UIView layout behavior - iphone

I am still pretty new with how layout behaves in Cocoa. Say I have a UIView with UIActivityIndicator and UILabel as its subviews. The UILabel frame is as big as the UIView and it has its textAlignment set to center. The text says "Loading xxx...", where xxx is a string that can change depending on context.
Now, how do I make it so that my UIActivityIndicator is always placed exactly to the left of the label no matter how long the text gets? Remember the text is center-aligned.
Plz let me know if you need more clarifications.

A simple way to implement this is to calculate the width of the text in you UILabel, and then use the results to position your UIActivityIndicator
// width & height of your activity indicator
CGFloat wai = 20, hai = 20;
CGSize textSize = [[label text] sizeWithFont:[label font]];
CGFloat w = textSize.width;
CGFloat ax = ((WIDTH_OF_THE_DISPLAY - w) / 2) - wai);
activityIndicator.frame = CGRectMake(ax, (HEIGHT_OF_DISPLAY- hai) /2, wai, hai);

Related

How to align UILabel text from bottom?

How the UILabel can be aligned from bottom. Let say, my label can hold three line of text.If the input text is single line, then this line should come bottom of the label.Please refer the below image for better understanding. The orange area is the full frame of label.Currently it has one line and it is aligned center. So what I want is, it should always aligned bottom regardless of how many lines.
Please suggest your ideas.
Thank you.
Swift 4.2 version using the contentMode property to set top and bottom:
class VerticalAlignedLabel: UILabel {
override func drawText(in rect: CGRect) {
var newRect = rect
switch contentMode {
case .top:
newRect.size.height = sizeThatFits(rect.size).height
case .bottom:
let height = sizeThatFits(rect.size).height
newRect.origin.y += rect.size.height - height
newRect.size.height = height
default:
()
}
super.drawText(in: newRect)
}
}
Then setup your label like that:
let label = VerticalAlignedLabel()
label.contentMode = .bottom
Here are two ways of doing that...
1. First set numberOfLines to 0 and then use sizeToFit property of UILabel so your UILabel display with its contentSize.
yourLabel.numberOfLines = 0;
[yourLabel sizeToFit];
See more information from this link: Vertically align text within a UILabel
2. Another option is to take UITextField instead of UILabel and set userInteractionEnabled to NO like below...
[yourTextField setUserInteractionEnabled:NO];
and then set the contentVerticalAlignment property to bottom like below...
[yourTextField setContentVerticalAlignment:UIControlContentVerticalAlignmentBottom];
UPDATE
Also, with UITextField, we can't achieve multiple lines. So instead we can use UITextView and set its userInteractionEnabled to NO. Then, use the code below to make it bottom aligned.
CGFloat topCorrect = ([label bounds].size.height - [label contentSize].height);
topCorrect = (topCorrect <0.0 ? 0.0 : topCorrect);
label.contentOffset = (CGPoint){.x = 0, .y = -topCorrect};
Subclass UILabel
#interface Label : UILabel
#end
Then override drawTextInRect like so
#implementation Label
- (void)drawTextInRect:(CGRect)rect
{
if(alignment == top) {
