Simple Custom UIView Class Broken

Question

I have made a simple subclass of UIView which has a few subviews but its breaking for a reason I can't see.

In my storyboard view controller I have added a UIView and made it the shape I want it, and added my custom class to it. The contents of my subclass is below:

@implementation PersonDetailCell

@synthesize button, requiredMarker, textField;

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
    self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
    if (self) {
        // Initialization code

    }
    return self;
}

-(void)layoutSubviews
{
    [self setBackgroundColor:[UIColor colorWithRed:87.0f/255.0f green:153.0f/255.0f blue:191.0f/255.0f alpha:1.0f]];

    textField = [[DetailTextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10, 0, self.frame.size.width -20, self.frame.size.height)];
    [textField setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:14.0f]];
    [textField setTextColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];
    [textField setHidden:YES];
    [self addSubview:textField];

    button = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.frame.size.width, self.frame.size.height)];
    [button setTitleColor:[UIColor whiteColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [button setHidden:YES];
    [self addSubview:button];

    requiredMarker = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 4, 22)];
    [requiredMarker setBackgroundColor:[UIColor redColor]];
    [requiredMarker setHidden:YES];
    [self addSubview:requiredMarker];
}

/*
// Only override drawRect: if you perform custom drawing.
// An empty implementation adversely affects performance during animation.
- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
    // Drawing code
}
*/

@end

Then in my view controller code I have imported my subclass and hooked up an IBOutlet of it to my view in my storyboard. In my viewDidLoad of my view controller I also try setting background colour of this view but nothing happens.

All of my code runs without crashing, but my issues:

1. I can't set the background colour from my view controller, (or any other properties for that matter).

2. When I run the app, the height is more than that I set in my storyboard (width is fine), but I change the height of the view nowhere.

Any ideas? Am i using the wrong approach somehow?

Thanks.

Answer 1

If it is a table cell, then the class should be extending UITableViewCell. Buttons and textfields can be added on the storyboard - then you can use struts and springs (Size Inspector pane) to ensure the view resizes properly. I don't think layoutSubviews should be used for adding new UI elements (maybe for resizing if you need to do it manually).

Answer 2

Here is some working code:

@interface ChildView()
@property (strong, nonatomic) UITextField *textField;
@property (strong, nonatomic) UIButton *button;
@property (strong, nonatomic) UIImageView *requiredMarker;
@end

@implementation ChildView

@synthesize textField= _textField;
@synthesize button = _button;
@synthesize requiredMarker = _requiredMarker;

-(id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder
{
    self = [super initWithCoder:aDecoder];
    if (self)
    {
        [self setBackgroundColor:[UIColor colorWithRed:87.0f/255.0f green:153.0f/255.0f blue:191.0f/255.0f alpha:1.0f]];

        self.textField = [[UITextField alloc] init];
        [self.textField setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:14.0f]];
        [self.textField setTextColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];
        self.textField.text = @"Test text";
        [self addSubview:self.textField];

        self.button = [[UIButton alloc] init];
        self.button.backgroundColor = [UIColor greenColor];
        [self addSubview:self.button];

        self.requiredMarker = [[UIImageView alloc] init];
        [self.requiredMarker setBackgroundColor:[UIColor redColor]];
        [self addSubview:self.requiredMarker];
    }
    return self;
}

-(void)layoutSubviews
{
    CGSize hostSize = self.frame.size;
    float length = 22;
    self.textField.frame = CGRectMake(10, length, hostSize.width, hostSize.height-length);
    self.button.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, hostSize.width, length);
    self.requiredMarker.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 4, length);
}

@end