UICollectionViewLayout prepareLayout is called for any scrolling - ios

Found this strange behavior while implementing a custom UICollectionViewLayout subclass. I set up the subclass methods except for collectionViewContentSize. All the cells showed up where I expected, but the contentView was too long. Looked to be about double what it should be.
I implemented the method below to get the correct contentSize. Though, it's now the expected value, prepareLayout is called every single time the view scrolls one pixel. That means if I swipe from 0,0 to 0,500, prepareLayout is called 500 times!
What is it about my collectionViewContentSize that could cause that?
- (CGSize)collectionViewContentSize {
UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *leftAttributes = (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)self.layoutInfo[#"segmentCell"][[NSIndexPath indexPathForItem:[self.collectionView numberOfItemsInSection:0]-1 inSection:0]];
UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *rightAttributes = (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)self.layoutInfo[#"segmentCell"][[NSIndexPath indexPathForItem:[self.collectionView numberOfItemsInSection:1]-1 inSection:1]];
float leftHeight = leftAttributes.frame.size.height + leftAttributes.frame.origin.y;
float rightHeight = rightAttributes.frame.size.height + rightAttributes.frame.origin.y;
float maxHeight = leftHeight > rightHeight ? leftHeight : rightHeight;
return CGSizeMake(self.collectionView.bounds.size.width, maxHeight);
}

Although according to the docs [0] shoulInvalidateLayoutForBoundsChange: is supposed to return NO by default, it wasn't. Once I implemented it and had it return NO in all cases, prepareLayout is no longer called with every bounds change. That seems like a bug in UICollectionViewLayout.
[0] http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/uikit/reference/UICollectionViewLayout_class/Reference/Reference.html

A reason why you would want this to happen is that when using a custom layout, you may want the size of the cell to change depending on the content offset such as when you swipe up on an iPhone X where the Y value determines the size of the cell. This saves you from having to deal with separate gesture recognisers for a particular effect you might want.

Related

how to develop a custom UICollectionViewLayout that has staggered columns with self-sizing cells?

