UICollectionView custom line separators

Question

I wanna making 2pt black separators in UICollectionView for our new app. Screenshot from our app is below. We couldn't use UITableView, because we have custom insert/delete animations, scrolling and parallax effects and so on.

Answer 1

I started with three ideas how to make it:

• implement these separators right inside the cells
• use solid black background with minimumLineSpacing, thus we will see background in spaces between cells
• use custom layout and implement this separators as decorations

First two variants were rejected because ideologic inconsistency, custom animations and having content below collection. Also I already have a custom layout.

I will describe the steps with a custom subclass of UICollectionViewFlowLayout.

--1--

Implement custom UICollectionReusableView subclass.

@interface FLCollectionSeparator : UICollectionReusableView

@end

@implementation FLCollectionSeparator

- (instancetype)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
    self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
    if (self) {
        self.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];
    }

    return self;
}

- (void)applyLayoutAttributes:(UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)layoutAttributes {
    self.frame = layoutAttributes.frame;
}

@end

--2--

Say layout to use custom decorations. Also make line spacing between cells.

UICollectionViewFlowLayout* layout = (UICollectionViewFlowLayout*) self.newsCollection.collectionViewLayout;
[layout registerClass:[FLCollectionSeparator class] forDecorationViewOfKind:@"Separator"];
layout.minimumLineSpacing = 2;

--3--

In custom UICollectionViewFlowLayout subclass we should return UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes for decorations from layoutAttributesForElementsInRect.

- (NSArray *)layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:(CGRect)rect {
    ... collect here layout attributes for cells ... 

    NSMutableArray *decorationAttributes = [NSMutableArray array];
    NSArray *visibleIndexPaths = [self indexPathsOfSeparatorsInRect:rect]; // will implement below

    for (NSIndexPath *indexPath in visibleIndexPaths) {
        UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *attributes = [self layoutAttributesForDecorationViewOfKind:@"Separator" atIndexPath:indexPath];
        [decorationAttributes addObject:attributes];
    }

    return [layoutAttributesArray arrayByAddingObjectsFromArray:decorationAttributes];
}

--4--

For visible rect we should return visible decorations index pathes.

- (NSArray*)indexPathsOfSeparatorsInRect:(CGRect)rect {
    NSInteger firstCellIndexToShow = floorf(rect.origin.y / self.itemSize.height);
    NSInteger lastCellIndexToShow = floorf((rect.origin.y + CGRectGetHeight(rect)) / self.itemSize.height);
    NSInteger countOfItems = [self.collectionView.dataSource collectionView:self.collectionView numberOfItemsInSection:0];

    NSMutableArray* indexPaths = [NSMutableArray new];
    for (int i = MAX(firstCellIndexToShow, 0); i <= lastCellIndexToShow; i++) {
        if (i < countOfItems) {
            [indexPaths addObject:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:i inSection:0]];
        }
    }
    return indexPaths;
}

--5--

Also we should implement layoutAttributesForDecorationViewOfKind.

- (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)layoutAttributesForDecorationViewOfKind:(NSString *)decorationViewKind atIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *layoutAttributes = [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes layoutAttributesForDecorationViewOfKind:decorationViewKind withIndexPath:indexPath];
    CGFloat decorationOffset = (indexPath.row + 1) * self.itemSize.height + indexPath.row * self.minimumLineSpacing;
    layoutAttributes.frame = CGRectMake(0.0, decorationOffset, self.collectionViewContentSize.width, self.minimumLineSpacing);
    layoutAttributes.zIndex = 1000;

    return layoutAttributes;
}

--6--

Sometimes I found that this solution gives visual glitches with decorations appearance, which was fixed with implementing initialLayoutAttributesForAppearingDecorationElementOfKind.

- (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)initialLayoutAttributesForAppearingDecorationElementOfKind:(NSString *)elementKind atIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)decorationIndexPath {
    UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *layoutAttributes =  [self layoutAttributesForDecorationViewOfKind:elementKind atIndexPath:decorationIndexPath];
    return layoutAttributes;
}

That's all. Not too much code but done right.