rect.size.height = [self sizeThatFits:rect.size].height;
}
if(alignment == bottom) {
CGFloat height = [self sizeThatFits:rect.size].height;
rect.origin.y += rect.size.height - height;
rect.size.height = height;
}
[super drawTextInRect:rect];
}
#end
i only set a bottom constraint to the super view in IB which works for me without using code and also number of Lines for a maximum constraint.
I recently ran into this problem and was able to solve it by putting my label in a stackview by itself. I got the idea from this post which had the same question but with multiple labels. The same technique can be used with a single label.
The stackview would have axis = horizontal and alignment = bottom (which is what does the trick).
My label is now perfectly aligned towards the bottom which is what I needed.
I had the same issue. Here is how I made to align the text to the bottom of my UILabel:
- (void)alignLabel:(UILabel *)l withText:(NSString *)text verticalAlignOption:(int)vertAlign{
CGSize stringSize = [text sizeWithFont:l.font constrainedToSize:l.frame.size lineBreakMode:l.lineBreakMode];
switch (vertAlign) {
case 0: // align = top
l.frame = CGRectMake(l.frame.origin.x,
l.frame.origin.y,
l.frame.size.width,
stringSize.height
);
break;
case 1: // align = bottom
l.frame = CGRectMake(l.frame.origin.x,
(l.frame.origin.y + l.frame.size.height) - stringSize.height,
l.frame.size.width,
stringSize.height
);
break;
case 2: // align = middle
// default
break;
}
l.text = text;
}
Ahd you simple call the method like this to align to the bottom:
[self alignLabel:self.mediaTitle withText:#"My text to align" verticalAlignOption:1];
Another option: use one label for your background color, I call this one originalLabel, and another for the text, called textLabel in my example. Then calculate the height and Y coordinate for textLabel:
[textLabel sizeToFit];
int height = textLabel.frame.size.height;
int yCoord = originalLabel.frame.origin.y +
originalLabel.frame.size.height - height;
textLabel.frame = CGRectMake( originalLabel.frame.origin.x, yCoord,
textLabel.frame.size.width, height);
In IB as #Tobe said Bottom constraint to superview should work,
Incase if you have multiple subview or horizontal stack view with one element to have bottom constraint then use Layout Margin to be Fixed with bottom less than other margins
Put your UILabel in a vertical UIStackView with a dummy view as a spacer.
Also, set the dummy view with a lower hugging and compression priority.
Top to Bottom:
Label
Dummy View
Bottom to Top:
Dummy View
Label
Screenshot
You can subclass UILabel and overriding the method :
- (void)drawTextInRect:(CGRect)rect
call super drawTextInRect with the rect where you want to use.
use autoLayout)
textLabel.numberOfLines = 0
textLabel.textAlignment = .center
textLabel.topAnchor.constraint(greaterThanOrEqualTo: sView.topAnchor).isActive = true
textLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: sView.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
textLabel.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: sView.trailingAnchor).isActive = true
textLabel.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: sView.bottomAnchor).isActive = true

Calculating the height of a UILabel?

I wanted to know is it possible to get the height of a multi line UILabel? I'm developing a messaging application and wanted to achieve something like the iPhone messaging application.
You can get the property with label.frame.size.height
You probably want the -[UILabel sizeThatFits:] method. Here's what you do. Let's say your UILabel is in the variable myLabel, and you've already set its width to whatever you want.
myLabel.text = #"This is my very long message which will probably need multiple lines to be displayed because it is very long.";
CGRect bounds = myLabel.bounds;
// Create a size that is the label's current width, and very very tall.
CGSize prototypeSize = CGSizeMake(bounds.size.width, MAXFLOAT);
// Ask myLabel how big it would be if it had to fit in prototypeSize.
// It will figure out where it would put line breaks in the text to
// fit prototypeSize.width.
CGSize fittedSize = [myLabel sizeThatFits:prototypeSize];
// Now update myLabel.bounds using the fitted height and its existing width.
myLabel.bounds = (CGRect){ bounds.origin, CGSizeMake(bounds.size.width, fittedSize.height) };
If you call
[label sizeToFit];
it will resize the UILabel to the minimum size needed to hold all the content. Then you can just do label.frame.size.height to get the height of the label with that amount of text in it.

Draw rectangle in custom table cell

How would I draw a rectangle in a custom table cell class? The cell currently has a background image with a few text labels. I would like to draw a rectangle behind each of the labels so they are easier to read over the detailed background image.
I know I could just set the background colour of the label but I would like to have padding between the background colour and the text. If that is possible, I'd love to know how! :)
I'm subclassing a TTTableMessageItemCell in Three20, a method below gets called in which you can play with subviews of the cell,
- (void)layoutSubviews {
[super layoutSubviews];
CGFloat padding = 16;
CGFloat boxWidth = self.contentView.width - 2*padding;
CGFloat textWidth = boxWidth - (padding*2);
CGFloat textHeight = 100;
CGFloat top = kTableCellSmallMargin;
// Position Heading Text
_titleLabel.frame = CGRectMake(padding, top, textWidth, _titleLabel.font.ttLineHeight);
top += _titleLabel.height;
// Position Detail Text
[self.detailTextLabel sizeToFit];
self.detailTextLabel.top = top+2*padding;
self.detailTextLabel.left = 2*padding;
self.detailTextLabel.width = textWidth;
self.detailTextLabel.height = 100;
}
I would like the rectangles to be placed behind the _titleLable and detailTextLabel labels.
edit
I have been able to add the right box using the following,
UIView *view = [[UIView alloc] init];
view.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
view.frame = CGRectMake(padding, top, textWidth, textHeight+2*padding);
[self insertSubview:view belowSubview:self.detailTextLabel];
It is laying on top of the label and I cant seem to get it behind it...
edit
I was adding the view to the wrong subview, fixed it with,
[[self.subviews objectAtIndex:0] insertSubview:view atIndex:0];
You can add the labels to views and these to the cell.
You could use insertSubview:belowSubview: to add views behind your labels. With backgroundColor and the right frame they will do what you intend to.
You can also bring detailLabel to front

NSString sizeWithFont: for multiple lines?

Is there an equivalent to NSString's sizeWithFont: method that can be used for calculating the height of text in a UITectView for a given width? All of the methods from NSString only operate on a single line from what I can tell.
From Apple's reference for these NSString methods, you could use -sizeWithFont:constrainedToSize: or -sizeWithFont:constrainedToSize:lineBreakMode: for "Computing Metrics for Multiple Lines of Text".
CGSize size = [theString sizeWithFont:font
constrainedToSize:CGSizeMake(width, 100000)];
return size.height;
For UITextView, all you have to do is call -sizeToFit on the view, and it will automatically resize its height until it can fit all the text available. All you need to do is set the width of the text view, set the text, then call -sizeToFit. The text view will resize its height just enough to fit all the text.
UPDATE:
Apparently text views only shrink when there's excess height, but they don't grow if there's insufficient height to display all the text. In addition, once you call -sizeToFit, the text view's y coordinate is reset back to 0.0f. So here's what you do:
CGFloat textViewWidth = 300.0f;
CGFloat textViewPadding = 10.0f;
UITextView * textView = [[[UITextView alloc] init] autorelease];
textView.text = ...; // Really long string
textView.frame = CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, textViewWidth, CGFLOAT_MAX);
[textView sizeToFit]; // Shrinks the height to fit all the text
textView.frame = CGRectMake(textViewPadding, textViewPadding,
textViewWidth, textView.frame.size.height);
[self.view addSubview:textView];
First, you set the frame just so you can set the width like you want it. You use CGFLOAT_MAX to pretty much indicate infinite height. Next, calling -sizeToFit shrinks the height until it just fits all the text. However, it also resets the y coordinate, so we go ahead and set the frame again to configure the x and y coordinates—in this example, 10.0f for both x and y—, leaving the width alone and keeping the height set to whatever -sizeToFit calculated.
actually, you could use the property contentSize.

sizeWithFont doesn't give correct height for UITextView if there is a long string in the text being wrapped

