child label. Setting and getting the text property simply sets or gets the text from the label. But there's one very important twist, setting the text invalidates the intrinsic size of the parent. That's what makes the system adjust the size of the parent view. In the sample code below the parent is sized to have an 8 pixel margin all around the UILabel.
SurroundView.h
#interface SurroundView : UIView
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *text;
#end
SurroundView.m
#interface SurroundView()
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *childLabel;
#end
#implementation SurroundView
- (void)setText:(NSString *)text
{
self.childLabel.text = text;
[self invalidateIntrinsicContentSize];
}
- (NSString *)text
{
return( self.childLabel.text );
}
- (CGSize)intrinsicContentSize
{
CGSize size = self.childLabel.intrinsicContentSize;
size.height += 16;
size.width += 16;
return( size );
}
#end
Creating the IBOutlet to the childLabel can be a little tricky, so here's the procedure
drag out a UIView into the storyboard
use the Identity inspector to change the class to SurroundView
drag out a UILabel and add it as a subview of the SurroundView
select the label, and open the assistant editor
show SurroundView.m in the assistant
drag from the open circle to the label as shown below
All that's left is to get the constraints right. The constraints for the label should look like this
The constraints for the SurroundView should be as shown below. The key point is that the Intrinsic Size should be set to Placeholder to avoid the warnings about missing constraints.
Place the label inside the view and pin its TOP , BOTTOM , TRAILING and LEADING edges to the labels superview. Note that you do not specify the width constraint. Now add a height and width constraint to the view. Make an outlet to the width constraint and when the price changes set the view's width constraint's constant to your desired value. Since the label is pinned to the view it will expand too.
I am trying to create a custom container view that has a UIImageView and a multiline UILabel as subviews. To make the view work nicely with autolayout, I am overriding intrinsicContentSize as below:
- (CGSize)intrinsicContentSize
{
return [self sizeThatFits:self.bounds.size];
}
The size calculated in sizeThatFits has the same width, and adjusts the height so that the label and image are not clipped. This works well, but I was surprised to see in the docs the following comment:
This intrinsic size must be independent of the content frame, because there’s no way to dynamically communicate a changed width to the layout system based on a changed height, for example.
If that is the case, what is the autolayout way to adjust the views current height based on its width and content? Should I be approaching this in a different way?
To answer my own question, it appears that there is not an autolayout suitable solution to this situation. Looking to UILabel for inspiration, the problem here has been solved with the addition of a property preferredMaxLayoutWidth, which can then be used as a constraining width during the intrinsic content size calculation. Any custom view would need to use something similar.
I think the doc means that, your containerView might have a placeHolderFrame as content frame.
intrinsic size should not be related to the content frame, but only to it's own subContent.
Your image and UILabel for example.
You should calculate both height and the width from the label and the image.
Which should be easy, since they all have intrinsic size.
Just my opinion...
I guess you could use UILabel's new preferredMaxLayoutWidth property to layout label correctly and use other approaches to layout other stuff.
Something like this:
- (void)layoutSubviews
{
...
[super layoutSubviews]; // get width from solved constraints
label.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = label.frame.size.width; // use it
[super layoutSubviews]; // update height of a label (probably intrinsicContentSize)
...
}
Align the bottom edge of the containing view with both the image and the label.
[self alignBottomEdgeWithView:labelView predicate:#"10"];
Details in http://code.dblock.org/ios-uiview-with-an-image-and-text-with-dynamic-height.
I have a UIButton and it can change the title at the runtime. Therefore, I want to increase the UIButton height depend on the title text for display full text by using AutoLayout.
I can increase the UILabel height by set the height constraint to "Greater than or Equal" but it not work with UIButton.
I have used [myButton sizeToFit] but it only increase the UIButon width (not increase height).
My current UIButton properties now is
- constraint height: 30
- leading : 15
- trailing: 15
- top: 5
- fontsize: 12
UPDATE
I created an IBOutlet for constraint height of UIButton for changing the height as #NSNood said.
Then I need to use \n in title text to split line.
But I don't know where should I put the \n?
Here is the Button that I want in portrait
Here is the Button that I want in landscape
How can I determine the place to put \n?
Please guide me how to achieve it with AutoLayout. Any help would be appreciated.
Sorry that I didn't follow the post, lately and thus am coming up with a real late solution. Still I'm writing the answer as a reference, if someone might find it useful in future.
First of all let's show the storyboard configuration for the button. Those are depicted in the following pictures:
The picture shows that I have added only left, top and right constraints for the button and nothing else. This allows the button to have some intrinsicContentSize for it's height but it's width is still determined by it's left and right constraints.
