Drawing rotated text with NSString drawInRect

Question

I found this answer on how to draw rotated text with NSString drawInRect:, but I\'m not sure how it works since it only sort of works for me: https://discussions.apple.com/t

Answer 1

KoNew's Solution in Swift:

extension NSString {

    func drawWithBasePoint(basePoint:CGPoint, angle:CGFloat, font:UIFont) {

        var attrs: NSDictionary = [
            NSFontAttributeName: font
        ]

        var textSize:CGSize = self.sizeWithAttributes(attrs as [NSObject : AnyObject])

        // sizeWithAttributes is only effective with single line NSString text 
        // use boundingRectWithSize for multi line text

        var context: CGContextRef =   UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()

        var t:CGAffineTransform   =   CGAffineTransformMakeTranslation(basePoint.x, basePoint.y)
        var r:CGAffineTransform   =   CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(angle)


        CGContextConcatCTM(context, t)
        CGContextConcatCTM(context, r)


        self.drawAtPoint(CGPointMake(-1 * textSize.width / 2, -1 * textSize.height / 2), withAttributes: attrs as [NSObject : AnyObject])


        CGContextConcatCTM(context, CGAffineTransformInvert(r))
        CGContextConcatCTM(context, CGAffineTransformInvert(t))


    }


}

To use:

let fieldFont = UIFont(name: "Helvetica Neue", size: 14)

myNSString.drawWithBasePoint(CGPointMake(bounds.width/2, bounds.height/2), angle: CGFloat(-M_PI_2), font: fieldFont!)

Answer 2

Here'a an updated and simplified version of KoNEW's answer. It preserves the state of the graphics context as a bonus. This is also a simple function instead of a String extension.

func drawRotatedText(_ text: String, at p: CGPoint, angle: CGFloat, font: UIFont, color: UIColor) {
  // Draw text centered on the point, rotated by an angle in degrees moving clockwise.
  let attrs = [NSFontAttributeName: font, NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color]
  let textSize = text.size(attributes: attrs)
  let c = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()!
  c.saveGState()
  // Translate the origin to the drawing location and rotate the coordinate system.
  c.translateBy(x: p.x, y: p.y)
  c.rotate(by: angle * .pi / 180)
  // Draw the text centered at the point.
  text.draw(at: CGPoint(x: -textSize.width / 2, y: -textSize.height / 2), withAttributes: attrs)
  // Restore the original coordinate system.
  c.restoreGState()
}

Answer 3

I think what's happening is that you're rotating the text to a location outside of the view because it rotates the context by pivoting on the origin.

After your rotation you need to do a translation to move the context back into the view. In the example below, I rotate the context counterclockwise 90 degrees. Then I translate the tx of the context the distance of the height.

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
    CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext(); 

    CGContextSaveGState(context);

    CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();

    // Create the gradient 
    CGColorRef startColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:1.0 green:1.0 blue:1.0 alpha:1.0].CGColor; 
    CGColorRef endColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:200.0/255.0 green:200.0/255.0 blue:200.0/255.0 alpha:1.0].CGColor;
    NSArray *colors = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:(id)startColor, (id)endColor, nil];
    CGFloat locations[] = { 0.0, 1.0 };
    CGGradientRef gradient = CGGradientCreateWithColors(colorSpace, (CFArrayRef) colors, locations);
    CGContextDrawLinearGradient(context, gradient, CGPointMake(rect.origin.x + rect.size.width / 2, rect.origin.y), CGPointMake(rect.origin.x + rect.size.width / 2, rect.origin.y + rect.size.height), 0);

    // Create text              
    CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(context, [UIColor blackColor].CGColor); 
    NSString *string = @"some test string";
    UIFont *font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:16.0];

    // Rotate the context 90 degrees (convert to radians)
    CGAffineTransform transform1 = CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(-M_PI_2);
    CGContextConcatCTM(context, transform1); 

    // Move the context back into the view 
    CGContextTranslateCTM(context, -rect.size.height, 0);

    // Draw the string 
    [string drawInRect:rect withFont:font lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap alignment:UITextAlignmentLeft];

    // Clean up 
    CGGradientRelease(gradient);
    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);

    CGContextRestoreGState(context);
}

Note that you can also get the size of how the string will be rendered, which can help in doing calculations for the alignment of the text.

    CGSize stringSize = [string sizeWithFont:font]; 

Answer 4

Thank for this post, and Chris's answer, and Arkadiusz's answer at another post.

Finally, I solve this problem by a UILabel subclass, named MyVerticalLabel, and make it draw vertical text.

@implementation MyVerticalLabel

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

    CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();

    CGAffineTransform transform = CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(-M_PI_2);
    CGContextConcatCTM(context, transform);
    CGContextTranslateCTM(context, -rect.size.height, 0);

    // The drawing rect should be applied with transform to.
    CGRect newRect = CGRectApplyAffineTransform(rect, transform);
    newRect.origin = CGPointZero;

    NSMutableParagraphStyle *textStyle = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle defaultParagraphStyle] mutableCopy];
    textStyle.lineBreakMode = self.lineBreakMode;
    textStyle.alignment = self.textAlignment;

    // Apply current label attributes for drawing function.
    NSDictionary *attributeDict =
    @{
      NSFontAttributeName : self.font,
      NSForegroundColorAttributeName : self.textColor,
      NSParagraphStyleAttributeName : textStyle,
      };
    [self.text drawInRect:newRect withAttributes:attributeDict];
}

@end

Answer 5

I solve this problem in next way.

1) Declare category on NSString

@interface NSString (NMSchemeItemDraw)
-(void)  drawWithBasePoint:(CGPoint)basePoint
                    andAngle:(CGFloat)angle
                     andFont:(UIFont*)font;
@end

This category will draw text with given central point, in one line and with given font and angle.

2) Implementation of this category is looks like:

@implementation NSString (NMSchemeItemDraw)

    -(void)  drawWithBasePoint:(CGPoint)basePoint
                     andAngle:(CGFloat)angle
                      andFont:(UIFont *)font{
    CGSize  textSize    =   [self   sizeWithFont:font];

    CGContextRef    context =   UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
    CGAffineTransform   t   =   CGAffineTransformMakeTranslation(basePoint.x, basePoint.y);
    CGAffineTransform   r   =   CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(angle);


    CGContextConcatCTM(context, t);
    CGContextConcatCTM(context, r);

    [self   drawAtPoint:CGPointMake(-1 * textSize.width / 2, -1 * textSize.height / 2)
               withFont:font];

    CGContextConcatCTM(context, CGAffineTransformInvert(r));
    CGContextConcatCTM(context, CGAffineTransformInvert(t));
    }
@end

3) Now i can use it in my [UIView drawRect:] method. For example, in a next way:

 -(void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect{
 NSString* example = @"Title";
 [example drawWithBasePoint:CGPointMake(0.0f, 0.0f)
                   andAngle:M_PI
                    andFont:[UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:16.0]];
 }