iOS: TapGestureRecognizer Issues

Question

So I have an app that behaves like a photo gallery and I'm implementing the ability for the user to delete the images. Here is the setup: I have 9 UIImageViews, imageView, imageView2, etc. I also have an "Edit" button, and a tapGesture action method. I dragged a Tap Gesture Recognizer over onto my view in IB, and attached it to each one of the UIImageViews. I also attached the tapGesture action method to each of the UIImageViews. Ideally, I would like the method to only become active when the "Edit" button is pressed. When the user taps Edit, then taps on the picture they want to delete, I would like a UIAlertView to appear, asking if they are sure they want to delete it. Here is the code I'm using:

- (IBAction)editButtonPressed:(id)sender {
    editButton.hidden = YES;
    backToGalleryButton.hidden = NO;
    tapToDeleteLabel.hidden = NO;
}

- (IBAction)tapGesture:(UITapGestureRecognizer*)gesture
{

    UIAlertView *deleteAlertView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Delete"
                                                              message:@"Are you sure you want to delete this photo?"
                                                             delegate:self
                                                    cancelButtonTitle:@"No"
                                                    otherButtonTitles:@"Yes", nil];
    [deleteAlertView show];

    if (buttonIndex != [alertView cancelButtonIndex]) {

        UIImageView *view = [self.UIImageView];
        if (view) {
            [self.array removeObject:view];
        }


        CGPoint tapLocation = [gesture locationInView: self.view];
        for (UIImageView *imageView in self.view.subviews) {
            if (CGRectContainsPoint(self.UIImageView.frame, tapLocation)) {
                ((UIImageView *)[self.view]).image =nil;
 }

}
        [self.user setObject:self.array forKey:@"images"];
}
}

This code is obviously riddled with errors: "Use of undeclared identifier button index" on this line: if (buttonIndex != [alertView cancelButtonIndex])

"Property UIImageView not found on object of type PhotoViewController" on this line UIImageView *view = [self.UIImageView];

And "Expected identifier" on this line ((UIImageView *)[self.view]).image =nil;

I'm very new to programming, and I'm surprised that I even made it this far. So, I'm just trying to figure out how I need to edit my code so that the errors go away, and that it can be used whenever one of the 9 image views is tapped, and also so that this method only fires when the Edit button is pushed first. I was using tags earlier, and it worked great, but I save the images via NSData, so I can't use tags anymore. Any help is much appreciated, thanks!

Answer 1

First, you don't want to attach the tap gesture to the image views. Also, if you are going to have more than 9 images, you may want a scroll view, or handle scrolling separately. First, remove that gesture recognizer and all its connections.

Next, determine what type of view you will use as your gallery canvas. A simple View, or a ScrollView, or whatever... it doesn't really matter right now, just to get it working. You want to ctrl-drag that view into your interface definition, so it drops an IBOutlet for the view (that way you can reference it in code).

You will place your ImageViews onto the view I just mentioned.

You can have an internal flag for the gesture recognizer, but it also has a property that use can enable/disable it whenever you want. Thus, you can have it active/inactive fairly easily.

All you want to do is drop a single tap-gesture-recognizer onto your controller, and connect it to the implementation section of the controller. It will generate a stub for handling the recognizer. It will interpret taps "generally" for the controller, and call your code whenever a tap is made on the view.

Some more code...

Creates a frame for the "new" image in the scroll view.

- (CGRect)frameForData:(MyData*)data atIndex:(NSUInteger)idx
{
    CGPoint topLeft;
    int row = idx / 4;
    int col = idx % 4;
    topLeft.x = (col+1)*HORIZ_SPACING + THUMBNAIL_WIDTH * (col);
    topLeft.y = (row+1)*VERT_SPACING + THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT * (row);
    return CGRectMake(topLeft.x, topLeft.y, THUMBNAIL_WIDTH, THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT);
}

Creates an image view for each piece of metadata, and a small border.

