UIView with a Dashed line

Question

What I have:

To create this line, I basically have a

Answer 1

Dash Line in Swift4 • Xcode 9

Crate a CAShapeLayer & use lineDashPattern

extension UIView {

    func addDashedBorder() {
        //Create a CAShapeLayer
        let shapeLayer = CAShapeLayer()
        shapeLayer.strokeColor = UIColor.red.cgColor
        shapeLayer.lineWidth = 2
        // passing an array with the values [2,3] sets a dash pattern that alternates between a 2-user-space-unit-long painted segment and a 3-user-space-unit-long unpainted segment
        shapeLayer.lineDashPattern = [2,3]

        let path = CGMutablePath()
        path.addLines(between: [CGPoint(x: 0, y: 0),
                                CGPoint(x: self.frame.width, y: 0)])
        shapeLayer.path = path
        layer.addSublayer(shapeLayer)
    }
}

Usage:

dashView.addDashedBorder()

Output:

Answer 2

The accepted answer has a coordinate problem. The line will be drawn some distance below. And I cannot figure out why and how much distance it increases on Y coordinate.

There's a way to draw a dashed line with correct coordinate:

-(void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
     CGContextBeginPath(cx);
     CGContextRef cx = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
     CGContextSetLineWidth(cx, _thickness);
     CGContextSetStrokeColorWithColor(cx, _color.CGColor);

     CGFloat dash[] = {_dashedLength,_dashedGap};
     CGContextSetLineDash(cx, 0, dash, 2); // nb "2" == ra count
//    CGContextSetLineCap(cx, kCGLineCapRound);

     CGContextMoveToPoint(cx, 0, _thickness);
     CGContextAddLineToPoint(cx, self.bounds.size.width, _thickness);
     CGContextStrokePath(cx);
     CGContextClosePath(cx);
}

This answer is from Draw dotted (not dashed!) line, with IBDesignable in 2017. DON'T DON'T DON'T forget to set the background color as white when you want a black dashed line!! By default the view has a black background color, and the line color is also black, so I thought it was a solid line. It cost me half a day to find out. T_T

Answer 3

Swift 2.2

dropping this in here to save others time..

extension UIView {
    func addDashedLine(color: UIColor = UIColor.lightGrayColor()) {
        layer.sublayers?.filter({ $0.name == "DashedTopLine" }).map({ $0.removeFromSuperlayer() })
        self.backgroundColor = UIColor.clearColor()
        let cgColor = color.CGColor

        let shapeLayer: CAShapeLayer = CAShapeLayer()
        let frameSize = self.frame.size
        let shapeRect = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: frameSize.width, height: frameSize.height)

        shapeLayer.name = "DashedTopLine"
        shapeLayer.bounds = shapeRect
        shapeLayer.position = CGPoint(x: frameSize.width / 2, y: frameSize.height / 2)
        shapeLayer.fillColor = UIColor.clearColor().CGColor
        shapeLayer.strokeColor = cgColor
        shapeLayer.lineWidth = 1
        shapeLayer.lineJoin = kCALineJoinRound
        shapeLayer.lineDashPattern = [4, 4]

        let path: CGMutablePathRef = CGPathCreateMutable()
        CGPathMoveToPoint(path, nil, 0, 0)
        CGPathAddLineToPoint(path, nil, self.frame.width, 0)
        shapeLayer.path = path

        self.layer.addSublayer(shapeLayer)
    }
}

Answer 4

First all the credit goes to RuiAAPeres and Prince, I'm just encapsulating their answers into a UIView object that others can drop into their projects and use

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

/**
 *  Simple UIView for a dotted line
 */
@interface H3DottedLine : UIView

/**
 *  Set the line's thickness
 */
@property (nonatomic, assign) CGFloat thickness;

/**
 *  Set the line's color
 */
@property (nonatomic, copy) UIColor *color;

/**
 *  Set the length of the dash
 */
@property (nonatomic, assign) CGFloat dashedLength;

/**
 *  Set the gap between dashes
 */
@property (nonatomic, assign) CGFloat dashedGap;

@end




@implementation H3DottedLine

#pragma mark - Object Lifecycle

- (instancetype)init {
    self = [super init];

    if (self) {
        // Set Default Values
        _thickness = 1.0f;
        _color = [UIColor whiteColor];
        _dashedGap = 1.0f;
        _dashedLength = 5.0f;
    }

    return self;
}

#pragma mark - View Lifecycle

- (void)layoutSubviews {
    // Note, this object draws a straight line. If you wanted the line at an angle you simply need to adjust the start and/or end point here.
    [self updateLineStartingAt:self.frame.origin andEndPoint:CGPointMake(self.frame.origin.x+self.frame.size.width, self.frame.origin.y)];
}