I'm working on the iOS version of an app I already developed on Android. This app has the following 2 column grid of self-sizing (fixed width but variable height) cells:
Achieving this in the Android version was easy because Google provides a StaggeredGridLayoutManager for its RecyclerView. You specify the number of columns and the direction of the scroll and you are done.
The default UICollectionView layout UICollectionViewFlowLayout doesn't allow the staggered layout I'm looking for, so I have to implement a custom layout. I have watched 2 WWDC videos that talk about this topic (What's New in Table and Collection Views and Advanced User Interfaces with Collection Views) and I more or less have an idea of how it should be implemented.
Step 1. First an approximation of the layout is computed.
Step 2. Then the cells are created and sized with autolayout.
Step 3. Then the controller notifies the of the cell sizes so the layout is updated.
My doubts come when trying to code these steps. I found a tutorial that explains the creation of a custom layout with staggered columns, but it doesn't use autolayout to obtain the size of the cells. Which leaves me with the following questions:
In step 2, how and when can I obtain the cell size?
In step 3, how and when can I notify the layout of the changes?
I want to point out that, as you have mentioned, RayWenderlich PinInterest Layout is exactly the tutorial that'll help you achieve this layout.
To answer your questions - with regards to the tutorial:
In step 2, how and when can I obtain the cell size?
To get the cell height, a delegate method was implemented that was called in the prepareLayout method of the custom UICollectionViewLayout. This method is called once (or twice, I just attempted to run it with a print statement, and I got two calls). The point of prepareLayout is to initialize the cell's frame property, in other words, provide the exact size of each cell. We know that the width is constant, and only the height is changing, so in this line of prepareLayout:
let cellHeight = delegate.collectionView(collectionView!,
heightForItemAtIndexPath: indexPath, withWidth: width)
We obtain the height of the cell from the delegate method that was implemented in the UICollectionViewController. This happens for all the cells we want to show in the collectionView. After obtaining and modifying the height for each cell, we cache the result so we can inspect it later.
Afterwards, for the collectionView to obtain the size of each cell on screen, all it needs to do is query the cache for the information. This is done in layoutAttributesForElementsInRect method of your custom UICollectionViewLayout class.
This method is called automatically by the UICollectionViewController. When the UICollectionViewController needs layout information for cells that are coming onto the screen (as a result of scrolling, for instance, or upon first load), you return the attributes from the cache that you've populated in prepareLayout.
In conclusion to your question: In step 2, how and when can I obtain the cell size?
Answer: Each cell size is obtained within the prepareLayout method of your custom UICollectionViewFlowLayout, and is calculated early in the life cycle of your UICollectionView.
In step 3, how and when can I notify the layout of the changes?
Note that the tutorial does not account for new cells to be added at runtime:
Note: As prepareLayout() is called whenever the collection view’s layout is invalidated, there are many situations in a typical implementation where you might need to recalculate attributes here. For example, the bounds of the UICollectionView might change – such as when the orientation changes – or items may be added or removed from the collection. These cases are out of scope for this tutorial, but it’s important to be aware of them in a non-trivial implementation.
Like he wrote, it's a non trivial implementation that you might need. There is, however, a trivial (very inefficient) implementation that you might adopt if your data set is small (or for testing purposes). When you need to invalidate the layout because of screen rotation or adding/removing cells, you can purge the cache in the custom UICollectionViewFlowLayout to force prepareLayout to reinitialize the layout attributes.
For instance, when you have to call reloadData on the collectionView, also make a call to your custom layout class, to delete the cache:
cache.removeAll()
I realise this is not a complete answer, but some pointers regarding your steps 2 and 3 may be found in the subclassing notes for UICollectionViewLayout.
I presume you have subclassed UICollectionViewFlowLayout since off the top of my head I believe this is a good starting point for making adjustments to the layout to get the staggered appearance you want.
For step 2 layoutAttributesForElementsInRect(_:) should provide the layout attributes for the self sized cells.
For step 3 your layout will have shouldInvalidateLayoutForPreferredLayoutAttributes(_:withOriginalAttributes:) called with the changed cell sizes.
In step 2, how and when can I obtain the cell size?
You need to calculate height of each cell in prepareLayout() method. Result of calculation for each cell should be assigned to UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes variable, and than put it into collection NSDictionary, where key would be NSIndexPath(of each cell), and value would be UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes variable.
Example:
- (void)prepareLayout {
[_layoutMap removeAllObjects];
_totalItemsInSection = [self.collectionView numberOfItemsInSection:0];
_columnsYoffset = [self initialDataForColumnsOffsetY];
if (_totalItemsInSection > 0 && self.totalColumns > 0) {
[self calculateItemsSize];
NSInteger itemIndex = 0;
CGFloat contentSizeHeight = 0;
while (itemIndex < _totalItemsInSection) {
NSIndexPath *targetIndexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForItem:itemIndex inSection:0];
NSInteger columnIndex = [self columnIndexForItemAtIndexPath:targetIndexPath];
// you need to implement this method and perform your calculations
CGRect attributeRect = [self calculateItemFrameAtIndexPath:targetIndexPath];
UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *targetLayoutAttributes = [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes layoutAttributesForCellWithIndexPath:targetIndexPath];
targetLayoutAttributes.frame = attributeRect;
contentSizeHeight = MAX(CGRectGetMaxY(attributeRect), contentSizeHeight);
_columnsYoffset[columnIndex] = #(CGRectGetMaxY(attributeRect) + self.interItemsSpacing);
_layoutMap[targetIndexPath] = targetLayoutAttributes;
itemIndex += 1;
}
_contentSize = CGSizeMake(self.collectionView.bounds.size.width - self.contentInsets.left - self.contentInsets.right,
contentSizeHeight);
}
}
Don't forget to implement following methods:
- (NSArray <UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *> *)layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:(CGRect)rect {
NSMutableArray<UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *> *layoutAttributesArray = [NSMutableArray new];
for (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *layoutAttributes in _layoutMap.allValues) {
if (CGRectIntersectsRect(layoutAttributes.frame, rect)) {
[layoutAttributesArray addObject:layoutAttributes];
}
}
return layoutAttributesArray;
}
- (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)layoutAttributesForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
return _layoutMap[indexPath];
}
These methods would be triggered once you call reloadData() mehtod or invalidateLayout().
In step 3, how and when can I notify the layout of the changes?
Just call self.collectionView.collectionViewLayout.invalidateLayout() and prepareLayout() method would be called once again, so you can recalculate all parameters you need.
You can find my full tutorial about custom UICollectionViewLayout here: https://octodev.net/custom-collectionviewlayout/
Tutorial contains implementation in both languages: Swift and Objective-C.
Would be more than glad to answer all your questions.
The "cell size" is defined by UICollectionViewLayoutAttribute in the layout subclass which mean you can modify it every time you have the chance to touch them. You can set every attributes' size to what you desire.
For example you can do it in layoutAttributesOfElementsInRect(:) , calculate the right size and config all attributes before pass them to collectionView. You can also do it in layoutAttributeOfItemAtIndexPath(:) ,make the calculation when every attribute is created.
Furthermore, consider to provide the desired size by a datasource so every attribute can easily get their size with their index.
For if you want to have the cell size to layout the subviews in a cell, do it in the collectionView delegate method: collectionView:ItemAtIndexPath:
Hope this help.

