How can I add padding to the intrinsic content size of UILabel?

Question

I\'m using autolayout on iOS7 and I have a problem like this:

I\'m putting a UILabel onto a UIView and I\'m arranging my autolayout constraints so that the label\'s cen

Answer 1

You can extend UILabel and override the intrinsicContentSize by yourself. Please make sure you have set the textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentCenter as well.

-(CGSize)intrinsicContentSize{
    CGSize contentSize = [super intrinsicContentSize];
    return CGSizeMake(contentSize.width + 50, contentSize.height);
}

Swift 5.0

open override var intrinsicContentSize: CGSize {
    let size = super.intrinsicContentSize
    return CGSize(width: size.width + 16, height: size.height)
}

This probably only works when you only have just one line of text to display.

Answer 2

If you're using auto layout, you can set the horizontal constraints and use an NSDictionary in the metrics parameter to set this dynamically.

For instance, if you wanted to give a 10pt padding to the inner content of a UIButton, you could do something like the following:

NSDictionary *padding = @{ @"padding" : @(button.intrinsicContentSize.width + 20) };
NSArray *buttonHConstraints = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"H:|[button(==padding)]|" options:0 metrics:padding views:NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings(button)];

Answer 3

You can create a UILabel subclass and override intrinsicContent,

-(CGSize)intrinsicContentSize {
    CGSize s = [super intrinsicContentSize];
    s = CGSizeMake(s.width + 20, s.height);
    return s;
}

This will add a padding of 20 points to the width. If you want your text in the middle, be sure to set the text alignment to center.

Answer 4

If you are trying to give the UILabel a different colour to its parent view, then you will need to enclose the UILabel in a UIView with the padding and the background colour you want. If your UILabels background colour is the same as its parent view, then I don't understand the problem just use auto layout to specify how much space you want relative to the thing it is next to.