Answer 2

Quick solution in Swift

1. Create CustomFlowLayout.swift file and paste next code

import UIKit

private let separatorDecorationView = "separator"

final class CustomFlowLayout: UICollectionViewFlowLayout {

    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()
        register(SeparatorView.self, forDecorationViewOfKind: separatorDecorationView)
    }

    override func layoutAttributesForElements(in rect: CGRect) -> [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes]? {
        let layoutAttributes = super.layoutAttributesForElements(in: rect) ?? []
        let lineWidth = self.minimumLineSpacing

        var decorationAttributes: [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes] = []

        // skip first cell
        for layoutAttribute in layoutAttributes where layoutAttribute.indexPath.item > 0 {
            let separatorAttribute = UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes(forDecorationViewOfKind: separatorDecorationView,
                                                                      with: layoutAttribute.indexPath)
            let cellFrame = layoutAttribute.frame
            separatorAttribute.frame = CGRect(x: cellFrame.origin.x,
                                              y: cellFrame.origin.y - lineWidth,
                                              width: cellFrame.size.width,
                                              height: lineWidth)
            separatorAttribute.zIndex = Int.max
            decorationAttributes.append(separatorAttribute)
        }

        return layoutAttributes + decorationAttributes
    }

}

private final class SeparatorView: UICollectionReusableView {
    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        self.backgroundColor = .red
    }

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

    override func apply(_ layoutAttributes: UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes) {
        self.frame = layoutAttributes.frame
    }
}

2. Setup custom flow

In the interface builder select your UICollectionViewFlow and set our new class name CustomFlowLayout

3. Change a separator color

In SeparatorView you can change the color of separator in init

4. Change a height of the separator

You can do it in two different ways

• In the storyboboard. Change a property Min Spacing for Lines

OR

• In the code. Set value for minimumLineSpacing

  override func awakeFromNib() {
      super.awakeFromNib()
      register(SeparatorView.self, forDecorationViewOfKind: separatorDecorationView)
      minimumLineSpacing = 2 }
  

Answer 3

Excellent suggestion by Anton, but I think the implementation in the FlowLayout sub class can be even simpler. Because the super implementation of - (NSArray *)layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:(CGRect)rect already returns the layout attributes of the cells including their frame and indexPath you have enough info to calculate the frames of the separators by overriding only this method and introspecting the cell layout attributes:

- (NSArray *)layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:(CGRect)rect {
    NSArray *layoutAttributesArray = [super layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:rect];

    CGFloat lineWidth = self.minimumLineSpacing;
    NSMutableArray *decorationAttributes = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:layoutAttributesArray.count];

    for (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *layoutAttributes in layoutAttributesArray) {
        //Add separator for every row except the first
        NSIndexPath *indexPath = layoutAttributes.indexPath;
        if (indexPath.item > 0) {
            UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *separatorAttributes = [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes layoutAttributesForDecorationViewOfKind:kCellSeparatorKind withIndexPath:indexPath];
            CGRect cellFrame = layoutAttributes.frame;

            //In my case I have a horizontal grid, where I need vertical separators, but the separator frame can be calculated as needed
            //e.g. top, or both top and left
            separatorAttributes.frame = CGRectMake(cellFrame.origin.x - lineWidth, cellFrame.origin.y, lineWidth, cellFrame.size.height);
            separatorAttributes.zIndex = 1000;
            [decorationAttributes addObject:separatorAttributes];
        }
    }
    return [layoutAttributesArray arrayByAddingObjectsFromArray:decorationAttributes];
}

Answer 4

Thanks, Anton & Werner, both helped me out - I've taken your help to make a drag & drop solution, as a category on UICollectionView, thought I'd share the results:

UICollectionView+Separators.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UICollectionView (Separators)

@property (nonatomic) BOOL sep_useCellSeparators;
@property (nonatomic, strong) UIColor *sep_separatorColor;

@end

UICollectionView+Separators.m

#import "UICollectionView+Separators.h"
@import ObjectiveC;

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark -

@interface UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes (SEPLayoutAttributes)

@property (nonatomic, strong) UIColor *sep_separatorColor;

@end

@implementation UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes (SEPLayoutAttributes)

- (void)setSep_separatorColor:(UIColor *)sep_separatorColor
{
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, @selector(sep_separatorColor), sep_separatorColor, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
}

- (UIColor *)sep_separatorColor
{
    return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, @selector(sep_separatorColor));
}

@end

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark -

@interface SEPCollectionViewCellSeparatorView : UICollectionReusableView

@end

@implementation SEPCollectionViewCellSeparatorView

- (instancetype)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
    self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
    if (self)
    {
        self.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];
    }

    return self;
}

- (void)applyLayoutAttributes:(UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *)layoutAttributes
{
    self.frame = layoutAttributes.frame;

    if (layoutAttributes.sep_separatorColor != nil)
    {
        self.backgroundColor = layoutAttributes.sep_separatorColor;
    }
}

@end

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark -

static NSString *const kCollectionViewCellSeparatorReuseId = @"kCollectionViewCellSeparatorReuseId";

@implementation UICollectionViewFlowLayout (SEPCellSeparators)

#pragma mark - Setters/getters

- (void)setSep_separatorColor:(UIColor *)sep_separatorColor
{
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, @selector(sep_separatorColor), sep_separatorColor, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);