- (UIImageView*)createImageViewFor:(MetaData*)metadata
{
    UIImageView *imageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:metadata.lastImage];
    imageView.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, THUMBNAIL_WIDTH, THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT);;
    imageView.layer.borderColor = [[UIColor blackColor] CGColor];
    imageView.layer.borderWidth = 2.0;
    imageView.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
    return imageView;
}

This is where the views are created and added to the parent...

    imageView = [self createImageViewFor:metadata];
    //[data.imageView sizeToFit];

    // Make sure the scrollView contentSize represents the data
    CGRect lastFrame = [self frameForData:data atIndex:self.data.count-1];
    CGFloat newHeight = lastFrame.origin.y + lastFrame.size.height;
    if (self.bookshelfScrollView.contentSize.height < newHeight) {
        CGSize newSize = self.bookshelfScrollView.contentSize;
        newSize.height = newHeight;
        self.bookshelfScrollView.contentSize = newSize;
    }
    [self.bookshelfScrollView addSubview:data.imageView];

So, you just create each frame, add them to the view, and the only thing you have to do is enable user interaction on them, because otherwise the scroll view does not allow the gesture through.

OK... Looking at the code you posted... since you didn't say what was wrong with it... hard to say... The below is your code... My comments are, well, Comments...

- (IBAction)editButtonPressed:(id)sender {
    editButton.hidden = YES;
    backToGalleryButton.hidden = NO;
    tapToDeleteLabel.hidden = NO;
}
- (IBAction)tapGesture:(UITapGestureRecognizer*)gesture
{
    // I don't think I'd do this here, but it shouldn't cause "problems."
    UIAlertView *deleteAlertView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Delete"
                                                              message:@"Are you sure you want to delete this photo?"
                                                             delegate:self
                                                    cancelButtonTitle:@"No"
                                                    otherButtonTitles:@"Yes", nil];
    [deleteAlertView show];

    // In your controller, you have the main view, which is the view
    // on which you added your UIViews.  You need that view.  Add it as an IBOutlet
    // You should know how to do that...  ctrl-drag to the class INTERFACE source.
    // Assuming you name it "galleryView"

    // Take the tap location from the gesture, and make sure it is in the
    // coordinate space of the view.  Loop through all the imageViews and
    // find the one that contains the point where the finger was taped.
    // Then, "remove" that one from its superview...
    CGPoint tapLocation = [gesture locationInView: self.galleryView];
    for (UIImageView *imageView in self.galleryView.subviews) {
        if (CGRectContainsPoint(imageView.frame, tapLocation)) {
            [imageView removeFromSuperview];
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

Personally, in my little photo gallery, I bypassed all of the gesture recognizer stuff by replacing the UIImageView controls with UIButton controls, setting the image property for the button like you would for the UIImageView . It looks identical, but then you get the functionality of tapping on a thumbnail for free, with no gestures needed at all.

So, my view just has a UIScrollView , which which I programmatically add my images as buttons with the image set for the button control, eg:

- (void)loadImages
{
    listOfImages = [ImageData newArrayOfImagesForGallery:nil];

    // some variables to control where I put my thumbnails (which happen to be 76 x 76px)

    int const imageWidth = 76;
    int const imageHeight = imageWidth;
    NSInteger imagesPerRow;
    NSInteger imagePadding;
    NSInteger cellWidth;
    NSInteger cellHeight;

    // some variables to keep track of where I am as I load in my images

    int row = 0;
    int column = 0;
    int index = 0;

    // add images to navigation bar

    for (ImageData *item in listOfImages)
    {
        // figure out what row and column I'm on

        imagesPerRow = self.view.frame.size.width / (imageWidth + 2);
        imagePadding = (self.view.frame.size.width - imageWidth*imagesPerRow) / (imagesPerRow + 1);
        cellWidth = imageWidth + imagePadding;
        cellHeight = imageHeight + imagePadding;

        // this is how I happen to grab my UIImage ... this will vary by implementation

        UIImage *thumb = [item imageThumbnail];