UITableView with pull to refresh and locked cells like UltraVisual

I'm trying to make something similar to what UltraVisual for iOS already does. I'd like to make my pull-to-refresh be in a cell in-between other cells.
I think the following GIF animation explains it better:
It looks like the first cell fades out when pulling up, while when you pull down and you're at the top of the table, it adds a new cell right below the first one and use it as the pull-to-refresh.
Has anyone done anything similar?
Wrote this one for UV. Its actually way simpler than you're describing. Also, for what its worth, this view was written as a UICollectionView, but the logic still applies to UITableView.
There is only one header cell. Durring the 'refresh' animation, I simply set the content inset of the UICollectionView to hold it open. Then when I've finished with the reload, I animate the content inset back to the default value.
As for the springy fixed header, there's a couple of ways you can handle it. Quick and dirty is to use a UICollectionViewFlowLayout, and modify the attributes in - (NSArray *)layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:(CGRect)rect
Here's some pseudo code assuming your first cell is the sticky header:
- (NSArray *)layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:(CGRect)rect {
NSArray *layoutAttributes = [super layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:rect];
if ([self contentOffsetIsBelowZero]) {
for (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *attributes in layoutAttributes) {
if (attributes.indexPath.item == 0) {
CGPoint bottomOrigin = CGPointMake(0, CGRectGetMaxY(attributes.frame));
CGPoint converted = [self.collectionView convertPoint:bottomOrigin toView:self.collectionView.superview];
height = MAX(height, CGRectGetHeight(attributes.frame));
CGFloat offset = CGRectGetHeight(attributes.frame) - height;
attributes.frame = CGRectOffset(CGRectSetHeight(attributes.frame, height), 0, offset);
break;
}
}
}
Another approach would be to write a custom UICollectionViewLayout and calculate the CGRect's manually.
And finally, the 'fade out' is really nothing more than setting the opacity of the objects inside the first cell as it moves off screen. You can calculate the position of the cell on screen during - (void)applyLayoutAttributes… and set the opacity based on that.
Finally, something to note: In order to do any 'scroll based' updates with UICollectionView, you'll need to make sure - (BOOL)shouldInvalidateLayoutForBoundsChange:(CGRect)newBounds returns YES. You can do a simple optimisation check like:
- (BOOL)shouldInvalidateLayoutForBoundsChange:(CGRect)newBounds {
BOOL shouldInvalidate = [super shouldInvalidateLayoutForBoundsChange:newBounds];
if ([self contentOffsetIsBelowZero]) {
shouldInvalidate = YES;
}
return shouldInvalidate;
}
Again this is mostly pseudo code, so re-write based on your own implementation. Hope this helps!