    [self invalidateLayout];
}

- (UIColor *)sep_separatorColor
{
    return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, @selector(sep_separatorColor));
}

- (void)setSep_useCellSeparators:(BOOL)sep_useCellSeparators
{
    if (self.sep_useCellSeparators != sep_useCellSeparators)
    {
        objc_setAssociatedObject(self, @selector(sep_useCellSeparators), @(sep_useCellSeparators), OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);

        [self registerClass:[SEPCollectionViewCellSeparatorView class] forDecorationViewOfKind:kCollectionViewCellSeparatorReuseId];
        [self invalidateLayout];
    }
}

- (BOOL)sep_useCellSeparators
{
    return [objc_getAssociatedObject(self, @selector(sep_useCellSeparators)) boolValue];
}

#pragma mark - Method Swizzling

+ (void)load
{
    static dispatch_once_t onceToken;
    dispatch_once(&onceToken, ^{
        Class class = [self class];

        SEL originalSelector = @selector(layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:);
        SEL swizzledSelector = @selector(swizzle_layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:);

        Method originalMethod = class_getInstanceMethod(class, originalSelector);
        Method swizzledMethod = class_getInstanceMethod(class, swizzledSelector);

        BOOL didAddMethod =
        class_addMethod(class,
                        originalSelector,
                        method_getImplementation(swizzledMethod),
                        method_getTypeEncoding(swizzledMethod));

        if (didAddMethod) {
            class_replaceMethod(class,
                                swizzledSelector,
                                method_getImplementation(originalMethod),
                                method_getTypeEncoding(originalMethod));
        } else {
            method_exchangeImplementations(originalMethod, swizzledMethod);
        }
    });
}

- (NSArray<UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *> *)swizzle_layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:(CGRect)rect
{
    NSArray *layoutAttributesArray = [self swizzle_layoutAttributesForElementsInRect:rect];

    if (self.sep_useCellSeparators == NO)
    {
        return layoutAttributesArray;
    }

    CGFloat lineSpacing = self.minimumLineSpacing;

    NSMutableArray *decorationAttributes = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:layoutAttributesArray.count];

    for (UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *layoutAttributes in layoutAttributesArray)
    {
        NSIndexPath *indexPath = layoutAttributes.indexPath;

        if (indexPath.item > 0)
        {
            id <UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout> delegate = (id <UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout>)self.collectionView.delegate;
            if ([delegate respondsToSelector:@selector(collectionView:layout:minimumLineSpacingForSectionAtIndex:)])
            {
                lineSpacing = [delegate collectionView:self.collectionView layout:self minimumLineSpacingForSectionAtIndex:indexPath.section];
            }

            UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes *separatorAttributes = [UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes layoutAttributesForDecorationViewOfKind:kCollectionViewCellSeparatorReuseId withIndexPath:indexPath];
            CGRect cellFrame = layoutAttributes.frame;

            if (self.scrollDirection == UICollectionViewScrollDirectionHorizontal)
            {
                separatorAttributes.frame = CGRectMake(cellFrame.origin.x - lineSpacing, cellFrame.origin.y, lineSpacing, cellFrame.size.height);
            }
            else
            {
                separatorAttributes.frame = CGRectMake(cellFrame.origin.x, cellFrame.origin.y - lineSpacing, cellFrame.size.width, lineSpacing);
            }

            separatorAttributes.zIndex = 1000;

            separatorAttributes.sep_separatorColor = self.sep_separatorColor;

            [decorationAttributes addObject:separatorAttributes];
        }
    }

    return [layoutAttributesArray arrayByAddingObjectsFromArray:decorationAttributes];
}

@end

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark -

@implementation UICollectionView (Separators)

- (UICollectionViewFlowLayout *)sep_flowLayout
{
    if ([self.collectionViewLayout isKindOfClass:[UICollectionViewFlowLayout class]])
    {
        return (UICollectionViewFlowLayout *)self.collectionViewLayout;
    }
    return nil;
}

- (void)setSep_separatorColor:(UIColor *)sep_separatorColor
{
    [self.sep_flowLayout setSep_separatorColor:sep_separatorColor];
}

- (UIColor *)sep_separatorColor
{
    return [self.sep_flowLayout sep_separatorColor];
}

- (void)setSep_useCellSeparators:(BOOL)sep_useCellSeparators
{
    [self.sep_flowLayout setSep_useCellSeparators:sep_useCellSeparators];
}

- (BOOL)sep_useCellSeparators
{
    return [self.sep_flowLayout sep_useCellSeparators];
}

@end

Using Objective-C runtime and some swizzling, cell separators can be added with a couple of lines to any existing UICollectionView whose layout is/inherits from UICollectionViewFlowLayout.

