UICollectionView, full width cells, allow autolayout dynamic height?
In a vertical UICollectionView ,
Is it possible to have full-width cells, but, allow the dynamic height to be controlled by autolayout?
This strikes me as perhaps the "most important question in iOS with no really good answer."
Important:
Note that in 99% of cases, to achieve full width cells + autolayout dynamic height, simply use a table view. It's that easy.
So what's an example of where you need a collection view?
Collection views are far more powerful than table views.
One straightforward example where you must use a collection view with autolayout dynamic height:
If you animate between two layouts in a collection view. For example, between a 1 and 2 column layout, when the device rotates.
That's a common idiom in iOS. Unfortunately it can only be achieved by solving the problem posed in this QA. :-/
Answer
1. Solution for iOS 13+
With Swift 5.1 and iOS 13, you can use Compositional Layout objects in order to solve your problem.
The following complete sample code shows how to display multiline UILabel inside full-width UICollectionViewCell:
CollectionViewController.swift
import UIKit
class CollectionViewController: UICollectionViewController {
let items = [
[
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.",
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.",
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.",
],
[
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt.",
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.",
],
[
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt.",
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.",
"Lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris.",
]
]
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
let size = NSCollectionLayoutSize(
widthDimension: NSCollectionLayoutDimension.fractionalWidth(1),
heightDimension: NSCollectionLayoutDimension.estimated(44)
)
let item = NSCollectionLayoutItem(layoutSize: size)
let group = NSCollectionLayoutGroup.horizontal(layoutSize: size, subitem: item, count: 1)
let section = NSCollectionLayoutSection(group: group)
section.contentInsets = NSDirectionalEdgeInsets(top: 10, leading: 10, bottom: 10, trailing: 10)
section.interGroupSpacing = 10
let headerFooterSize = NSCollectionLayoutSize(
widthDimension: .fractionalWidth(1.0),
heightDimension: .absolute(40)
)
let sectionHeader = NSCollectionLayoutBoundarySupplementaryItem(
layoutSize: headerFooterSize,
elementKind: "SectionHeaderElementKind",
alignment: .top
)
section.boundarySupplementaryItems = [sectionHeader]
let layout = UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout(section: section)
collectionView.collectionViewLayout = layout
collectionView.register(CustomCell.self, forCellWithReuseIdentifier: "CustomCell")
collectionView.register(HeaderView.self, forSupplementaryViewOfKind: UICollectionView.elementKindSectionHeader, withReuseIdentifier: "HeaderView")
}
override func numberOfSections(in collectionView: UICollectionView) -> Int {
return items.count
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return items[section].count
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: "CustomCell", for: indexPath) as! CustomCell
cell.label.text = items[indexPath.section][indexPath.row]
return cell
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, viewForSupplementaryElementOfKind kind: String, at indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionReusableView {
let headerView = collectionView.dequeueReusableSupplementaryView(ofKind: UICollectionView.elementKindSectionHeader, withReuseIdentifier: "HeaderView", for: indexPath) as! HeaderView
headerView.label.text = "Header"
return headerView
}
override func viewWillTransition(to size: CGSize, with coordinator: UIViewControllerTransitionCoordinator) {
super.viewWillTransition(to: size, with: coordinator)
coordinator.animate(alongsideTransition: { context in
self.collectionView.collectionViewLayout.invalidateLayout()
}, completion: nil)
}
}
HeaderView.swift
import UIKit
class HeaderView: UICollectionReusableView {
let label = UILabel()
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
backgroundColor = .magenta
addSubview(label)
label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
label.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerXAnchor).isActive = true
label.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerYAnchor).isActive = true
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
}
}
CustomCell.swift
import UIKit
class CustomCell: UICollectionViewCell {
let label = UILabel()
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
label.numberOfLines = 0
backgroundColor = .orange
contentView.addSubview(label)
label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
label.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.topAnchor).isActive = true
label.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
label.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.trailingAnchor).isActive = true
label.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
}
}
Expected display:
2. Solution for iOS 11+
With Swift 5.1 and iOS 11, you can subclass UICollectionViewFlowLayout and set its estimatedItemSize property to UICollectionViewFlowLayout.automaticSize (this tells the system that you want to deal with autoresizing UICollectionViewCells). You'll then have to override layoutAttributesForElements(in:) and layoutAttributesForItem(at:) in order to set cells width. Lastly, you'll have to override your cell's preferredLayoutAttributesFitting(_:) method and compute its height.
