Auto layout: Xcode 6: Centering UI elements - ios

I'm using Interface Builder in Xcode 6 to make an app and am having trouble getting the text fields and button to centre on the screen for different size screens.
I thought it was a matter of selecting horizontal and vertical centering in container but it doesn't seem to be that when I try it in auto layout. Actually I've tinkered around a bit and I still haven't got it.
I just want to be able to see all of my button and text fields for any size iPhone screen and right now simulator is only showing part of these UI elements like this:
I also want to do this in storyboard and not in code as I'm not at the level of doing this in code yet.

Step 1: Make sure your size class covers all the iPhone screen at least in portrait view. So, change the size class to "wCompact hRegular".
Step 2: After setting the size class properly, add the UITextFields and UIButton to your storyboard. To me, it looks something like-
Step 3:
Before, you start adding constraints, you need to remember two things-
a. Your element(UITextField, UIButton, UIView or any component) needs to know its starting position unambiguously, and
b. Your element needs to know its size meaning, its height and width.
In this case, as you want to centre your elements, I am just assuming that it needs to be centred starting from 10 scale from the left edge and should end 10 scales away from the right edge of your iPhone screen. Now, that means, it's width will be different based on the screen size, but its height will be same.
So, I just add the constrains following way for the 1st text box-
Notice, in the size inspector, I set the text box's starting point, x and width in a way that it is 10 pt away from left edge and 10 pt away from the right edge. Don't worry, it's just simple math.
For the 2nd textField, I add the constrain, the same way-
Lastly, for the button, the constrains are following-
Now, you are good to go. Everything is centered.

By using your size class selector in the bottom of the storyboard window, set you sizes as any width and any height and then follow the below auto layout constrains. It will work for you.
First select the view you want to set the auto layout, and then select the pin option from the right bottom corner of your storyboard and then add the constrains as shown in above picture and click button Add 4 constrains
Repeat the process for all views and set the constrains as Fix the top, bottom, left and right constrains of all views except the last button that should be fix from top,left,right and fixed height.

You need to make use of the size class selector in the bottom of the storyboard window.
So for an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus in portrait you would choose a compact width and regular height like this:
And then you would do whatever auto layout stuff for the given device there

Related

IOS adaptive layout using Autolayout

I am working on IOS app and its my first app to be build on IOS. I have good experience of developing Android apps. So I have gathered basic information and knowledge about IOS development. I am working on autolayout. But I am not getting it work completely. I have seen Some developers are working on code, But I just want to use IB as I believe there will be some way to handle this.
So looking for help, Please do not down vote my this post As I am posting this after trying almost everything I get on internet.
First take a look at what I have developed and what it is :
in picture there are different numbers of simulator such as Ipad pro 12.9, Ipone 8 plus and I phone se
What I have done so far:
I have taken the View (the white box in middle). I have made it center vertically and center horizontally.
I have set view height as 300 points, and width to match the superview with some margins
I have put the Text Fields for taking Phone and PIN from user and OK button as shown in picture.
Problem & what I want:
- The problem is view is center vertical and horizontal but not its
content are. I want this view to manage its height on the basis of
its content inside. so that It can be looked as center aligned
vertically. Right now its not center align vertically
- Secondly the problem is the width of text fields, as on Ipad they looks too bad. So I really want them to be look good on all devices.
Is there any solution for this using the adaptive/Auto layout? please help me that How can I get this using IB.
Try following solution:-
Fix the width of textfield.
For label use minimum font scale(search on google).
For width and height you have to use adaptive layout.
width = 70% of superview which means multiplier for your view will be 0.7
height = 60% of superview which means multiplier for your view will be 0.6
Refer to the image:-
Equal width with the superview
Set the multiplier as 0.7
#Android Teem,
For this you need to use SizeClasses along with the AutoLayout.
Below I am trying to give you solution.
use items structure as like below. Don't use another UIView inside main view. Instead user StackView. It automatically adjust contents inside it. For more just look for "UIStackView" on Apple Doc.
Next you need to add constraints to stack view as
Leading 10 (for x)
Trailing 10 (for y)
Allign to center (for width)
height stack view will automatically adjust.
Now double click on leading and trailing constraint will open size attributes. Click on "+" icon just before Constant. It will show you a pop up. add Regular Width Regular Height for iPad and set values as 200 (I have give 200, you can give based on your calculation and requirement). this will show like below image
Now Either run or check from preview for all screens. you will get desired results. my changes show result as below
Happy Coding
Here is what you need to do. Go to the storyboard
Right click on the white area of the screen and drag the cursor to the green area.
Few options will appear, select Equal Heights
Now the white dialog box will become equal height to the green screen but don't worry. Select that height constraint and set the
multiplier to let's say 0.5 for 50% height of super view. Repeat the
same for width
Remove the height constraint and hook the bottom most button to the bottom of the view

constraints doesnt keep it in the middle

When I add an image and constraint it to remain in the top-half center of the screen; I would like it to work with all iPhones except it doesnt,.the problem is it only works with iPhone 4 portrait and landscape that I have but when I change the iPhone to iPhone 6 it doest stay in the middle, does anyone know why?
To geta an element in the middle of the screen here are a few tips:
Ensure you drag the object in to the middle of the screen (Horizontally). You will notice guideline's appear up the screen.
Set the constraints on the item which include 'Set Horizontally in container' & Set a top constraint only (You may want a height wand width also, experiment with this.
For an image make sure that you have set your fill property for your application. (Aspect Fill etc)
A good tip to get used to auto layout is to set your view controller to iPhone 4 and design on that (With constraints of course)
Auto-Constraints are rubbish, create them yourself!

