I have a requirement in my app to display a bunch of information that includes both text and images. It will be quite long, so it will need to be scrollable to access all the content.
I know that I can achive this by programmatically adding different UILabels, UIImages etc to a UIScrollView. But this is a proof of concept, so I'm looking for something a little quicker than having to work out all the positioning and code required. The information is static anyway, and does not need to interact with code.
Is there a way to do this using the interface builder (storyboard or xib is fine)?
you definitely can do that if you simply want a quick interface
1.> you might need to know how long is your scroll view, for example in my case, i set it to 1568
2.> Then i drag all the controls that will fit for the first 568 pixel view onto the scroll view and position them.
3.> Then change the Y value for that scroll view to something like - 500, so you can see the rest of the scroll view, and put everything you need there.
4.> After you have all your controls, and remember to set the frame back to 0,0,320,568
5.> last step, in your code, set SCROLLVIEW.contentSize = CGSizeMake(320, 1568);
I would still suggestion don't hard code all those values, but if you are looking for a quick way to do your interface, hope that gives you some ideas.
Just start a new project with a single view, it will come with a xib or storyboard for its single ViewController.
Create a UIView by dragging it into the workspace and place as many Labels, Images and UI Elements as you want.
Open the xib / storyboard and drag a UIScrollView in as your root VC's root view. Drag the view containing your layout into the scrollview, making it the scrollviews only subview.
Done (almost)!
If you launch your app at this point, you'll notice you can't scroll. That is because the scrollview is "too stupid" to adjust the size of its contentSize property on its own.
You'll need some code here, but it is only a tiny snippet and you won't need to touch it again:
Create a new Category on UIScrollView.
In your category's implementation, do:
#implementation UIScrollView (MyHandyCategory)
-(void)awakeFromNib {
NSArray *subViews = [self subviews];
UIView *contentView = [subViews objectAtIndex:0];
[self setContentSize:contentView.frame.size];
}
#end
Done (for real this time)! This will check the size of the view your scrollview contains and ajust the contentSize after it has been initialized. You can change the size of your content view as you like, no need to play around with hardcoded values or even Interface Builder values!
If it’s just proof of concept I’d have a WebView and a local HTML page you load. Easy-peasy.
I would suggest UICollectionView. It's fairly straightforward. There's a good tutorial here:
http://www.raywenderlich.com/22324/beginning-uicollectionview-in-ios-6-part-12
Related
I have some modal controllers that are UIViews and are not scrolling.
Reading on SO, the apple docs and elsewhere, it seems there are three approaches to fixing this:
Multiselect all the elements within the view and then go
editor-embedin-UIScrollview.
change the view to a scrollview in the identity inspector and then
add the following line to viewdidload:
[(UIScrollView *)self.view setContentSize:CGSizeMake(320, 2000)];
Copy elements to clipboard, delete the uiview, add a new scrollview
and copy the elements into the scrollview. Warning - this destroys
the positioning of the elements although it does preserve their
outlet properties.
However, I have tried all of these and the scrollview still does not scroll.
Is there any other step I am missing?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Edit:
Getting scrollviews to work is not easy and there is much conflicting advice on the web.
I finally got this to work by setting the content size in a separate method as opposed to viewdidload.
(void)viewDidLayoutSubviews {
self.MainScroll.contentSize = CGSizeMake(320, 1800);
}
Thanks as well to Evo for advice on setting all the vertical dimensions correctly and using freeform in the VC size inspector as it won't work if you don't carefully set these.
If you have EVER enabled autolayout, even if it's disabled now, you need to:
Select the view controller you plan on scrolling
At the bottom right of the storyboard view, click the third button (far right) and then "Reset to Suggested Constraints"
Make sure that all the elements in the scrollview are embedded in the desired positions.
If you are not using autolayout:
Check that the Size of the view controller is set to (320, 2000), or whatever you want.
In the Simulated Metrics of the view controller, you can set the size type to Freeform.
Then in the tab to the right of Simulated Metrics, you can set the width and height to the desired values.
Please comment any concerns
I designed about 40 view controllers using a 5.5 inch storyboard layout. After all of that I tested it on the iPhone 4S...big mistake. everything is jumbled together being for a larger screen size. I was able to fix one view controller up using Size Classes. I am wondering if there is any way I can adjust all 40 at the same time, or at least avoid doing this for every single one. It is really frustrating finding this out now. Thanks!
This is a relatively complicated issue you are attempting to solve, but I have two potential solutions. Both suggestions are based on moving your current interface into containing UIScrollView instances
If you are using storyboards, then for each of your view controller scenes, put a UIScrollView as a descendent of the view controller's view. From there, provided your subviews are contained within other views (like a container view for a set of buttons), you can move those into your scroll view. You will have to setup constraints to define the size of the scroll view's content, but this will allow the size of the device to have a smaller impact on the interface as you will get scrolling as needed.