How to layout custom UITableViewCell with varying height

I have a UITableViewCell subclass which has an image, title and description.
I am supposed to resize the cell height according to the description content length i.e. if it spans more than 5 lines, I should extend it (+other subviews like image etc) till it lasts.
The next coming cells should begin only after that.
I have my UITableViewCell subclass instantiated from xib which has a fixed row height = 160.
I know this is pretty standard requirement but I am unable to find any guidelines.
I already extended layoutSubViews like this:
- (void) layoutSubviews
{
[self resizeCellImage];
}
- (void) resizeCellImage
{
CGRect descriptionRect = self.cellDescriptionLabel.frame;
CGRect imageRect = self.cellImageView.frame;
float descriptionBottomEdgeY = descriptionRect.origin.y + descriptionRect.size.height;
float imageBottomEdgeY = imageRect.origin.y + imageRect.size.height;
if (imageBottomEdgeY >= descriptionBottomEdgeY)
return;
//push the bottom of image to the bottom of description
imageBottomEdgeY = descriptionBottomEdgeY;
float newImageHeight = imageBottomEdgeY - imageRect.origin.y;
imageRect.size.height = newImageHeight;
self.cellImageView.frame = imageRect;
CGRect cellFrame = self.frame;
cellFrame.size.height = imageRect.size.height + imageRect.origin.y + 5;
CGRect contentFrame = self.contentView.frame;
contentFrame.size.height = cellFrame.size.height - 1;
self.contentView.frame = contentFrame;
self.frame = cellFrame;
}
It pretty much tells that if description is taller than image, we must resize the image as well as cell height to fit the description.
However when I invoke this code by doing this:
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
cell.cellDescriptionLabel.text = #"Some long string";
[cell.cellDescriptionLabel sizeToFit];
[cell setNeedsLayout];
return cell;
}
It appears that while cell frame is changed due to layoutSubViews call, other cells do not respect it. That is, they appear on the same position had the previous cell would not have resized itself.
Two questions:
How to make it possible what I want?
Am I doing right by calling setNeedsLayout within cellForRowAtIndexPath?
P.S.: I know heightForRowAtIndexPath holds key to changing the cell height, but I feel that the data parsing (not shown here) that I do as part of cellForRowAtIndexPath would be an overkill just to calculate height. I need something that can directly tell the UITableViewCell to resize itself according to content needs.
-tableView:heightForRowAtIndexPath: is by design how variable sized cells are calculated. The actual frame of a cell is of no importance and is changed by the table view to fit its needs.
You are sort of thinking of this backwards. The delegate tells the table view how cells need to be drawn, then the table view forces cells to fit those characteristics. The only thing you need to provide to the cell is the data it needs to hold.
This is because a table view calculates all the heights of all the cells before it has any cells to draw. This is done to allow a table view to size it's scroll view correctly. It allows for properly sized scroll bars and smooth quick-pans through the table view. Cells are only requested when a table view thinks a cell needs to be displayed to the screen.
UPDATE: How Do I Get Cell Heights
I've had to do this a couple of times. I have my view controller keep a cell which is never used in the table view.
#property (nonatomic) MyTableViewCell *standInCell;
I then use this cell as a stand in when I need measurements. I determine the base height of the cell without the variable sized views.
#property (nonatomic) CGFloat standInCellBaseHeight;
Then in -tableView:heightForRowAtIndexPath:, I get the height for all my variable sized views with the actual data for that index path. I add the variable sized heights to my stand in cell base height. I return that new calculated height.
Note, this is all non-autolayout. I'm sure the approach would be similar, but not identical to this, but I have no experience.
-tableView:heightForRowAtIndexPath: is the preferred way to tell tableview the size of its cells. You may either precalculate and cache it in a dictionary and reuse, or alternatively in ios7, you can use -tableView:estimatedHeightForRowAtIndexPath: to estimate the sizes.
Take a look at this thread - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18746929/using-auto-layout-in-uitableview-for-dynamic-cell-layouts-variable-row-heights, the answer points to a very good example project here - https://github.com/caoimghgin/TableViewCellWithAutoLayout.
Sorry, but as far as I know you have to implement tableView:heightForRowAtIndexPath:. Warning, in iOS 6 this gets called on every row in you UITableView right away, I think to draw the scrollbar. iOS7 introduces tableView:estimatedHeightForRowAtIndexPath: which if implemented allows you to just guess at the height before doing all the calculation. This can help out a lot on very large tables.
What I found works well is just have your tableView:heightForRowAtIndexPath: call cellForRowAtIndexPath: to get the cell for that row, and then query that cell for it's height cell.bounds.size.height and return that.
This works pretty well for small tables or in iOS7 with tableView:estimatedHeightForRowAtIndexPath implemented.

