How to build a launcher for my iOS app? - ios

Question

I'm trying to build an homepage launcher for my app...
Something like the one from Three20.
I don't want to reinvent the wheel, but solutions like Three20 are not what I'm searching for: they are not updated to the latest iOS systems or devices (retina, ARC, iOS5/6) and they do much more than what I need (I basically need a set of buttons with a label that rotate on device rotation).
Right now I'm trying to build a 2x3 buttons grid that rotates on device rotation, but the code looks pretty crappy and I steel need to add iPhone5 support...
- (void) updateLayoutForNewOrientation: (UIInterfaceOrientation) orientation {
if (UIInterfaceOrientationIsPortrait(orientation)) {
button1.frame = CGRectMake(20, 59, 130, 80);
button2.frame = CGRectMake(170, 59, 130, 80);
button3.frame = CGRectMake(20, 176, 130, 80);
button4.frame = CGRectMake(170, 176, 130, 80);
button5.frame = CGRectMake(20, 293, 130, 80);
button6.frame = CGRectMake(170, 293, 130, 80);
label1.frame = CGRectMake(20, 147, 130, 21);
label2.frame = CGRectMake(170, 147, 130, 21);
label3.frame = CGRectMake(20, 264, 130, 21);
label4.frame = CGRectMake(170, 264, 130, 21);
label5.frame = CGRectMake(20, 381, 130, 21);
label6.frame = CGRectMake(170, 381, 130, 21);
} else {
button1.frame = CGRectMake(20, 59, 130, 60);
button2.frame = CGRectMake(177, 59, 130, 60);
button3.frame = CGRectMake(328, 59, 130, 60);
button4.frame = CGRectMake(20, 155, 130, 60);
button5.frame = CGRectMake(177, 155, 130, 60);
button6.frame = CGRectMake(328, 155, 130, 60);
label1.frame = CGRectMake(20, 127, 130, 21);
label2.frame = CGRectMake(177, 127, 130, 21);
label3.frame = CGRectMake(328, 127, 130, 21);
label4.frame = CGRectMake(20, 223, 130, 21);
label5.frame = CGRectMake(177, 223, 130, 21);
label6.frame = CGRectMake(328, 223, 130, 21);
}
}
Is the "place stuff, rotate it" approach the only way to build this kind of component? Is there any alternative?

Answer 1

You maybe want to code this yourself, but there's a fantastic open-source launcher here:
https://github.com/fieldforceapp/openspringboard

Answer 2

put the button and the label inside a view.
Then, on rotate you have to rearrange just the views.
Furthermore, you can use a for to rearrange them, so you can get that effect with a little code.
-(void)setScreenIconsToInterfaceRotation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)toInterfaceOrientation {
NSArray * viewsArray = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:view1,view2,view3,view4,view5,view6, nil];
int currentIndex = 0;
for (UIView * currentView in ViewsArray) {
int x;
int y;
int xseparation = 20;
int yseparation;
int height;
int width = 130;
if (toInterfaceOrientation==UIDeviceOrientationPortrait || toInterfaceOrientation==UIDeviceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown)
{
x = currentIndex %2;
y = currentIndex /2;
height = 101;
if (currentIndex < 2) {
yseparation = 59;
} else {
yseparation = 16;
}
} else {
x = currentIndex %3;
y = currentIndex /3;
height = 81;
if (currentIndex < 3) {
yseparation = 59;
} else {
yseparation = 15;
}
}
[currentView setFrame:CGRectMake(x*width+((x+1)*xseparation), y*height+((y+1)*yseparation), width, height)];
currentIndex++;
}
}
This is the code for your example
then for ios6
-(void)viewWillLayoutSubviews {
[self setScreenIconsToInterfaceRotation:[[UIApplication sharedApplication] statusBarOrientation]];
}
and ios5
-(void)willAnimateRotationToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)toInterfaceOrientation duration:(NSTimeInterval)duration
{
[self setScreenIconsToInterfaceRotation:toInterfaceOrientation];
}