iosuilabelpadding

Adding space/padding to a UILabel

I have a UILabel where I want to add space in the top and in the bottom. With the minimum height in constraints, I've modified it to:

Enter image description here

To do this I've used:

override func drawTextInRect(rect: CGRect) {
    var insets: UIEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0.0, left: 10.0, bottom: 0.0, right: 10.0)
    super.drawTextInRect(UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(rect, insets))
}

But I've to find a different method because if I write more than two lines, the problem is the same:

Enter image description here

Solution

  • If you want to stick with UILabel, without subclassing it, Mundi has given you a clear solution.

    If alternatively, you would be willing to avoid wrapping the UILabel with a UIView, you could use UITextView to enable the use of UIEdgeInsets (padding) or subclass UILabel to support UIEdgeInsets.

    Using a UITextView would only need to provide the insets (Objective-C):

    textView.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(10, 0, 10, 0);

    Alternative, if you subclass UILabel, an example to this approach would be overriding the drawTextInRect method
    (Objective-C)

    - (void)drawTextInRect:(CGRect)uiLabelRect {
    UIEdgeInsets myLabelInsets = {10, 0, 10, 0};
    [super drawTextInRect:UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(uiLabelRect, myLabelInsets)];
}

    You could additionally provide your new subclassed UILabel with insets variables for TOP, LEFT, BOTTOM and RIGHT.

    An example code could be:

    In .h (Objective-C)

    float topInset, leftInset,bottomInset, rightInset;

    In .m (Objective-C)

    - (void)drawTextInRect:(CGRect)uiLabelRect {
    [super drawTextInRect:UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(uiLabelRect, UIEdgeInsetsMake(topInset,leftInset,bottomInset,rightInset))];
}

    From what I have seen, it seems you have to override the intrinsicContentSize of the UILabel when subclassing it.

    So you should override intrinsicContentSize like:

    - (CGSize) intrinsicContentSize {
    CGSize intrinsicSuperViewContentSize = [super intrinsicContentSize] ;
    intrinsicSuperViewContentSize.height += topInset + bottomInset ;
    intrinsicSuperViewContentSize.width += leftInset + rightInset ;
    return intrinsicSuperViewContentSize ;
}

    And add the following method to edit your insets, instead of editing them individually:

    - (void) setContentEdgeInsets:(UIEdgeInsets)edgeInsets {
    topInset = edgeInsets.top;
    leftInset = edgeInsets.left;
    rightInset = edgeInsets.right;
    bottomInset = edgeInsets.bottom;
    [self invalidateIntrinsicContentSize] ;
}

    It will update the size of your UILabel to match the edge insets and cover the multiline necessity you referred to.

    After searching a bit I have found this Gist with an IPInsetLabel. If none of those solutions work you could try it out.

    There was a similar question (duplicate) about this matter.
    For a full list of available solutions, see this answer: UILabel text margin