Set Accessibility Identifier in UIView Extension - swift

I worked on Mobile Test Automation.Previous, some elements don't have any identifier but i need to import identifiers for testing issues.
So I decide to write an extension to UIView, hereby that code will be affect all codes so I wont need to add one by one.
How can I do ? Should I write on init or awakeFromNib ?
Thanks in advance.

Generally you'll want to have specific accessibility identifiers for elements you want to expose to the accessibility system.
You can set those directly in Storyboards/Interface Builder, or you can set them in your view's initializer when implementing UIs programatically:
class MyView: UIView {
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
self.accessibilityIdentifier = "my-custom-view"
let label = UILabel()
label.accessibilityIdentifier = "my-custom-label"
self.addSubview(label)
}
}

Related

Setting style for UIComponents

Is it possible to make one style for UIButton (or any UI component) and set that style for selected buttons from Xcode Interface (storyboard)?
Like in web-development you create one css class and use in any elements.
Yes, this possible. You need to make a custom button class, which is a subclass of
UIButton. For example, the code below sets the background color
class CustomButton: UIButton {
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
setUpView()
}
override func prepareForInterfaceBuilder() {
super.prepareForInterfaceBuilder()
setUpView()
}
func setUpView() {
self.layer.cornerRadius = self.frame.width/2
self.layer.masksToBounds = true
self.backgroundColor = UIColor.red
}
}
Then in Xcode Interface (storyboard), for every button, you wish to use this style.
Set the Custom Class in the identity inspector.
It is possible to style all components of the same type by using UIAppearance. When it comes to styling individual components it's best to declare some common styling functions and then apply them on specific components. You could also create subclasses and style them individually.

Any way to opt out of autoresizing permanently?

I'm writing nib-less views in which I use autolayout for all my layout logic. I find myself having to turn off autoresizing with every view I instantiate. My code is littered with a lot of these:
view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints
Ideally I'd like to just
extension UIView/NSView {
override var translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints: Bool = false
}
and get it over with once and for all, but extensions can't override stored properties.
Is there some other simple way to switch off autoresizing for good?
Well just a suggestion since its annoying to always set that to false, just setup a function with all the shared setups for the UIView and call it every time,
its saves time and its kinda less annoying than trying and setting the values each time,
extension UIView {
func notTranslated() {
self.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
//Add any additional code.
}
}
//Usage
let view = UIView()
view.notTranslated()
You can't override this constraints properties because the UIView maybe declared in the IB
translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints according to apple.
By default, the property is set to true for any view you programmatically create. If you add views in Interface Builder, the system automatically sets this property to false.
imagine if you could override that from an extension that would lead to some conflicts if there was other UIView's that's have the opposite value True || false, so in my opinion:
Apple did this to prevent any conflicts with the views constrains, therefore if you don't like to write it every time just wrap it up in a function.
Please if anyone have additional information, don't hesitate to contribute.
UPDATE: I found this cool answer that could also work, check out the code below.
class MyNibless: UIView {
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//Constructors, Initializers, and UIView lifecycle
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
didLoad()
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
didLoad()
}
convenience init() {
self.init(frame: CGRect.zero)
}
func didLoad() {
//Place your initialization code here
//I actually create & place constraints in here, instead of in
//updateConstraints
}
override func layoutSubviews() {
super.layoutSubviews()
//Custom manually positioning layout goes here (auto-layout pass has already run first pass)
}
override func updateConstraints() {
super.updateConstraints()
//Disable this if you are adding constraints manually
//or you're going to have a 'bad time'
//self.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
//Add custom constraint code here
}
}
var nibless: UIView = MyNibless()
//Usage
nibless.updateConstraints()
print(nibless.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints) //false
So simply just create MyNibless instance as UIView and this also open big door to customizations too

UIAppearance overwrites custom textColor on UILabel

I setup UILabel appearance in my app delegate using:
UILabel.appearance().textColor = UIColor.white
I also have a custom UIView subclass that contains a UILabel along with some other elements (omitted here):
#IBDesignable
class CustomView: UIView {
private let descriptionLabel = HCLabel()
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
setup()
}
required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: coder)
}
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
self.setup()
}
private func setup() {
self.descriptionLabel.textColor = UIColor.black
// ... other things not related to descriptionLabel
}
}
If I instantiate CustomView in a storyboard, everything works just fine. If, however, I instantiate it in code, the descriptionLabel is white (appearance color), not black (the color I set). What's going on here? The way I understood it was that if I set a custom color, the appearance color will not be used.
What you're experiencing is simply a matter of the exact timing with which the UIAppearance proxy applies its settings to a new UIView. When are we to suppose it does this? It can't possibly do it before init, because init is the first thing that happens in the life of the UIView. Thus, the order of events is like this:
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
setup() // black
}
// and some time later, UIAppearance proxy comes along and sets it to white
So your goal is to call setup pretty early in the life of the label — and certainly before the user ever has a chance to see it — but not so early that the UIAppearance proxy acts later. Let's move the call to setup to a bit later in the life of the label:
// some time earlier, UIAppearance proxy sets it to white
override func didMoveToSuperview() {
setup() // black
}
Now we're acting after the appearance proxy has had a chance to act, and so your settings are the last to operate, and they win the day.
We remain in ignorance of how early we could move the call to setup and still come along after the appearance proxy setting has been obeyed. If you have time, you might like to experiment with that. For example, willMoveToSuperview is earlier; if you call setup there (and not in didMoveToSuperview), does that work? Play around and find out!

