iOS Auto Layout Demystified, Second Edition

Book description

Completed Updated for iOS 7 and Xcode 5

Auto Layout transforms the way you create iOS user interfaces. As flexible as it is powerful, Auto Layout gives you unprecedented control over your iOS user interfaces. But Auto Layout has a reputation for difficulty. In iOS Auto Layout Demystified, Second Edition, world-renowned iOS developer and author Erica Sadun strips away the confusion, helping you gain Auto Layout mastery the easiest way possible: by example.

Fully updated for iOS 7 and Xcode 5, this tutorial delivers everything Sadun’s guides are famous for: clear explanations, expert tips, proven best practices--and, above all, plenty of code to learn from and reuse.

Step by step, Sadun explains how Auto Layout “thinks,” how it works, where it fits, and why it’s more useful (and simpler) than you ever imagined. She offers practical solutions for a wide variety of real-world iOS development challenges, plus innovative ways to use Auto Layout to build interactive elements, animations, and more.

If you’re an experienced iOS developer, this guide will expand your design possibilities, helping you build apps that are superbly usable and intuitive and stand out even in the most crowded marketplace.

Coverage includes

  • Mastering Auto Layout’s basic concepts, techniques, and approach

  • Defining unambiguous, satisfiable constraints that express your layout exactly how you intend

  • Overcoming obstacles to constraint-based user interface design in Interface Builder

  • Using visual formatting to express how items are laid out vertically and horizontally

  • Making visual formats more flexible with metrics dictionaries and layout options

  • Debugging constraints and deciphering those bewildering Xcode log messages

  • Using descriptive techniques to uncover and express natural relationships in your design

  • Applying iOS Auto Layout techniques in Mac OS X apps too

  • Table of contents

    1. About This eBook
    2. Title Page
    3. Copyright Page
    4. Dedication Page
    5. Table of Contents
    6. Preface
      1. How This Book Is Organized
      2. About the Sample Code
      3. Getting the Sample Code
      4. Getting Git
      5. Getting GitHub
      6. Contribute!
      7. Contacting the Author
      8. Editor’s Note: We Want to Hear from You!
    7. Acknowledgments
    8. About the Author
    9. 1. Introducing Auto Layout
      1. Origins
      2. Saying “Yes” to Auto Layout
      3. Constraints
      4. Constraint Attributes
      5. About Those Missing Views
      6. Ambiguous Layout
      7. Intrinsic Content Size
      8. Compression Resistance and Content Hugging
      9. Image Embellishments
      10. Exercises
      11. Conclusions
    10. 2. Constraints
      1. Constraint Types
      2. Priorities
      3. Content Size Constraints
      4. Building Layout Constraints
      5. The Layout Constraint Class
      6. Creating Layout Constraints
      7. View Items
      8. Constraints, Hierarchies, and Bounds Systems
      9. Installing Constraints
      10. Comparing Constraints
      11. Laws of Layout Constraints
      12. Exercises
      13. Conclusions
    11. 3. Interface Builder Layout
      1. Designing in IB
      2. Disabling Auto Layout
      3. Basic Layout and Auto-Generated Constraints
      4. A Guided Tour of IB Elements
      5. Adding Constraints
      6. Previewing Layouts
      7. Inspecting Constraints
      8. View Size Inspector
      9. The Resolution Menu
      10. Constraints/Resizing Pop-Up Menu
      11. The Missing Views Problem
      12. Balancing Requests
      13. Hybrid Layout
      14. Removing IB-Generated Constraints
      15. Exercises
      16. Conclusions
    12. 4. Visual Formats
      1. Introducing Visual Format Constraints
      2. Options
      3. Variable Bindings
      4. Metrics
      5. Format String Structure
      6. Orientation
      7. View Names
      8. Connections
      9. View Sizes
      10. Format String Components
      11. Getting It Wrong
      12. NSLog and Visual Formats
      13. Constraining to a Superview
      14. View Stretching
      15. Constraining Size
      16. Building Rows or Columns
      17. Matching Sizes
      18. Why You Cannot Distribute Views
      19. Exercises
      20. Conclusions
    13. 5. Debugging Constraints
      1. Xcode Feedback
      2. Reading Console Logs
      3. Examining Constraint Logs
      4. A Note About Layout Math
      5. Constraint Equation Strings
      6. Adding Names
      7. Describing Views
      8. Unexpected Padding Example
      9. The Hugged Image Example
      10. View Centering Example
      11. Descent Reports
      12. Ambiguity Example
      13. Expanding on Console Dumps Example
      14. Visualizing Constraints
      15. Launch Arguments
      16. Internationalization
      17. Profiling Cocoa Layout
      18. Auto Layout Rules of Debugging
      19. Exercises
      20. Conclusions
    14. 6. Building with Auto Layout
      1. Basic Principles of Auto Layout
      2. Layout Libraries
      3. Planning Interfaces
      4. Building for Modularity
      5. Updating Constraints
      6. Designing for Edge Conditions
      7. Building a View Drawer
      8. Window Boundaries
      9. Exercises
      10. Conclusions
    15. 7. Layout Solutions
      1. Table Cells
      2. Preserving Image Aspect
      3. Accordion Sizing
      4. Scroll Views
      5. Centering View Groups
      6. Custom Multipliers and Random Positions
      7. Building Grids
      8. Making Room for the Keyboard
      9. Inserting Views at Runtime
      10. Motion Effects, Dynamic Text, and Containers
      11. Exercises
      12. Conclusions
    16. A. Answers to Exercises
      1. Chapter 1
      2. Chapter 2
      3. Chapter 3
      4. Chapter 4
      5. Chapter 5
      6. Chapter 6
      7. Chapter 7
    17. Index

    Product information

    • Title: iOS Auto Layout Demystified, Second Edition
    • Author(s):
    • Release date: October 2013
    • Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
    • ISBN: 9780133750799