The following complete code shows how to display multiline UILabel inside full-width UIcollectionViewCell (constrained by UICollectionView's safe area and UICollectionViewFlowLayout's insets):
CollectionViewController.swift
import UIKit
class CollectionViewController: UICollectionViewController {
let items = [
[
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.",
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.",
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.",
],
[
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt.",
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.",
],
[
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt.",
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.",
"Lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris.",
]
]
let customFlowLayout = CustomFlowLayout()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
customFlowLayout.sectionInsetReference = .fromContentInset // .fromContentInset is default
customFlowLayout.estimatedItemSize = UICollectionViewFlowLayout.automaticSize
customFlowLayout.minimumInteritemSpacing = 10
customFlowLayout.minimumLineSpacing = 10
customFlowLayout.sectionInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 10, left: 10, bottom: 10, right: 10)
customFlowLayout.headerReferenceSize = CGSize(width: 0, height: 40)
collectionView.collectionViewLayout = customFlowLayout
collectionView.contentInsetAdjustmentBehavior = .always
collectionView.register(CustomCell.self, forCellWithReuseIdentifier: "CustomCell")
collectionView.register(HeaderView.self, forSupplementaryViewOfKind: UICollectionView.elementKindSectionHeader, withReuseIdentifier: "HeaderView")
}
override func numberOfSections(in collectionView: UICollectionView) -> Int {
return items.count
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return items[section].count
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: "CustomCell", for: indexPath) as! CustomCell
cell.label.text = items[indexPath.section][indexPath.row]
return cell
}
override func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, viewForSupplementaryElementOfKind kind: String, at indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionReusableView {
let headerView = collectionView.dequeueReusableSupplementaryView(ofKind: UICollectionView.elementKindSectionHeader, withReuseIdentifier: "HeaderView", for: indexPath) as! HeaderView
headerView.label.text = "Header"
return headerView
}
}
CustomFlowLayout.swift
import UIKit
final class CustomFlowLayout: UICollectionViewFlowLayout {
override func layoutAttributesForElements(in rect: CGRect) -> [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes]? {
let layoutAttributesObjects = super.layoutAttributesForElements(in: rect)?.map{ $0.copy() } as? [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes]
layoutAttributesObjects?.forEach({ layoutAttributes in
if layoutAttributes.representedElementCategory == .cell {
if let newFrame = layoutAttributesForItem(at: layoutAttributes.indexPath)?.frame {
layoutAttributes.frame = newFrame
}
}
})
return layoutAttributesObjects
}
override func layoutAttributesForItem(at indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes? {
guard let collectionView = collectionView else {
fatalError()
}
guard let layoutAttributes = super.layoutAttributesForItem(at: indexPath)?.copy() as? UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes else {
return nil
}
layoutAttributes.frame.origin.x = sectionInset.left
layoutAttributes.frame.size.width = collectionView.safeAreaLayoutGuide.layoutFrame.width - sectionInset.left - sectionInset.right
return layoutAttributes
}
}
HeaderView.swift
import UIKit
class HeaderView: UICollectionReusableView {
let label = UILabel()
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
backgroundColor = .magenta
addSubview(label)
label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
label.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerXAnchor).isActive = true
label.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerYAnchor).isActive = true
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
}
}
CustomCell.swift
import UIKit
class CustomCell: UICollectionViewCell {
let label = UILabel()
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
label.numberOfLines = 0
backgroundColor = .orange
contentView.addSubview(label)
label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
label.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.topAnchor).isActive = true
label.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
label.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.trailingAnchor).isActive = true
label.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
}
override func preferredLayoutAttributesFitting(_ layoutAttributes: UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes) -> UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes {
let layoutAttributes = super.preferredLayoutAttributesFitting(layoutAttributes)
layoutIfNeeded()
layoutAttributes.frame.size = systemLayoutSizeFitting(UIView.layoutFittingCompressedSize, withHorizontalFittingPriority: .required, verticalFittingPriority: .fittingSizeLevel)
return layoutAttributes
}
}
Here are some alternative implementations for preferredLayoutAttributesFitting(_:):
override func preferredLayoutAttributesFitting(_ layoutAttributes: UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes) -> UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes {
let targetSize = CGSize(width: layoutAttributes.frame.width, height: 0)
layoutAttributes.frame.size = contentView.systemLayoutSizeFitting(targetSize, withHorizontalFittingPriority: .required, verticalFittingPriority: .fittingSizeLevel)
return layoutAttributes
}
override func preferredLayoutAttributesFitting(_ layoutAttributes: UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes) -> UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes {
label.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = layoutAttributes.frame.width
layoutAttributes.frame.size.height = contentView.systemLayoutSizeFitting(UIView.layoutFittingCompressedSize).height
return layoutAttributes
}
Expected display:
