Center views horizontally in iOS stack view

Question

I'm trying to achieve the following layout (views centered horizontally):

So I set up a stack view like so:

let quickPromptsView: UIStackView = {
    let sv = UIStackView()
    sv.axis = .horizontal
    sv.alignment = .center
    sv.distribution = .equalSpacing
    sv.spacing = 10
    sv.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    return sv
}()

Adding buttons to stack views:

func addOptions(options: [DialogNodeOutputOptionsElement]) {
    DispatchQueue.main.async {
        // clear all subviews
        self.quickPromptsView.subviews.forEach { (view) in
            view.removeFromSuperview()
        }
        for option in options {
            let button = QuickPromptButton()
            button.setTitle(option.label, for: .normal)
            button.addTarget(self, action: #selector(self.didTapQuickPrompt), for: .touchUpInside)
            self.quickPromptsView.addArrangedSubview(button)
        }
    }
}

Button class:

class QuickPromptButton: UIButton {

    var userFacingValue: String?
    var answerValue: String?

    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        layer.borderColor = UIColor.primaryColor.cgColor
        layer.borderWidth = 1
        layer.cornerRadius = 15
        setTitleColor(.primaryColor, for: .normal)
    }

    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }
}

This is how I add the stack view, I add it inside another stack part of the MessageKit

func configureQuickPromptsView() {
    view.addSubview(quickPromptsView)
    quickPromptsView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 40).isActive = true

    // this stack view belongs to the MessageKit library
    messageInputBar.topStackView.axis = .horizontal
    messageInputBar.topStackView.distribution = .fill
    messageInputBar.topStackView.addArrangedSubview(quickPromptsView)
}

However, this is what I get:

The stack view has 100% the width of the screen. I've tried every single type of distribution but that didn't work. I've also tried to insert transparent UIView s at the extremes to force the centering but that seems like a hack. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Just center your stack view horizontally in its superview.

Examples below are using UIKitPlus library (it is pure UIKit but declarative and support LivePreview, iOS9+)

UView {
    UHStack {
        UView {
            UText("Yes")
                .color(.green)
                .edgesToSuperview(h: 8, v: 4)
        }
        .border(1, .green)
        .circle()
        UView {
            UText("No")
                .color(.red)
                .edgesToSuperview(h: 8, v: 4)
        }
        .border(1, .red)
        .circle()
        UView {
            UText("I don't know")
                .color(.darkGray)
                .edgesToSuperview(h: 8, v: 4)
        }
        .border(1, .darkGray)
        .circle()
    }
    .alignment(.center)
    .distribution(.equalSpacing)
    .spacing(10)
    .edgesToSuperview(v: 0)
    .centerXInSuperview() // this will center your stack view
}
.edgesToSuperview(h: 0)
.centerYInSuperview()

Or use a little hack by adding two views with equal width, one in the beginning of stack and one as the last view in stack.

let v1 = UView()
UHStack {
    v1
    UView {
        UText("Yes")
            .color(.green)
            .edgesToSuperview(h: 8, v: 4)
    }
    .border(1, .green)
    .circle()
    UView {
        UText("No")
            .color(.red)
            .edgesToSuperview(h: 8, v: 4)
    }
    .border(1, .red)
    .circle()
    UView {
        UText("I don't know")
            .color(.darkGray)
            .edgesToSuperview(h: 8, v: 4)
    }
    .border(1, .darkGray)
    .circle()
    UView().width(to: v1)
}
.alignment(.center)
.spacing(10)
.edgesToSuperview(h: 0)
.centerYInSuperview()

The stack view itself can't center inner views automatically unfortunately, so you have to help it to do that.