Create tap-able “links” in the NSAttributedString of a UILabel?

Question

I have been searching this for hours but I\'ve failed. I probably don\'t even know what I should be looking for.

Many applications have text and in this text are web

Answer 1

Here’s a Swift implementation that is about as minimal as possible that also includes touch feedback. Caveats:

1. You must set fonts in your NSAttributedStrings
2. You can only use NSAttributedStrings!
3. You must ensure your links cannot wrap (use non breaking spaces: "\u{a0}")
4. You cannot change the lineBreakMode or numberOfLines after setting the text
5. You create links by adding attributes with .link keys

.

public class LinkLabel: UILabel {
    private var storage: NSTextStorage?
    private let textContainer = NSTextContainer()
    private let layoutManager = NSLayoutManager()
    private var selectedBackgroundView = UIView()

    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0
        layoutManager.addTextContainer(textContainer)
        textContainer.layoutManager = layoutManager
        isUserInteractionEnabled = true
        selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = true
        selectedBackgroundView.backgroundColor = UIColor(white: 0, alpha: 0.3333)
        selectedBackgroundView.layer.cornerRadius = 4
        addSubview(selectedBackgroundView)
    }

    public required convenience init(coder: NSCoder) {
        self.init(frame: .zero)
    }

    public override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()
        textContainer.size = frame.size
    }

    public override func touchesBegan(_ touches: Set, with event: UIEvent?) {
        super.touchesBegan(touches, with: event)
        setLink(for: touches)
    }

    public override func touchesMoved(_ touches: Set, with event: UIEvent?) {
        super.touchesMoved(touches, with: event)
        setLink(for: touches)
    }

    private func setLink(for touches: Set) {
        if let pt = touches.first?.location(in: self), let (characterRange, _) = link(at: pt) {
            let glyphRange = layoutManager.glyphRange(forCharacterRange: characterRange, actualCharacterRange: nil)
            selectedBackgroundView.frame = layoutManager.boundingRect(forGlyphRange: glyphRange, in: textContainer).insetBy(dx: -3, dy: -3)
            selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = false
        } else {
            selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = true
        }
    }

    public override func touchesCancelled(_ touches: Set, with event: UIEvent?) {
        super.touchesCancelled(touches, with: event)
        selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = true
    }

    public override func touchesEnded(_ touches: Set, with event: UIEvent?) {
        super.touchesEnded(touches, with: event)
        selectedBackgroundView.isHidden = true

        if let pt = touches.first?.location(in: self), let (_, url) = link(at: pt) {
            UIApplication.shared.open(url)
        }
    }

    private func link(at point: CGPoint) -> (NSRange, URL)? {
        let touchedGlyph = layoutManager.glyphIndex(for: point, in: textContainer)
        let touchedChar = layoutManager.characterIndexForGlyph(at: touchedGlyph)
        var range = NSRange()
        let attrs = attributedText!.attributes(at: touchedChar, effectiveRange: &range)
        if let urlstr = attrs[.link] as? String {
            return (range, URL(string: urlstr)!)
        } else {
            return nil
        }
    }

    public override var attributedText: NSAttributedString? {
        didSet {
            textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = numberOfLines
            textContainer.lineBreakMode = lineBreakMode
            if let txt = attributedText {
                storage = NSTextStorage(attributedString: txt)
                storage!.addLayoutManager(layoutManager)
                layoutManager.textStorage = storage
                textContainer.size = frame.size
            }
        }
    }
}