UICollectionView setLayout:animated: not preserving zIndex

I've noticed that when calling setLayout:animated in a UICollectionView to switch between two layouts, the currently visible cell doesn't adhere to the zIndex it's layout attributes has been set in layoutAttributesForItemAtIndexPath:.
For example, if I were to have a UICollectionView with UICollectionViewFlowLayout, set it's minimumLineSpacing to a negative number so the cells overlap and then set a zIndex on each cell higher than that of the previous cell, then it appears as if the cells are stacked from the bottom up.
However this breaks if I set the layout to another layout then back to that original layout. It's as if the currently visible cell doesn't listen the zIndex and is placed atop the other cells. If I scroll the cell offscreen then back on it is in the correct place.
I have had the same problem. Switching the layout will disregard the zIndex for the cell.
I have managed to make it "look right" by applying a translation on the z-axis like this:
attributes.transform3D = CATransform3DMakeTranslation(0, 0, indexPath.row);
But it is just a visual fix, if you try to click on the item you will realize that the zIndex is still wrong until it is recycled by scrolling it offscreen.
I've managed to get the behaviour I'm after by using a combination grimfrog and Charlie Elliott's responses.
Charlie Elliott's solution got the correct final outcome for the items in the collection view but there was still a snapping effect on the zIndex during the animation.
grimfrog's solution provided the correct look but had the problem of the zIndex still being incorrect after the layout change, despite looking correct.
The combination of the two, while not a great solution, does work and does use the supported transform and zIndex properties of the UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes
In my layout, I have
- (NSArray *)layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:(CGRect)rect
{
NSArray *attributes = [super layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:rect];
[attributes enumerateObjectsUsingBlock:^(UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *attributes, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
attributes.zIndex = attributes.indexPath.item + 1;
}];
return attributes;
}
- (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)layoutAttributesForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *attributes = [super layoutAttributesForItemAtIndexPath:indexPath];
attributes.transform3D = CATransform3DMakeTranslation(0, 0, attributes.indexPath.item);
return attributes;
}
I won't make this as the correct answer just yet as I'm sure there must be another way to solve this, but I'm interested to see if this solves the problem for others as well.
Try:
// In UICollectionViewCell subclass
- (void)applyLayoutAttributes:(UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)layoutAttributes
{
[super applyLayoutAttributes:layoutAttributes];
// Setting zPosition instead of relaying on
// UICollectionView zIndex management 'fixes' the issue
self.layer.zPosition = layoutAttributes.zIndex;
}
This bit me too. After several tests I realized that UICollectionView will force selected cells to be on top, regardless of the z-index.
Try setting the z-index in:
- (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)initialLayoutAttributesForAppearingItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)itemIndexPath;
- (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)finalLayoutAttributesForDisappearingItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)itemIndexPath;
Using #sampage & #grimfrog answers as a starting point, I was able to get a similar situation working
- (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)layoutAttributesForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)path
{
UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes* attributes = [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes layoutAttributesForCellWithIndexPath:path];
attributes.zIndex = path.item;
attributes.transform3D = CATransform3DMakeTranslation(0, 0, path.item);
// other attribute settings
return attributes;
}
My layoutAttributesForElementsInRect: calls layoutAttributesForItemAtIndexPath: when generating the attribute array - so I only needed to include the zIndex and transform3D there.
I got another workaround. Since all the cells belong to the same superview, calling bringSubviewToFront : when cell displaying works. Specifically, by looking into Debug View Hierarchy, though UICollectionViewLayout not renders cells according to zIndex, it still shows cells according to the reverse order that each subview being added to it's super view.

UITableView content height

I have a UITableView that is set to not enable scrolling, and it exists in a UIScrollView. I'm doing it this way as the design specs call for something that looks like a table view, (actually there are two of them side by side), and it would be much easier to implement tableviews rather than adding a whole bunch of buttons, (grouped table views).
Question is, I need to know how big to make the container view for the scrollview, so it scrolls the whole height of the table views. Once loaded, is there any way to find the height of a tableview? There is no contentView property like a scroll view, frame seems to be static, etc...
Any thoughts?
Use
CGRect lastRowRect= [tableView rectForRowAtIndexPath:index_path_for_your_last_row];
CGFloat contentHeight = lastRowRect.origin.y + lastRowRect.size.height;
You can then use the contentHeight variable to set the contentSize for the scrollView.
A more general solution that works for me:
CGFloat tableViewHeight(UITableView *tableView) {
NSInteger lastSection = tableView.numberOfSections - 1;
while (lastSection >= 0 && [tableView numberOfRowsInSection:lastSection] <= 0)
lastSection--;
if (lastSection < 0)
return 0;
CGRect lastFooterRect = [tableView rectForFooterInSection:lastSection];
return lastFooterRect.origin.y + lastFooterRect.size.height;
}
In addition to Andrei's solution, it accounts for empty sections and section footers.
UITableView is a subclass of UIScrollView, so it has a contentSize property that you should be able to use no problem:
CGFloat tableViewContentHeight = tableView.contentSize.height;
scrollView.contentSize = CGSizeMake(scrollView.contentSize.width, tableViewContentHeight);
However, as several other SO questions have pointed out, when you make an update to a table view (like inserting a row), its contentSize doesn't appear to be updated immediately like it is for most other animated resizing in UIKit. In this case, you may need to resort to something like Michael Manner's answer. (Although I think it makes better sense implemented as a category on UITableView)
You can run over the sections and use the rectForSection to calculate the total height (this included footer and header as well!). In swift I use the following extension on UITableView
extension UITableView {
/**
Calculates the total height of the tableView that is required if you ware to display all the sections, rows, footers, headers...
*/
func contentHeight() -> CGFloat {
var height = CGFloat(0)
for sectionIndex in 0..<numberOfSections {
height += rectForSection(sectionIndex).size.height
}
return height
}
}

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