If you are using nib files (.xib) then it is essentially the same thing, but easier. In this case, move a UIScrollView onto the canvas, but not as a subview of the default view. Once that is out there, move the original view to be a subview of the scroll view and set constraints to be 0 from the subview to the scroll view. Finally, right click drag from the File's Owner icon to the scroll view and set that as the view outlet.
Hopefully one of these will help you.
I've been using the old way of doing things for quite a while, by setting the origin and size on individual frames and putting things exactly how I want them on the screen. Now i'm trying to move to using AutoLayout. But I'm having a bit of trouble that I cant seem to find an exact answer for.
I'm used to mainly using code for creating views and view controllers. As such, I've come familiar with creating custom view classes which combine multiple views to my liking. For example, i have a custom Profile Pin view that combines a UIImageView and a UILabel into one view to represent a profileImage and username. I then use these custom views in different places as a part of other views and view controllers.
It seems to me that autolayout is intended for views that need re-adjust sizing when screen orientation changes, or for readjusting subviews for different screen sizes.
My question is, should I be meticulous and use autolayout for custom views that have static placement and sizes? Like the UIImageVIew and the UILabel view in the Profile Pin view I described? The positions for the UIImageView and the UILabel view wont change, but the position for the Profile Pin view (their parent) probably will. Should I be using Autolayout for everything? Or is this not a situation that AutoLayout was intended for?
If your custom view has static contents where the size and position of it's subviews never change, then feel free to stick with manual frames internally. There's not much benefit to Autolayout in that case.
What you should do, though, is override intrinsicContentSize and return the correct size. This allows any parent view to use Autolayout to position and know the size of your custom view.
Many UIKit components use this technique - UISwitch being a prime example.
I am quite new to xcode.
I am trying to create a contact details form for an iPhone using the storyboard. The problem is that form is longer than the display and I can't work out how to design it using the storyboard.
Any ideas?
Tom
In IB, you can set the controller's size in Simulated Metrics to Freeform, then select the view and make it as tall as you want. Then, add a scroll view to take up the whole view, and add your UIElements, and lay them out how you want. When you run the app, the view controller will still only be as big as the screen (obviously), but the scroll view will be as big as you made the view in IB (you may need to increase its contentSize even more to be able to scroll to the bottom).
Such forms are often made in storyboards using a UITableView and setting the "content" of the table to be "Static Cells." You can set any number of cells and the contents of the cell you want. The table itself is scrollable inside the storyboard/Interface Builder editor and looks much the way it would when presented to a user.
First, select the tableView on the left
Then, you can move it simply scrolling (on mac, two fingers on the trackpad, or using the mouse wheel)
You should have a look at UIScrollView, it is designed to support content larger than screen size (like you see in web browser or settings)
Basic usage is:
//Set a size which will be able to cover all form elements
[yourScrollView setContentSize:CGSizeMake()];
//Your scrollView now extends from CGPoint 0,0 to contentSize.width,contentSize.height.
//Your subviews should be positioned according to scrollview's bounds not the viewcontroller.view or any other container view.
//Add all the form elements
[yourScrollView addSubview:...];
[yourScrollView setDelegate:self]; //If you need actions after user scrolled etc.
Have a look at the developer manual for more info. Most method names are quite self explanatory.
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/uikit/reference/UIScrollView_Class/Reference/UIScrollView.html
I am pretty confused on how to position the controls on a UIScrollView that extends beyond the associated UIView.
I have a long form that needs to be filled out which is on one long UIScrollView. I have read (but can't believe) that there is no way to use InterfaceBuilder in order to position the controls, but instead you have to hardcode X\Y coords. in code (or in IB, but they still won't show as WYSIWIG)
Do you really have to do this all with hard coded coords ?
If so what is the best approach to accomplish this ? What if certain controls can become "hidden"...do you then need to have code that moves the coordinates of all controls further down on the page up ?
Would a better approach be to put all the controls on different views and then add those views to the UIScrollView (at least you could then "see" them in IB...)
I hope I am missing something :-)
You do not have to do all of this in code.
You can just have an XIB file for your embedded UIView. This can be as large as you need it to be. Then have a view controller that loads this XIB, and add its view to your scroll view (setting the content size appropriately.)
As for hiding controls - XIB files probably won't help you there. But you can hide controls and adjust the coordinates of other controls in code. (And change the content size of your scroll view if necessary.) This might be a reason to have different controls in different subviews of your scroll view's content view.
In IB, you can create your UIScrollView at the top of the hierarchy and give it the height that you want. Then you can set your elements as you want, in a WYSIWYG way. Once you finished, you just set the size of your UIScrollView to the size you want and set it under the hierarchy of your ViewController's UIView, and finally in the code, you set the content size of your UIScrollView to the size it takes. Easy !
I would encourage you to read this http://www.uxbooth.com/blog/mobile-form-design-strategies/, it's good advice if you want to design a long form, in a user friendly way :)