iOS Multiline Label NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail - ios

Question

I have a label with numberOfLines set to 2, lineBreakMode set to NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail. I was expecting that when the text extends beyond two lines, the label will truncate it with ellipses. But what is happening is that although the text is being truncated no ellipses are getting shown.
Why would this be? Thanks.
More details:
Following is the custom class for the UITableViewCell that contains the label (contentLabel) in question. The labels are updated in the loadConversation method.
#interface CPActivityStreamCell ()
#property(nonatomic, weak) CardDeck *cardDeck;
#property(nonatomic, weak) UIImageView *icon;
#end
#implementation CPActivityStreamCell
#synthesize contentLabel, eventLabel, avatarView;
- (void)awakeFromNib {
[super awakeFromNib];
self.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
// Initialize views
[contentLabel setLineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail];
[contentLabel setNumberOfLines:2];
[contentLabel setTextAlignment:NSTextAlignmentLeft];
[contentLabel setTextColor:[UIColor colorWithWhite:0.55 alpha:1.0]];
contentLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
[eventLabel setLineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail];
[eventLabel setNumberOfLines:1];
[eventLabel setTextAlignment:NSTextAlignmentLeft];
[eventLabel setTextColor:[UIColor colorWithWhite:0.55 alpha:1.0]];
eventLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
eventLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:#"Antonio-Regular" size:12];
// Create the icon view
UIImageView *icon = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20.0, 15.0, 16.0, 16.0)];
[self addSubview:icon];
self.icon = icon;
CardDeck *deck = [[CardDeck alloc] initWithFrame:self.contentView.frame numberOfCards:1];
self.backgroundView = deck;
self.cardDeck = deck;
}
- (void)loadConversation:(CPConversation *)conversation {
[self loadAvatars:conversation.avatarUrls];
self.contentLabel.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
self.eventLabel.text = [conversation.eventTitle uppercaseString];
self.eventLabel.textColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.55 alpha:1.0];
self.contentLabel.text = conversation.content;
[self loadEventTypeIcon:conversation.eventType white:NO];
[self updateDeck:conversation withFrame:self.contentView.frame];
if ([conversation.typeString isEqualToString:#"image"]) {
[self loadConversationImage:conversation];
}
}
//other methods
#end
The same label in IB:
Output:
The top cell's contentLabel is set to Start of a really long text to test truncation and display in activity stream. It should be truncated with ellipses. End.:

Answer 1

The problem lies somewhere in the architecture of your initialization procedure, or possibly in something you are doing elsewhere (in code you have not shown in your question). You are saying
[contentLabel setLineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail];
[contentLabel setNumberOfLines:2];
[contentLabel setTextAlignment:NSTextAlignmentLeft];
[contentLabel setTextColor:[UIColor colorWithWhite:0.55 alpha:1.0]];
contentLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
But this code is not being applied to the label we see in the screen shot. That much is clear, because if it were being applied, the text would be a light gray color.
Thus we may conclude that this code is not running or, if it is running, contentLabel is not hooked up property (perhaps it is nil) and the label is unaffected by it.
Finally, I may point out that on my machine I simply ran your code as given, directly, on a UILabel (not in a table view or anything), and it worked:
[contentLabel setLineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail];
[contentLabel setNumberOfLines:2];
[contentLabel setTextAlignment:NSTextAlignmentLeft];
[contentLabel setTextColor:[UIColor colorWithWhite:0.55 alpha:1.0]];
contentLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
contentLabel.text = #"Start of a really long text to test truncation and display in activity stream. It should be truncated with ellipses. End.";
Thus I suggest that either your code is not running or not being applied to the label, or that some other code is coming along and changing the line break mode for this label. It is always best to convince oneself that something works generally for an extremely simple case (like mine, in the preceding code) and then try to figure out why particular results seem to differ from that...