What should I do to make generic size of all UI controls in iOS?

I was trying to practice Auto Layout in iOS, and I started with very simple UI. Please see image for understanding my problem.
All the text files are in middle of screen (I have deliberately kept on guide line), still you can see in preview, controls are not fully shown. I have not chosen specific size. Size is 'Inferred' still I am not able to see all the controls on UI.
I tried both adding and removing Auto Layout, but no luck. What should I do to create generic UI which will work with all the sizes of iPhone and iPad.
This image is without use of Auto Layout.
After enable autolayout and size classes you have to apply autolayout constraints.
Autolayout is a detail topic. Few basic things when applying autolayout is:
UI element need four constraints.
position x
Position y
height
width
So you will select first label (Number 1). Then press control and drag to superview. You will be provide options. Select Leading space (This will handle x position)
This is the way you can press control and drag:
http://www.appcoda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/auto-layout-login-trailing.gif
Go to size inspector. You can see the constraint.
Press edit and change its value to 25(for test).
similarly control and drag again to superview and select Top space. (This will set y position for label)
This is simple way for the above taken from AppCoda
http://www.appcoda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/auto-layout-control-drag.gif
You can change the value of these constraints according to your need.
UILabel and uitextfield get width and height from their content size. So don't need width and height constraints.
Now when you preview on any device this label will be stick on top left side of screen.
So this is a complete mechanism. You have to apply constraint to every ui element.
Below is a link to very comprehensive tutorial by
http://www.raywenderlich.com/115440/auto-layout-tutorial-in-ios-9-part-1-getting-started-2
At start this tutorial tried to create three views using autolayout. At the end it shows very similar scenario like yours by applying constraints to button and labels.
The problem here is that your constraints are not set correctly to work with every size of iPhone and iPad. You are setting the leading edge constraint to be a fixed size from your view controller's view to the subviews.
The simplest way to solve this issue would be to have a container view that you center in the view controller's view and then use constraints to set 'Center X Alignment Constraint' and 'Center Y Alignment Constraint' to set the container view's center to that of the view controller and then add your subviews to the container view.
As a side note auto layout has a reputation of being hard to learn, you have to put the time in to learn it, I would start with Apple's Auto Layout Guide.

Xcode Auto Constraints not Working Properly

For some reason when I add constraints, by clicking "Add Missing Constraints," it actually looks worse than without constraints in the iPhone 4S simulator.
Here is how it looks in Xcode:
Here is how it looks in the simulator:
Notice that even with the auto constraints, the top text is hidden in the simulator. I want it to look exactly like it looks in Xcode, but I cannot figure it out. I have played around with the constraints for hours now to no avail. It looks better and better with the bigger screen size I use in the simulator, but I need it to have a universal look across all devices. What am I doing wrong?
First remove all constraint for the view.
1) Apply pin Width and Height constraint for your all three controls.
2) Apply Top space from Top Layout Guid for all three controls.
3) Apply Align Centre Horizontally in Superview of your all your three controls.
After applying above constraints your controls will appear in centre in any device.
I believe the three controls should be centre aligned with the top view and the vertical space between the three controls is constant.
The controls will automatically adjust their width according to the text given. So all you have to do is to only add the constraints for their positions. So each control will need two constraints, only for Y position, another for X position.
And of course, you can change the multiplier of the constrains to support the Landscape orientation.

UICollectionView change flow direction on rotation

Hey, I'd like to obtain what you see in the pictures: in Compact Height mode (landscape iphone) both the red and the blue view have to take all screen vertically and half the screen horizontally. In Compact Width mode (portrait iphone)they have to take all the screen horizontally and half the screen vertically. Space between views should be same size in both modes.
I used to think I have to use size classes and auto-layout constraints, but everything I tried failed miserably.
Maybe I have to use a UICollectionView and change flow direction based on orientation (if that is even possible)?
A collection view is probably overkill, because you don't want scrolling and that's the whole point of a collection view--by the time you do the sizing to stop it you'll have done all the work necessary to set a non-scrolling layout.
This is possible with Size Classes in IB. First, In general you will probably find it helpful to name the views in the Document Outline on the left in IB. You will also want to use this outline rather than try to grab the tiny constraint H-lines.
Set up all the constraints except 1) constraints linking the
OrangeView and BlueView to each other, 2) the constraints linking
the OrangeView to the top and left(leading), and 3) The constraints
linking the BlueView to the bottom and right (trailing).
Change the size class setting at the bottom to w-Compact and
h-Any in the funky box system. Now we're designing for a compact width, so views on top of each other.
Create a constraints for vertical space for BlueView.bottom to
OrangeView.Top. Also create constraint for OrangeView to
superview.leading (or ledaing,margin) and BlueView to
superview.trailing.margin. If you select any one of these constraints and look at the Size Inspector on the right (the ruler) you should see an "installed" checkbox not selected, and below that a w-Compact h-Any and another installed box, this one selected.
Now, while keeping the constraint selected just to see what happens, change the sizeClass selector at the bottom to w-Regular h-Any. Notice that in the Document Outline to the left, it should get grayed out.
Now we are designing for regular, so side-to-side. Add constraints linking the views for horizontal space, BlueView.trailing to OrangeView.leading. Also link OrangeView.top to the superview.top or top aligned to BlueView.top, and same for bottoms. You can manually edit the frame first; if not, IB will automatically fill in the wrong values, so edit these after you create them, and verify they are w-Regular and h-Any. With the ViewController selected, select "update frames" and the views should snap to their expected shape for the size class.
Let us know if this works for you or if it was unclear. Good luck!

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