Is there a way to get the correct size of an NSString using:
- (CGSize)sizeWithFont:(UIFont *)font forWidth:(CGFloat)width lineBreakMode:(UILineBreakMode)lineBreakMode
that doesnt get thrown off by 2 or 3 hundred character strings. At the moment if I try to use this method on these long strings it incorrectly calculates them and I end up with lots of whitespace at the bottom of the UITextView.
I've tried using UILineBreakModeWordWrap and UILineBreakModeCharacterWrap.
the resizing is being done in
- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
CGFloat result = 44.0f;
NSString* text = nil;
CGFloat width = 0;
CGFloat tableViewWidth;
CGRect bounds = [UIScreen mainScreen].bounds;
tableViewWidth = bounds.size.width;
width = tableViewWidth - 150;
text = stringWithLongWords;
if (text) {
CGSize textSize = { width, 20000.0f };
CGSize size = [text sizeWithFont:[UIFont systemFontOfSize:10.0f] constrainedToSize:textSize lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];
size.height += 50.0f;
result = MAX(size.height, 44.0f+30.0f);
}
return result;
}
UITextView is not exactly like a UILabel wrapped in a UIScrollView. It has line spacing different from the font size and margins that sizeWithFont:constrainedToSize:linkBreakMode: doesn't account for.
Knowing your font size you might be able to calculate the # of lines and take line spacing into account. You can guess at the margins and try to trick sizeWithFont: to give a more useful answer.
The popular solutions seem to be:
just use a UILabel if you don't need any UITextView functionality
if you need hyperlinks, overlay UIButtons that look like hyperlinks over a UILabel
use an off-screen UITextView and its sizeToFit method to get a real answer
I had no luck w/ the 3rd option but it sounds like it should work, so perhaps I did something wrong.
I'm going to try using a UILabel and overlaying buttons for hyperlinks. We'll see how that turns out.
If that fails, there is always the option taken by Loren Brichter (of Tweetie fame): draw everything into a UIView yourself using CoreGraphics.
Good luck!
Check out this post How do I size a UITextView to its content?
It looks like textView.contentSize.height should work (with the caveat that the the correct contentSize is only available after the UITextView has been added to the view with addSubview)
You said that you have a UITableView with differing heights. Have you set the reuse identifier to the same thing for all of the cells? It could be that older cells with their height already set are being reused. If this is the problem, you should resize the cell again when it's being reused.
The best solution I have found so far is to have a separate hidden UITextView with the same font settings, and set its text. After that its contetSize should be accurate.
The width you are using is the width for your UITextView... but you aren't concerned with that width, you are concerned with the width of the actual text area nested inside the text view.
UITextViews, by default, have padding around their borders to produce a space in-between the typed text and the edge of the UITextView a few pixels wide (and long for the top)... To get the correct size you shouldn't use
textView.frame.size.width
but rather,
textView.frame.size.width-(textView.contentInset.left+textView.contentInset.right+textView.textContainerInset.left+textView.textContainerInset.right+textView.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding/*left*/+textView.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding/*right*/)
^Which takes the width of the UITextView and subtracts out all the padding so you are left with the width of just the type-able text area.
Same goes for height except for lineFragmentPadding doesn't have a bottom so you only subtract it out once instead of twice.
The final code is something like this:
CGSize textViewContentSize = CGSizeMake(theTextView.frame.size.width-(theTextView.contentInset.left+theTextView.contentInset.right+theTextView.textContainerInset.left+theTextView.textContainerInset.right+theTextView.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding/*left*/+theTextView.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding/*right*/), theTextView.frame.size.height-(theTextView.contentInset.top+theTextView.contentInset.bottom+theTextView.textContainerInset.top+theTextView.textContainerInset.bottom+theTextView.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding/*top*//*+theTextView.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding*//*there is no bottom padding*/));
CGSize calculatedSize = [theTextView.text sizeWithFont:theTextView.font
constrainedToSize:textViewContentSize
lineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByWordWrapping];
CGSize adjustedSize = CGSizeMake(ceilf(calculatedSize.width), ceilf(calculatedSize.height));
Inspired by #MrNickBarker's answer, here's my solution:
CGFloat width = 280.0f;
UITextView *t = [[UITextView alloc] init];
[t setFont:[UIFont systemFontOfSize:17]];
[label setText:#"some short or long text, works both"];
CGRect frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, width, 0);
[t setFrame:frame];
// Here's the trick: after applying the 0-frame, the content size is calculated and can be used in a second invocation
frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, width, t.contentSize.height);
[t setFrame:frame];
The only issue remaining for me is that this doesn't work with modified insets.
Still can't believe such twists are required, but since -[NSString sizeWithFont:forWidth:lineBreakMode:] does not respect insets, paddings, margins, line spacings and the like, it seems this is the only working solution at the moment (i.e. iOS 6).