        // assuming I found it...

        if (thumb)
        {
            // create my button and put my thumbnail image in it

            UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
            button.frame = CGRectMake(column * cellWidth  + imagePadding, 
                                      row    * cellHeight + imagePadding, 
                                      imageWidth, 
                                      imageHeight);
            [button setImage:thumb forState:UIControlStateNormal];
            [button addTarget:self
                       action:@selector(buttonClicked:)
             forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
            button.tag = index++;
            [[button imageView] setContentMode:UIViewContentModeScaleAspectFit];

            // add it to my view

            [scrollView addSubview:button];

            // increment my column (and if necessary row) counters, making my scrollview larger if I need to)

            if (++column == imagesPerRow) 
            {
                column = 0;
                row++;
                [scrollView setContentSize:CGSizeMake(self.view.frame.size.width, (row+1) * cellHeight + imagePadding)];
            }
        }
    }
}

// I also have this in case the user changes orientation, so I'll move my images around if I need to

- (void)rearrangeImages
{
    if (!listOfImages)
    {
        [self loadImages];
        return;
    }

    // a few varibles to keep track of where I am

    int const imageWidth = 76;
    int const imagesPerRow = self.view.frame.size.width / (imageWidth + 2);
    int const imageHeight = imageWidth;
    int const imagePadding = (self.view.frame.size.width - imageWidth*imagesPerRow) / (imagesPerRow + 1);
    int const cellWidth = imageWidth + imagePadding;
    int const cellHeight = imageHeight + imagePadding;

    NSArray *buttons = [[NSArray alloc] initWithArray:[scrollView subviews]];

    int row;
    int column;
    int index;

    CGRect newFrame;

    // iterate through the buttons

    for (UIView *button in buttons)
    {
        index = [button tag];

        if ([button isKindOfClass:[UIButton class]] && index < [listOfImages count])
        {
            // figure out where the button should go

            row = floor(index / imagesPerRow);
            column = index % imagesPerRow;
            newFrame = CGRectMake(column * cellWidth  + imagePadding, 
                                  row    * cellHeight + imagePadding, 
                                  imageWidth, 
                                  imageHeight);

            // if we need to move it, then animation the moving

            if (button.frame.origin.x != newFrame.origin.x || button.frame.origin.y != newFrame.origin.y)
            {
                [UIView animateWithDuration:0.33 animations:^{
                    [button setFrame:newFrame];
                }];
            }
        }
    }

    NSInteger numberOfRows = floor(([listOfImages count] - 1) / imagesPerRow) + 1;

    [scrollView setContentSize:CGSizeMake(self.view.frame.size.width, numberOfRows * cellHeight + imagePadding)];
}

- (void)didRotateFromInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)fromInterfaceOrientation
{
    [self rearrangeImages];
}

Hopefully this gives you an idea of how you can programmatically add a UIButton to act as an image in a gallery. I've tried to edit this on the fly, so I apologize in advance if I introduced any errors in the process, but it should give you a sense of what you could conceivably do... I removed my code to do this in a separate GCD queue (which I do because I have close to 100 images, and doing this on the main queue is too slow.)

Anyway, you can then create your buttonClicked method to do your display of your UIAlertView .

- (void)buttonClicked:(UIButton *)sender
{
     if (inEditMode)
     {
         // create your UIAlterView using [sender tag] to know which image you tapped on
     }
}

Finally, you have two buttons on your UIAlertView , but you don't seem to check to see what button the user clicked on. Your view controller should be a UIAlterViewDelegate , in which you have defined your alertView:clickedButtonAtIndex which will do your actual edit steps.

- (void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex
{
     // ok, will do what I need to do with whatever the user tapped in my alertview
}

Answer 3

The easiest thing I can think of off the top of my head is to have the gesture disabled by default, and then have the gesture enabled once the edit button is hit. This way, the picture will only respond to the tap gesture recognizer if it is in "Edit" mode.