The next phase is to write some ViewController class that shall contain the button. In my VC, I have created an outlet for the button by name button:
#property(nonatomic,weak) IBOutlet UIButton* button;
and has attached it to the storyboard button. Now I have overridden two methods, namely, viewDidLoad and viewWillLayoutSubviews like below:
-(void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
self.button.titleLabel.numberOfLines = 0;
self.button.titleLabel.lineBreakMode = NSLineBreakByWordWrapping;
}
-(void)viewWillLayoutSubviews {
[super viewWillLayoutSubviews];
[self.button setTitle:#"Chapter One\n "
"A Stop on the Salt Route\n "
"1000 B.C.\n "
"As they rounded a bend in the path that ran beside the river, Lara recognized the silhouette of a fig tree atop a nearby hill. The weather was hot and the days were long. The fig tree was in full leaf, but not yet bearing fruit." forState:UIControlStateNormal];
}
The viewDidLoad method ensures the titleLabel (the label that
holds button text) is multiline and if some large text comes to it,
it wraps the text by wrapping words.
The viewWillLayoutSubviews method ensures button layouting process
occurs whenever bounds of the main view change, e.g. due to the
change of interface orientation.
The final and the most effective part is to manually handle the layout process for the button. For this purpose, we need to subclass UIButton. I have written a subclass named MyButton that inherits from UIButton and you might use whatever name you like. Set this as the custom class for the button in Identity Inspector.
The subclass overrides two methods, namely, intrinsicContentSize and layoutSubviews. The class body looks something like the following:
#import "MyButton.h"
#implementation MyButton
-(CGSize)intrinsicContentSize {
return [self.titleLabel sizeThatFits:CGSizeMake(self.titleLabel.preferredMaxLayoutWidth, CGFLOAT_MAX)];;
}
-(void)layoutSubviews {
self.titleLabel.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = self.frame.size.width;
[super layoutSubviews];
}
#end
The UIButon subclass takes the ownership of the layout process by overriding layoutSubviews method. The basic idea here is to determine the button width, once it has been layout. Then setting the width as preferredMaxLayoutWidth (the maximum width for layouting engine, that a multiline label should occupy) of it's child titleLabel (the label that holds button text). Finally, returning an intrinsicContentSize for the button based on it's titleLabel's size, so that the button fully wraps it's titleLabel.
The overridden layoutSubviews is called when the button is already
layed out and it's frame size is determined. At it's first step,
button's rendered width is set as preferredMaxLayoutWidth of the
button's titleLabel.
The second step re-invokes the layouting engine by calling [super
layoutSubviews], so that the buttons intrinsicContentSize is
re-determined based on it's titleLabel's
preferredMaxLayoutWidth, which is set to buttons rendered width,
by now.
In the overridden intrinsicContentSize method we return the
minimum fitting size for the button that fully wraps it's
titleLabel with preferredMaxLayoutWidth set. We use
sizeThatFits fits method on the button's titleLabel and that
simply works as titleLabel doesn't follow any constraint based
layout.
The outcome should be something similar to that you might have required.
Feel free to let me know about any other clarification/concern.
Thanks.
Ayan Sengupta solution in Swift, with support for contentEdgeInsets (thanks Claus Jørgensen):
(You may also further customize the code to take titleEdgeInsets into account if needed)
Subclass your UIButton to take the ownership of the layout process:
/// https://stackoverflow.com/a/50575588/1033581
class AutoLayoutButton: UIButton {
override var intrinsicContentSize: CGSize {
var size = titleLabel!.sizeThatFits(CGSize(width: titleLabel!.preferredMaxLayoutWidth - contentEdgeInsets.left - contentEdgeInsets.right, height: .greatestFiniteMagnitude))
size.height += contentEdgeInsets.left + contentEdgeInsets.right
return size
}
override func layoutSubviews() {
titleLabel?.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = frame.size.width
super.layoutSubviews()
}
}
Use this class in your storyboard, and set constraints for Leading, Trailing, Top, Bottom. But don't set any Height constraint.
An alternative without subclassing is to add a wrapper view as suggested by Bartłomiej Semańczyk answer and Timur Bernikowich comment.
The point is that if you set sizeToFit property, then the text will always be in one line and the width of the button will increase unless you put a next-line sign \n to explicitly say that you want it to be several lines.
You put '\n' in the end of the first line like "line \n line" which represents
line
line
If you want to have two different string values (with \n positioned differently) for Portrait and Landscape you can check the orientation condition using UIDeviceOrientation (UIDevice.currentDevice.orientation) described here and set a string value depending on the orientation of the device
There is a way I always used:
Add another reference UILabel which lineNumber=0 and the same width with the target button.
Do not set height constraint for the ref-UILable, and should set a height constraint for the button to adjust its height
Set the same text to the ref UILabel with the button.titleLable, sizeTofit it and get its frame.size.height
Use the height value to the height constraint of the target button. (Of course, the button.titleLabel linenumber should be set to 0 or more lines)
Done. :)
PS1. This way can be used for the button and ref-label in a scrollview.
PS2. In some case, we can not get the correct height of the ref-label because it cannot gain a correct frame.width in scrollview, especially when we use the trailling constraint. We could consider to define a fixed width to the ref-label before sizeTofit and obtain the correct height for target button use.