Why does UIButton resize when I access titleLabel property? - ios

I'm trying to adjust the size of a button to (it's intrinsic size + a little bit more) in order to draw a custom background. However, every time I access self.titleLabel within the button, the size and position resnaps to that of the storyboard. I don't have to do anything with the label to reproduce this, just retrieve it from the button.
I've put logging code all over my button and view controller in order to find where this is happening. It's not coming from a relaying-out of subviews or any other notification I see to get within the view controller. The line before accessing titleLabel, the position and size are correct. The line after, it has snapped back to the storyboard position. Commenting out the access prevents the size/position snapping. Can someone tell me where or why this is happening?
I have no constraints set (that I can tell), but am I fighting against auto-layout here? Should I be doing this a different way like composing controls or something?
Something similar (or the same?) has been asked before at UIButton modifying titlelabel seems to change its frame and UIButton titleLabel resizes on press?, but both were left unanswered or explained away with just "maybe a bug."

If the project has auto-layout enabled, then YES, you're fighting auto-layout. You have two choices, either subclass UIButton so that you can override the intrinsic size calculation, or modify the constraints so that the intrinsic size is not used in any constraint. If you do the latter, then you probably want to create an IBOutlet to the constraint for the width, so that you can adjust the constant property as needed.

This isn't a bug, it's a consequence of auto layout. When using auto layout, you shouldn't set any frames. Instead, you should change the size or position by modifying the constraints. What's happening, is that whenever the view needs to be redrawn, the frame reverts to the frame that's defined by the constraints.

Related

Move UILabel using Autolayout constrains in XIB only?

Possible a duplicate, but I tried could not make it work so came here.
I (new to autolayout) have two UILabel place one below each other with fixed height space.Both can increase with as per text with in it.
When First UILabel hides bottom should move to First place. How to do it using constraints in view only? I know how to do by creating IBOutlet connection of constraints for second UILabel.
EDIT:
Given question is about more about content hugging related, where as my question is add constrains to move to first UILabel position when first hides.
The only way to achieve what you want with AutoLayout is to set constant of all related constraints to zero. And remember NEVER try to set frame or bounds of your view if you are using AutoLayout(unless you override layoutSubviews and do the stuff in that method, which you rarely need to).
You can check out this tiny project: https://github.com/neevek/UIView-Visibility, I bet that is what you want :-)

iOS: Getting height of views with programatically added constraints as only indicator

Hello there fellow iOS programmers. While creating an app I've ran into a problem I can't seem to find an answer to. Let's lay it out:
I'm creating a UIViewController with a UIScrollView as it's only child. Inside this view I have a UIView, and inside of this there is a list of UIViews with UILabels inside them. As you all know you need to specify a contentSize for a UIScrollView.
The problem is that the list needs to be dynamic with it's content, and I therefore have no way to know the views heights beforehand. I'm adding all views with constraints where the height is set to ">=0".
When I later try to set the height of the UIScrollView I need to either get the height of the UIView that the list is inside, or get the origin.y and height of the last view in the list. This of course needs to be ready by the time the view is displayed to the user.
I've currently tried view.systemLayoutSizeFittingSize(UILayoutFittingCompressedSize), which returned 0; view.systemLayoutSizeFittingSize(UILayoutFittingExpandedSize), which returned 10000; and view.origin.y + view.frame.height, which also returns 0. It seems to me like the constraints haven't taken effect yet.
I've tried setting both constraints and UIScollView.contentSize from viewDidLoad(). I've also tried to set constraints in viewDidLoad and setting contentSize in viewWillAppear; this yielded the same results. Setting constraints in viewWillAppear and setting contentSize in viewDidLoad only caused a crash.
Bottom-line: When should I set up the UIScrollView.contentSize if I want to get view.height or similar methods to return a correct result, while at the same time be ready by the time the user sees the view?
Btw, I'm making this app in Swift, so answers in this language is preferred, but I'm able to translate from Objective-C to Swift; post in whatever suits you best.
Thank you! :)
You say:
As you all know you need to specify a contentSize for a UIScrollView.
No, as TN2154 says, the constraints between the scroll view and its subviews are "interpreted as the content size of the scroll view" (emphasis added). This is a boon, because you no longer have to mess around with contentSize if doing auto-layout. Just set the constraints for the scroll view's subviews and the content size takes care of itself. This leverages the labels' intrinsic size (and make sure that the label's numberOfLines to zero).
The only trick is that it sometimes cannot figure out the correct width of the labels (because the trailing constraint is to the scroll view's content size, it will sometimes make the scroll view a horizontally scrolling one). You can remedy this by either manually setting preferredMaxLayoutWidth or by setting a width constraint between the label and the scroll view's superview.
Personally, while I understand the inclination to add the UIView containers between the scroll view and the labels, I'd suggest losing them unless you need them for some other reason. IMHO, it simply complicates the constraints unnecessarily. It's hairy enough as it is. Obviously, if these containers bear other utility for you, then go ahead and keep them (and they'll work fine), but if you're doing this simply for the sake of the constraints, you might consider eliminating them.