#pragma mark - Setters

- (void)setThickness:(CGFloat)thickness {
    _thickness = thickness;
    [self setNeedsLayout];
}

- (void)setColor:(UIColor *)color {
    _color = [color copy];
    [self setNeedsLayout];
}

- (void)setDashedGap:(CGFloat)dashedGap {
    _dashedGap = dashedGap;
    [self setNeedsLayout];
}

- (void)setDashedLength:(CGFloat)dashedLength {
    _dashedLength = dashedLength;
    [self setNeedsLayout];
}

#pragma mark - Draw Methods

-(void)updateLineStartingAt:(CGPoint)beginPoint andEndPoint:(CGPoint)endPoint {

    // Important, otherwise we will be adding multiple sub layers
    if ([[[self layer] sublayers] objectAtIndex:0]) {
        self.layer.sublayers = nil;
    }

    CAShapeLayer *shapeLayer = [CAShapeLayer layer];
    [shapeLayer setBounds:self.bounds];
    [shapeLayer setPosition:self.center];
    [shapeLayer setFillColor:[UIColor clearColor].CGColor];
    [shapeLayer setStrokeColor:self.color.CGColor];
    [shapeLayer setLineWidth:self.thickness];
    [shapeLayer setLineJoin:kCALineJoinRound];
    [shapeLayer setLineDashPattern:@[@(self.dashedLength), @(self.dashedGap)]];

    // Setup the path
    CGMutablePathRef path = CGPathCreateMutable();
    CGPathMoveToPoint(path, NULL, beginPoint.x, beginPoint.y);
    CGPathAddLineToPoint(path, NULL, endPoint.x, endPoint.y);

    [shapeLayer setPath:path];
    CGPathRelease(path);

    [[self layer] addSublayer:shapeLayer];
}

@end

Answer 5

Check UIBezierPath setLineDash:count:phase: method:

- (void)setLineDash:(const CGFloat *)pattern count:(NSInteger)count phase:(CGFloat)phase` method. 

This allows you to draw dashed lines.

1. First add a CAShapeLayer. Add it as sublayer to your UIView. It has a path property.
2. Now make an object of UIBezierPath. Draw the line using setLineDash.

For example:

 UIBezierPath *path = [UIBezierPath bezierPath];
 //draw a line
 [path moveToPoint:yourStartPoint]; //add yourStartPoint here
 [path addLineToPoint:yourEndPoint];// add yourEndPoint here
 [path stroke];

 CGFloat dashPattern[] = {2.0f,6.0f,4.0f,2.0f}; //make your pattern here
 [path setLineDash:dashPattern count:4 phase:3];

 UIColor *fill = [UIColor blueColor];
 shapelayer.strokeStart = 0.0;
 shapelayer.strokeColor = fill.CGColor;
 shapelayer.lineWidth = 5.0;
 shapelayer.lineJoin = kCALineJoinMiter;
 shapelayer.lineDashPattern = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[NSNumber numberWithInt:10],[NSNumber numberWithInt:7], nil];
 shapelayer.lineDashPhase = 3.0f;
 shapelayer.path = path.CGPath;

Note: This answer provides a hint so you can improvise accordingly to your requirement(s).

Answer 6

Here is Swift 3 version of Alexandre G's answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/38194152/1800489

extension UIView {

        func addDashedLine(color: UIColor = .lightGray) {
            layer.sublayers?.filter({ $0.name == "DashedTopLine" }).map({ $0.removeFromSuperlayer() })
            backgroundColor = .clear

            let shapeLayer = CAShapeLayer()
            shapeLayer.name = "DashedTopLine"
            shapeLayer.bounds = bounds
            shapeLayer.position = CGPoint(x: frame.width / 2, y: frame.height / 2)
            shapeLayer.fillColor = UIColor.clear.cgColor
            shapeLayer.strokeColor = color.cgColor
            shapeLayer.lineWidth = 1
            shapeLayer.lineJoin = kCALineJoinRound
            shapeLayer.lineDashPattern = [4, 4]

            let path = CGMutablePath()
            path.move(to: CGPoint.zero)
            path.addLine(to: CGPoint(x: frame.width, y: 0))
            shapeLayer.path = path

            layer.addSublayer(shapeLayer)
        }
}