Is it possible to set UIView border properties from interface builder?

Question

Is it possible to control UIView border properties (color, thickness, etc...) directly from interface builder or I can only do it programmatically?

Answer 1

Actually you can set some properties of a view's layer through interface builder. I know that I can set a layer's borderWidth and cornerRadius through xcode. borderColor doesn't work, probably because the layer wants a CGColor instead of a UIColor.

You might have to use Strings instead of numbers, but it works!

layer.cornerRadius
layer.borderWidth
layer.borderColor

Update: layer.masksToBounds = true

Update: select appropriate Type for Keypath:

Answer 2

Rich86Man's answer is correct, but you can use categories to proxy properties such as layer.borderColor. (From the ConventionalC CocoaPod)

CALayer+XibConfiguration.h:

#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface CALayer(XibConfiguration)

// This assigns a CGColor to borderColor.
@property(nonatomic, assign) UIColor* borderUIColor;

@end

CALayer+XibConfiguration.m:

#import "CALayer+XibConfiguration.h"

@implementation CALayer(XibConfiguration)

-(void)setBorderUIColor:(UIColor*)color
{
    self.borderColor = color.CGColor;
}

-(UIColor*)borderUIColor
{
    return [UIColor colorWithCGColor:self.borderColor];
}

@end

layer.borderUIColor

The result will be apparent during runtime, not in Xcode.

Edit: You also need to set layer.borderWidth to at least 1 to see the border with the chosen color.

In Swift 2.0:

extension CALayer {
    var borderUIColor: UIColor {
        set {
            self.borderColor = newValue.CGColor
        }

        get {
            return UIColor(CGColor: self.borderColor!)
        }
    }
}

In Swift 3.0:

extension CALayer {
    var borderUIColor: UIColor {
        set {
            self.borderColor = newValue.cgColor
        }

        get {
            return UIColor(cgColor: self.borderColor!)
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

Similar answer to iHulk's one, but in Swift

Add a file named UIView.swift in your project (or just paste this in any file) :

import UIKit

@IBDesignable extension UIView {
    @IBInspectable var borderColor: UIColor? {
        set {
            layer.borderColor = newValue?.cgColor
        }
        get {
            guard let color = layer.borderColor else {
                return nil
            }
            return UIColor(cgColor: color)
        }
    }
    @IBInspectable var borderWidth: CGFloat {
        set {
            layer.borderWidth = newValue
        }
        get {
            return layer.borderWidth
        }
    }
    @IBInspectable var cornerRadius: CGFloat {
        set {
            layer.cornerRadius = newValue
            clipsToBounds = newValue > 0
        }
        get {
            return layer.cornerRadius
        }
    }
}

Then this will be available in Interface Builder for every button, imageView, label, etc. in the Utilities Panel > Attributes Inspector :

Note: the border will only appear at runtime.

Answer 4

You can make a category of UIView and add this in .h file of category

@property (nonatomic) IBInspectable UIColor *borderColor;
@property (nonatomic) IBInspectable CGFloat borderWidth;
@property (nonatomic) IBInspectable CGFloat cornerRadius;

Now add this in .m file

@dynamic borderColor,borderWidth,cornerRadius;

and this as well in . m file

-(void)setBorderColor:(UIColor *)borderColor{
    [self.layer setBorderColor:borderColor.CGColor];
}

-(void)setBorderWidth:(CGFloat)borderWidth{
    [self.layer setBorderWidth:borderWidth];
}

-(void)setCornerRadius:(CGFloat)cornerRadius{
    [self.layer setCornerRadius:cornerRadius];
}

now you will see this in your storyboard for all UIView subclasses (UILabel, UITextField, UIImageView etc)

Thats it.. No Need to import category anywhere, just add the category's files in the project and see these properties in the storyboard.

Answer 5

For Swift 3 and 4, if you're willing to use IBInspectables, there's this:

@IBDesignable extension UIView {
    @IBInspectable var borderColor:UIColor? {
        set {
            layer.borderColor = newValue!.cgColor
        }
        get {
            if let color = layer.borderColor {
                return UIColor(cgColor: color)
            }
            else {
                return nil
            }
        }
    }
    @IBInspectable var borderWidth:CGFloat {
        set {
            layer.borderWidth = newValue
        }
        get {
            return layer.borderWidth
        }
    }
    @IBInspectable var cornerRadius:CGFloat {
        set {
            layer.cornerRadius = newValue
            clipsToBounds = newValue > 0
        }
        get {
            return layer.cornerRadius
        }
    }
}

Answer 6

while this might set the properties, it doesnt actually reflect in IB. So if you're essentially writing code in IB, you might as well then do it in your source code

Answer 7

If you want to save time, just use two UIViews on top of each other, the one at the back being the border color, and the one in front smaller, giving the bordered effect. I don't think this is an elegant solution either, but if Apple cared a little more then you shouldn't have to do this.

Answer 8

Its absolutely possible only when you set layer.masksToBounds = true and do you rest stuff.

Answer 9

Storyboard doesn't work for me all the time even after trying all the solution here

So it is always perfect answer is using the code, Just create IBOutlet instance of the UIView and add the properties

Short answer :

layer.cornerRadius = 10
layer.borderWidth = 1
layer.borderColor = UIColor.blue.cgColor

---

Long answer :

Rounded Corners of UIView/UIButton etc

customUIView.layer.cornerRadius = 10

Border Thickness

pcustomUIView.layer.borderWidth = 2

Border Color

customUIView.layer.borderColor = UIColor.blue.cgColor

Answer 10

Please add these 2 simple line of code:

self.YourViewName.layer.cornerRadius = 15
self.YourViewName.layer.masksToBounds = true

It will work fine.