How do you override a storyboard element/view on iOS?

I have a UITextView set in my storyboard at a certain position. When the app first loads up, I would like the textView to be at a different position then where it is in the storyboard. I do this programmatically by setting its frame to a different frame with a different origin (later the textView will be animated back to the original position). But no matter how I do it, the app always starts up with the textView in its storyboard assigned position. I can't seem to do this anywhere... viewDidLoad:, viewWillAppear:, nothing works. How can I override it?
One other thing... lets say the textView has a different origin then it does in its storyboard (the frame was reset at some point in the app). If I add a subview to the textview using addSubView:, the textView resets to its original position in the storyboard. Why?! Any way to stop this?
If you want to change the position of the textView when it starts up, I'd suggest that you do not have it in the storyboard and instead add it to the subview with its correct frame.
Especially with Autolayout in effect, having it there already means you would have to modify its constraints and if you're modifying its position programmatically already anyway, you might as well add it to the view programmatically too where you have more control over its constraints programmatically as well.
Under auto layout you can't set frames - well, you can, but as soon as another layout pass takes place, the frame will be reset to that defined by the constraints.
The simplest way to change the size or position of views you've laid out in interface builder using auto layout is to create outlets to the various constraints, and then edit their constant properties. If that doesn't give you enough flexibility, you still need outlets to the constraints, but when you want to move things you'll have to delete those constraints and add new ones.

Set UIView height based on inner view height using constraints

I have one UIView and inside that, N UILabels which are laid out relative to each other.
The containing UIView has a background color, I want to extend the UIView to be high enough to cover all labels inside it, so the background color is behind them all.
(I'm embedding them in a UIView so I can have the labels inset from the view edges.)
Is there away to make the UIView's height expand to fill its content? I can't figure it from the constraint options, it seems like its all relative to superviews.
Normally I'd just work out the frame sizes programatically in viewDidAppear but those are getting reset by the constraints system, AFAIK.
I think I actually worked it out though.
I had the labels height set manually from when I drag-dropped and resized it. Deleting the height constraint on the UILabel made it size to fit content, which causes its superview to resize too. At least I think that's the case, I'm new to constraints.
Will leave the question up since it will probably bite someone else too.

Constraints changed when modifying UIViewController.frame

I have a UIViewController which I add to another UIViewController as a child. When the child gets added, the parent set frame on my child using childVC.frame = ...., but this fubars my constraints.
I can duplicate this issue in IB easily. Create a UIViewController, change the size to be "Freeform" and ditch the status bar (just so it looks right visually). Add in a UIButton (or anything) and constraints so so they are both the same size (see image below)
Now change the size of the top level view in the view controller and watch what happens.
It changed my constraints on me. I wanted my button to just get bigger and still hold the original constraints. Something which happens automatically if you toggle between iPhone retina 3.5/4.0 in screen or change from landscape to portrait. But why not when I resize the view? This is making a royal pain to lay things out in freeform and test different sizes.
More importantly... why does the exact same thing happen when I set the frame in code when I add the child for my VC and how do I prevent it?
Frame based calculations and Auto Layout are not compatible. Or at least, they mean stormy waters. That's why you are having issues. Having switched to Auto Layout you have to accept that you no longer manipulate frame directly.
So, you cannot do childVC.frame = whatever.
Instead, you must now use Auto Layout to update the size of childVC.frame. Do that by creating - in IB - an IBOutlet that is the width constraint of childVC. Similarly, create another IBOutlet that is the childVC height constraint.
In your view controller, update the constant value to change the size.
myWidthConstraint.constant = 123.f;
The place to do this is in the controller's updateViewConstraints method, or in the case of a view, updateConstraints.
That said, it's better to set up Auto Layout so that you don't need any programmatic updates. When properly defined, it will know how to handle things with the view's bounds change. To be honest, it should only be necessary to update sizes programmatically if you want to do something more unusual.
Can I just say however that you are better

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