Really close lines with NSAttributedString? - ios

Question

I want to have two lines of text appear really close together (small line spacing) for a button. I have the following code:
NSMutableAttributedString *string = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:#"50 WPM"];
NSMutableParagraphStyle *paragrapStyle = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
paragrapStyle.alignment = NSTextAlignmentCenter;
paragrapStyle.lineSpacing = -10;
[string addAttribute:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName value:paragrapStyle range:NSMakeRange(0, string.length)];
UIFont *font1 = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:22.0];
[string addAttribute:NSFontAttributeName value:font1 range:NSMakeRange(0, string.length - 4)];
UIFont *font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:15.0];
[string addAttribute:NSFontAttributeName value:font range:NSMakeRange(string.length - 3, 3)];
[string addAttribute:NSForegroundColorAttributeName value:[UIColor greenColor] range:NSMakeRange(0, string.length)];
[self.button setAttributedTitle:string forState:UIControlStateNormal];
But as linespacing can't be negative, it doesn't get nearly as close as I'd like it to be. It looks like this:
Is there any way to get them closer?

Answer 1

Well if you have an attribute string then everything should be possible. :) You just have to look more.
- (void)setMinimumLineHeight:(CGFloat)aFloat
- (void)setMaximumLineHeight:(CGFloat)aFloat
Try
[paragraphStyle setLineSpacing:0.0f];
[paragraphStyle setMaximumLineHeight:7.0f];
You will realise that maximumLineHeight is not maximumLineSpacing. ^^
This for example is with setMaximumLineHeight:12];

Answer 2

Here a little extension in Swift3 which supports negative lineSpacing
extension UILabel {
func set(lineSpacing: CGFloat, textAlignment: NSTextAlignment = NSTextAlignment.center) {
if let text = self.text {
let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
if lineSpacing < 0 {
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = 0
paragraphStyle.maximumLineHeight = self.font.pointSize + lineSpacing
} else {
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = lineSpacing
}
let attrString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text)
attrString.addAttribute(NSParagraphStyleAttributeName, value:paragraphStyle, range:NSMakeRange(0, attrString.length))
self.attributedText = attrString
self.textAlignment = textAlignment
}
}
}

Answer 3

I would suggest reading up on TextKit that was introduced in iOS7. I do not have much experience from it, but I do know that it gives you a lot of possibilities when it comes to attributing your texts.

Answer 4

In Swift 3, you can achieve this by :
let paragraph = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
paragraph.lineSpacing = 0
paragraph.maximumLineHeight = 20.
Keep the lineSpacing = 0. You can adjust the maximumLineHeight to make it closer or to increase the spacing.

Answer 5

How about subclassing UIButton, and add 2 UILabels to the buttons view that are close together. Create properties for the labels and set approrpietly:
CustomButton *btn = [CustomButton new];
btn.textLine1 = #"Top";
btn.textLine2 = #"Bottom";
The only problem doing it this way is you will need to handle the text color when the state changes yourself.