Resizing UIView based on content

Question

I have a view with a lot of labels being populated with parsed XML. That view is within a UIScrollView. Some of the XML is too long for the labels. I'm resizing the labels based on the XML content. When the labels are re sized, they overlap the subsequent labels because my UIView (that is within the UIScrollView) isn't being re sized. I've been scouring the internet for hours trying to find an answer to this, but everything that I've tried hasn't achieved what I'm looking for. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This is my populateLabels method.

-(void) populateLabels {

NSString *noInfo = (@"No Information Available");
lblCgName.text = _Campground.campground;
NSString *cgLoc = _Campground.street1; 
NSString *cgCity = _Campground.city;
NSString *cgState = _Campground.state1;
NSString *cgCountry = _Campground.country;
NSString *cgZipPostal = _Campground.zipPostal;
cgLoc = [[cgLoc stringByAppendingString:@", "] stringByAppendingString:cgCity];
cgLoc = [[cgLoc stringByAppendingString:@", "] stringByAppendingString:cgState];
cgLoc = [[cgLoc stringByAppendingString:@", "] stringByAppendingString:cgCountry];
cgLoc = [[cgLoc stringByAppendingString:@" "] stringByAppendingString:cgZipPostal];
lblCgLoc.text = cgLoc;
double dRate = [_Campground.regRate1 doubleValue];
double dRate2 = [_Campground.regRate2 doubleValue];
NSString *rate = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"$%0.2f",dRate];
NSString *rate2 = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"$%0.2f",dRate2];
if ([rate2 isEqualToString:@"$0.00"]) {
    lblRate.text = rate;
} else {
    rate = [[rate stringByAppendingString:@" - "] stringByAppendingString:rate2];
    lblRate.text = rate;
}
double dPaRate = [_Campground.paRate1 doubleValue];
double dPaRate2 = [_Campground.paRate2 doubleValue];
NSString *paRate = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"$%0.2f",dPaRate];
NSString *paRate2 = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"$%0.2f",dPaRate2];
if ([paRate2 isEqualToString:@"$0.00"]) {
    lblPaRate.text = paRate;
} else {
    paRate = [[paRate stringByAppendingString:@" - "] stringByAppendingString:paRate2];
    lblPaRate.text = paRate;
}
lblLocal1.text = _Campground.localPhone1;
lblLocal2.text = _Campground.localPhone2;
lblTollFree.text = _Campground.tollFree;
lblFax.text = _Campground.fax;
lblEmail.text = _Campground.email;
lblWebsite.text = _Campground.website;
NSString *gps = _Campground.latitude;
NSString *longitude = _Campground.longitude;
gps = [[gps stringByAppendingString:@", "] stringByAppendingString:longitude];
lblGps.text = gps;
lblHighlights.text = _Campground.highlights;
lblHighlights.lineBreakMode = UILineBreakModeWordWrap;
lblHighlights.numberOfLines = 0;

//label resizing

CGSize maximumLabelSize = CGSizeMake(296,9999);

CGSize expectedLabelSize = [_Campground.highlights sizeWithFont:lblHighlights.font 
                                  constrainedToSize:maximumLabelSize 
                                                  lineBreakMode:lblHighlights.lineBreakMode]; 

//adjust the label the the new height.
CGRect newFrame = lblHighlights.frame;
newFrame.size.height = expectedLabelSize.height;
lblHighlights.frame = newFrame;

lblTents.text = _Campground.tents;
lblNotes.text = _Campground.notes;
lblDirections.text = _Campground.directions;
lblRentals.text = _Campground.rentals;

}

Answer 1

Where is the - (void) populateLabels method located? If it's in a view controller, you should have easy access to the view that needs to be resized. Alternatively, if the labels (which look to already be created) have been added to the view that needs to be resized, then you can access their superview. You've already got size you need, just set set the superview's frame size at the end of the method.

If you're trying to find the size of each label first based on the string content, you'll want to use the NSString method: -sizeWithFont. There are several variations of this that allow you to specify constraints:

Computing Metrics for a Single Line of Text – sizeWithFont: – sizeWithFont:forWidth:lineBreakMode: – sizeWithFont:minFontSize:actualFontSize:forWidth:lineBreakMode: Computing Metrics for Multiple Lines of Text – sizeWithFont:constrainedToSize: – sizeWithFont:constrainedToSize:lineBreakMode:

Remember that UILables only show 1 line of text. Also keep in mind that this will return the size that the string will take up. Views like UILabels and UITextViews tend to add padding, so you may need to account for that when calculating the height. After you've calculated the height and placed each label, you should then know the size the superView will need to be and set it appropriately. Also, if you don't know which label will be last/lowest/furthest down in the view (the size of the superView should be the origin.y + the size.height of the last view) you can do something like this:

CGFloat totalHeight = 0.0f;
for (UIView *view in superView.subviews)
    if (totalHeight < view.frame.origin.y + view.frame.size.height) totalHeight = view.frame.origin.y + view.frame.size.height;

This will give you the height of the superview if you don't already know it (and you can do the same thing for width if need be).

Answer 2

Do you really need to use a bunch of labels?
It seems you need to use UITextView or UIScrollView.

Answer 3

The general method to resize a UIView based on its subviews is sizeToFit This method resizes your UIView automatically.

If you wanted to constrain the size, you'll need to use sizeThatFits: This method does not resize your UIView automatically, rather it returns the size.

Just a side note: These two methods only factor in subviews so not drawings nor Core Text.