How can I capture which direction is being panned using UIPanGestureRecognizer?

Question

Ok so I have been looking around at just about every option under the sun for capturing multi-touch gestures, and I have finally come full circle and am back at the UIPanGesture

Answer 1

On UIPanGestureRecognizer you can use -velocityInView: to get the velocity of the fingers at the time that gesture was recognised.

If you wanted to do one thing on a pan right and one thing on a pan left, for example, you could do something like:

- (void)handleGesture:(UIPanGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer
{
    CGPoint velocity = [gestureRecognizer velocityInView:yourView];

    if(velocity.x > 0)
    {
        NSLog(@"gesture went right");
    }
    else
    {
        NSLog(@"gesture went left");
    }
}

If you literally want to detect a reversal, as in you want to compare a new velocity to an old one and see if it is just in the opposite direction — whichever direction that may be — you could do:

// assuming lastGestureVelocity is a class variable...

- (void)handleGesture:(UIPanGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer
{
    CGPoint velocity = [gestureRecognizer velocityInView:yourView];

    if(velocity.x*lastGestureVelocity.x + velocity.y*lastGestureVelocity.y > 0)
    {
        NSLog(@"gesture went in the same direction");
    }
    else
    {
        NSLog(@"gesture went in the opposite direction");
    }

    lastGestureVelocity = velocity;
}

The multiply and add thing may look a little odd. It's actually a dot product, but rest assured it'll be a positive number if the gestures are in the same direction, going down to 0 if they're exactly at right angles and then becoming a negative number if they're in the opposite direction.

Answer 2

This code from Serghei Catraniuc worked out better for me. https://github.com/serp1412/LazyTransitions

     func addPanGestureRecognizers() {
       let panGesture = UIPanGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(respondToSwipeGesture(gesture:)))
        self.view.addGestureRecognizer(panGesture)
     }

     func respondToSwipeGesture(gesture: UIGestureRecognizer){
        if let swipeGesture = gesture as? UIPanGestureRecognizer{

        switch gesture.state {
        case .began:
            print("began")

        case .ended:
             print("ended")
             switch swipeGesture.direction{
             case .rightToLeft:
                print("rightToLeft")
             case .leftToRight:
                print("leftToRight")
             case .topToBottom:
                print("topToBottom")
             case .bottomToTop:
                print("bottomToTop")
             default:
                print("default")
            }

        default: break
        }


    }
}

// Extensions

import Foundation
import UIKit

public enum UIPanGestureRecognizerDirection {
    case undefined
    case bottomToTop
    case topToBottom
    case rightToLeft
    case leftToRight
}
public enum TransitionOrientation {
    case unknown
    case topToBottom
    case bottomToTop
    case leftToRight
    case rightToLeft
}


extension UIPanGestureRecognizer {
    public var direction: UIPanGestureRecognizerDirection {
        let velocity = self.velocity(in: view)
        let isVertical = fabs(velocity.y) > fabs(velocity.x)

        var direction: UIPanGestureRecognizerDirection

        if isVertical {
            direction = velocity.y > 0 ? .topToBottom : .bottomToTop
        } else {
            direction = velocity.x > 0 ? .leftToRight : .rightToLeft
        }

        return direction
    }

    public func isQuickSwipe(for orientation: TransitionOrientation) -> Bool {
        let velocity = self.velocity(in: view)
        return isQuickSwipeForVelocity(velocity, for: orientation)
    }

    private func isQuickSwipeForVelocity(_ velocity: CGPoint, for orientation: TransitionOrientation) -> Bool {
        switch orientation {
        case .unknown : return false
        case .topToBottom : return velocity.y > 1000
        case .bottomToTop : return velocity.y < -1000
        case .leftToRight : return velocity.x > 1000
        case .rightToLeft : return velocity.x < -1000
        }
    }
}

extension UIPanGestureRecognizer {
    typealias GestureHandlingTuple = (gesture: UIPanGestureRecognizer? , handle: (UIPanGestureRecognizer) -> ())
    fileprivate static var handlers = [GestureHandlingTuple]()

    public convenience init(gestureHandle: @escaping (UIPanGestureRecognizer) -> ()) {
        self.init()
        UIPanGestureRecognizer.cleanup()
        set(gestureHandle: gestureHandle)
    }

    public func set(gestureHandle: @escaping (UIPanGestureRecognizer) -> ()) {
        weak var weakSelf = self
        let tuple = (weakSelf, gestureHandle)
        UIPanGestureRecognizer.handlers.append(tuple)
        addTarget(self, action: #selector(handleGesture))
    }

    fileprivate static func cleanup() {
        handlers = handlers.filter { $0.0?.view != nil }
    }

    @objc private func handleGesture(_ gesture: UIPanGestureRecognizer) {
        let handleTuples = UIPanGestureRecognizer.handlers.filter{ $0.gesture === self }
        handleTuples.forEach { $0.handle(gesture)}
    }
}

extension UIPanGestureRecognizerDirection {
    public var orientation: TransitionOrientation {
        switch self {
        case .rightToLeft: return .rightToLeft
        case .leftToRight: return .leftToRight
        case .bottomToTop: return .bottomToTop
        case .topToBottom: return .topToBottom
        default: return .unknown
        }
    }
}

extension UIPanGestureRecognizerDirection {
    public var isHorizontal: Bool {
        switch self {
        case .rightToLeft, .leftToRight:
            return true
        default:
            return false
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

Here's an easy to detect before the gesture recognizer begins:

public override func gestureRecognizerShouldBegin(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer) -> Bool {
    guard let panRecognizer = gestureRecognizer as? UIPanGestureRecognizer else {
        return super.gestureRecognizerShouldBegin(gestureRecognizer)
    }

    // Ensure it's a horizontal drag
    let velocity = panRecognizer.velocity(in: self)
    if abs(velocity.y) > abs(velocity.x) {
        return false
    }
    return true
}

If you want a vertical only drag, you can switch the x and y.