Example Usage:

#import "UICollectionView+Separators.h"
...
self.collectionView.sep_useCellSeparators = YES;
self.collectionView.sep_separatorColor = [UIColor blackColor];

A couple notes:

• Separator height/width can be determined per section, using collectionView:layout:minimumLineSpacingForSectionAtIndex:, falling back on minimumLineSpacing if not implemented
• Built to handle horizontal or vertical scroll direction

Hope it helps

Answer 5

Here is the version from Anton Gaenko but implemented in C#, this could be usefull for Xamarin users :

[Register(nameof(FLCollectionSeparator))]
public class FLCollectionSeparator : UICollectionReusableView
{
    public FLCollectionSeparator(CGRect frame) : base(frame)
    {
        this.BackgroundColor = UIColor.Black;
    }
    public FLCollectionSeparator(IntPtr handle) : base(handle)
    {
        this.BackgroundColor = UIColor.Black;
    }
    public override void ApplyLayoutAttributes(UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes layoutAttributes)
    {
        this.Frame = layoutAttributes.Frame;
    }
}

[Register(nameof(UILinedSpacedViewFlowLayout))]
public class UILinedSpacedViewFlowLayout : UICollectionViewFlowLayout
{
    public const string SeparatorAttribute = "Separator";
    private static readonly NSString NSSeparatorAttribute = new NSString(SeparatorAttribute);
    public UILinedSpacedViewFlowLayout() : base() { this.InternalInit(); }
    public UILinedSpacedViewFlowLayout(NSCoder coder) : base (coder) { this.InternalInit(); }
    protected UILinedSpacedViewFlowLayout(NSObjectFlag t) : base(t) { this.InternalInit(); }
    private void InternalInit()
    {
        this.RegisterClassForDecorationView(typeof(FLCollectionSeparator), NSSeparatorAttribute);
    }
    public override UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes[] LayoutAttributesForElementsInRect(CGRect rect)
    {
        return LayoutAttributesForElementsInRect_internal(rect).ToArray();
    }
    private IEnumerable<UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes> LayoutAttributesForElementsInRect_internal(CGRect rect)
    {
        foreach (var baseDecorationAttr in base.LayoutAttributesForElementsInRect(rect))
        {
            yield return baseDecorationAttr;
        }
        foreach (var indexPath in this.IndexPathsOfSeparatorsInRect(rect))
        {
            yield return this.LayoutAttributesForDecorationView(NSSeparatorAttribute, indexPath);
        }
    }
    private IEnumerable<NSIndexPath> IndexPathsOfSeparatorsInRect(CGRect rect)
    {
        int firstCellIndexToShow = (int)(rect.Y / this.ItemSize.Height);
        int lastCellIndexToShow  = (int)((rect.Y + rect.Height) / this.ItemSize.Height);
        int countOfItems = (int)this.CollectionView.DataSource.GetItemsCount(this.CollectionView, 0);
        for (int i = Math.Max(firstCellIndexToShow, 0); i <= lastCellIndexToShow; i++)
        {
            if (i < countOfItems)
            {
                yield return NSIndexPath.FromItemSection(i, 0);
            }
        }
    }
    public override UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes LayoutAttributesForDecorationView(NSString kind, NSIndexPath indexPath)
    {
        UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes layoutAttributes = base.LayoutAttributesForDecorationView(kind, indexPath);
        var decorationOffset = (indexPath.Row + 1) * this.ItemSize.Height + indexPath.Row * this.MinimumLineSpacing + this.HeaderReferenceSize.Height;
        layoutAttributes = UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes.CreateForDecorationView(kind, indexPath);
        layoutAttributes.Frame = new CGRect(0, decorationOffset, this.CollectionViewContentSize.Width, this.MinimumLineSpacing);
        layoutAttributes.ZIndex = 1000;
        return layoutAttributes;
    }
    public override UICollectionViewLayoutAttributes InitialLayoutAttributesForAppearingDecorationElement(NSString elementKind, NSIndexPath decorationIndexPath)
    {
        return base.InitialLayoutAttributesForAppearingDecorationElement(elementKind, decorationIndexPath);
    }
}

Answer 6

In @SlavikVoloshyn answer for programmatically use this section:

override func awakeFromNib() {
    super.awakeFromNib()
    register(SeparatorView.self, forDecorationViewOfKind: separatorDecorationView)
}

needs to change to :

override init() {
    super.init()
    register(SeparatorView.self, forDecorationViewOfKind: separatorDecorationView)
    minimumLineSpacing = 2
}

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