Make reusable component in Xcode storyboard

I have a specific situation but what I'm looking for is a generic solution. Currently I have a UIImageView that contains an image, a few labels, and multiple levels of constraints. I would like to configure this set of controls' properties once and reuse them inside of multiple controllers. Such that if I have to update this set, I would do it in one place and all the controller instances would get the change (sort of like how Sketch works with symbols).
You, sir, need a custom View!
My typical approach for this is to create an xib file, design the view I need, and create a class that subclasses UIView.
When you do this, you can assign the class of the xib File's Owner (in interface builder) and link up any #IBOutlets from the view to your custom class.
For the class, you'll need to implement a few methods. Here is an example custom view:
class LoadingView: UIView {
#IBOutlet var view: UIView!
#IBOutlet weak var messageLabel: UILabel!
#IBOutlet weak var activityIndicator: UIActivityIndicatorView!
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
loadViewFromNib()
setUpView()
}
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
loadViewFromNib()
setUpView()
}
func setUpView() {
self.view.layer.cornerRadius = 10.0
self.view.layer.masksToBounds = true
}
private func loadViewFromNib() {
let bundle = Bundle.init(for: self.classForCoder)
bundle.loadNibNamed("LoadingView", owner: self, options: nil)
self.view.frame = bounds
self.addSubview(self.view)
}
}
You are required (pun intended) to implement the required init and the override init methods, and the other two are (kind of) optional. The loadViewFromNib is a convenience method that implements the logic to actually load the xib file from your app's bundle.
Don't forget to match the nib name with your xib file name! You'll thank me later. ;)
You can use this view in storyboards and use constraints, etc. by placing a regular old view and assigning its class to your custom class.
You can also play around with #IBDesignable to actually see your custom view in interface builder, though it tends to constantly reload and slow down Xcode unless you toggle a setting that I can't remember the name of right now (sorry!).
Enjoy!
What you want is not possible exactly in the way you describe it but there's a way to achieve the same result.
Create a subclass of UIView that will contain all the content you want, once you do that there are two options.
The first (and best, imo) option is to generate your layout with code when the view is initialized. This will allow you to add the view to other view controllers and it will initialize itself. The downside of this method is that you'll need to create the constraints with code.
The second option is to create a xib with your views and constraints and initialize your custom class from that xib. The downside of this is that you'll have to instantiate your view with code and place it in the view hierarchy yourself. You could create a container in the storyboard where you will add the view and pin it to the edges.

editable nstextview from interface builder

I'm unable get to edit an nstextview.
Here is the steps I tried.
From the interface builder, I dragged dropped a "Custom view" into another view. (I couldnt find a nstextview there.)
I changed the class of the Custom view form "NSView" to "NSTextView"
Next I run my project, I can see the text view getting rendered (the mouse cursor changed to text-mode on the mouse-hover of text view area)
However, I have not been able to insert/type/edit any text.
Note: I have tried setEditable, setSelectable & set firstResponder options recommended in other posts, which did not help.
The problem is that the textStorage is not set up correctly on the NSTextView when you use Interface Builder in the way described.
I too wanted to use an NSTextView, without scrollView, in InterfaceBuilder. In Xcode 10 it doesn't seem possible to put a lone NSTextView in some custom view hierarchy (earlier answers have hinted that this was possible: https://stackoverflow.com/a/2398980/978300).
It is possible to get this working with the "CustomView" method in the question - however, this will only have the simple NSView properties in the Attributes inspector (i.e. you won't be able to customise font etc). You could pass some details through using #IBInspectable on your custom class.
The Connections Inspector seems to work correctly.
Example NSTextView subclass...
class MyTextView: NSTextView
{
// init(frame: sets up a default textStorage we want to mimic in init(coder:
init() {
super.init(frame: NSRect.zero)
configure()
}
/*
It is not possible to set up a lone NSTextView in Interface Builder, however you can set it up
as a CustomView if you are happy to have all your presentation properties initialised
programatically. This initialises an NSTextView as it would be with the default init...
*/
required init(coder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: coder)!
let textStorage = NSTextStorage()
let layoutManager = NSLayoutManager()
textStorage.addLayoutManager(layoutManager)
// By default, NSTextContainers do not track the bounds of the NSTextview
let textContainer = NSTextContainer(containerSize: CGSize.zero)
textContainer.widthTracksTextView = true
textContainer.heightTracksTextView = true
layoutManager.addTextContainer(textContainer)
replaceTextContainer(textContainer)
configure()
}
private func configure()
{
// Customise your text here...
}
}