converting storyboard constraints into code - swift

Question

I'm trying to programmatically set up constraints for a class in my app so that when the keyboard appears everything moves up. i already got it working before in the storyboard, but when i take what it says in the size inspector and write it in code format, it doesn't work as expected.
...
//memo area
var memoArea = UITextView(frame: CGRectMake(20, 291, 275, 225))
memoArea.backgroundColor = majorColor
memoArea.delegate = self
self.view.addSubview(memoArea)
var memoLine = customShadow(theself: self.view, frame: memoArea.frame)
//Spacer View
var spacer:UIView = UIView(frame: CGRectMake(84, 518, 160, 6))
spacer.alpha = 0
self.view.addSubview(spacer)
//Constraints
var memoAreaToSpacer:NSLayoutConstraint = NSLayoutConstraint(item: spacer, attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Top, relatedBy: NSLayoutRelation.Equal, toItem: memoArea, attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Bottom, multiplier: 1, constant: 8)
spacerToBottom = NSLayoutConstraint(item: bottomLayoutGuide, attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Top, relatedBy: .Equal, toItem: spacer, attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Bottom, multiplier: 1, constant: 0)
view.addConstraint(memoAreaToSpacer)
view.addConstraint(spacerToBottom)
...
so when a keyboard fires a notification this happens.
func updateBottomLayoutConstraintWithNotification(notification: NSNotification) {
let userInfo = notification.userInfo!
let animationDuration = (userInfo[UIKeyboardAnimationDurationUserInfoKey] as NSNumber).doubleValue
let keyboardEndFrame = (userInfo[UIKeyboardFrameEndUserInfoKey] as NSValue).CGRectValue()
let convertedKeyboardEndFrame = view.convertRect(keyboardEndFrame, fromView: view.window)
let rawAnimationCurve = (notification.userInfo![UIKeyboardAnimationCurveUserInfoKey] as NSNumber).unsignedIntValue << 16
let animationCurve = UIViewAnimationOptions.init(UInt(rawAnimationCurve))
let frame = self.tabBarController?.tabBar.frame
let height = frame?.size.height
spacerToBottom.constant = CGRectGetMaxY(view.bounds) - CGRectGetMinY(convertedKeyboardEndFrame) - height! - 5
UIView.animateWithDuration(animationDuration, delay: 0.0, options: .BeginFromCurrentState | animationCurve, animations: {
self.view.layoutIfNeeded()
}, completion: nil)
}
Here's the full app https://github.com/stanchiang/phoneHub
The code i'm talking about is in the BaseDetailViewController.swift in viewDidLoad().
The constraints i'm transferring from is the Edit Controller in the Main.storyboard file.
also, for reference i got it working through storyboard through this blog post.
http://effortlesscode.com/auto-layout-keyboard-shown-hidden/
thanks for your answers, still trying to get the hang of autolayout so general tips are welcome too.

Answer 1

I'm no Auto Layout expert, but I'll share what I know:
You need to turn off the AutoresizingMask for the views that you are adding constraints to:
view.setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints(false)
spacer.setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints(false)
memoArea.setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints(false)
You are going to need a lot more constraints. I only see 2 in your code. You will need to fully constrain your layout. This includes the settings you are specifying right now with frames (width, height). Positions should probably be specified relative to other objects if you want everything to move when the keyboard shows up. When you got this working in the Storyboard, there had to be more than just 2 constraints for the entire ViewController. You'll need to bring over all of the constraints.
I suggest you add the following 6 constraints to replace the values you were setting with the frames. Put these with your other constraints. I've added the view frames in comments so that you can see where I got the values:
//var memoArea = UITextView(frame: CGRectMake(20, 291, 275, 225))
memoArea.addConstraint(NSLayoutConstraint(item: memoArea, attribute: .Width, relatedBy: .Equal,
toItem: nil, attribute: .NotAnAttribute, multiplier: 1.0, constant: 275.0))
memoArea.addConstraint(NSLayoutConstraint(item: memoArea, attribute: .Height, relatedBy: .Equal,
toItem: nil, attribute: .NotAnAttribute, multiplier: 1.0, constant: 225.0))
self.view.addConstraint(NSLayoutConstraint(item: memoArea, attribute: .Leading, relatedBy: .Equal,
toItem: self.view, attribute: .Leading, multiplier: 1.0, constant: 20.0))
// var spacer:UIView = UIView(frame: CGRectMake(84, 518, 160, 6))
spacer.addConstraint(NSLayoutConstraint(item: spacer, attribute: .Width, relatedBy: .Equal,
toItem: nil, attribute: .NotAnAttribute, multiplier: 1.0, constant: 160.0))
spacer.addConstraint(NSLayoutConstraint(item: spacer, attribute: .Height, relatedBy: .Equal,
toItem: nil, attribute: .NotAnAttribute, multiplier: 1.0, constant: 6.0))
self.view.addConstraint(NSLayoutConstraint(item: spacer, attribute: .Leading, relatedBy: .Equal,
toItem: self.view, attribute: .Leading, multiplier: 1.0, constant: 84.0))