Programmatically Creating UILabel

Question

I know this should be very simple, but I've been really struggling with creating a UILabel programmatically and getting it to behave the way I would like.

All I want is to be able to create a label, set the maximum attributes as far as height, width and font size, and then have the text get smaller AND/OR just truncate the text to accommodate long strings of text.

Let's say that I want my label to have text that has a maximum width of 380, a maximum height of 20 and a maximum font size of 12.

So here is what I have attempted to do to create such a label:

UILabel *fromLabel = [[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(91, 15, 0, 0)];
fromLabel.text = [self fromSender];
fromLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:ProximaNovaSemibold size:12]; //custom font
fromLabel.numberOfLines = 1;
fromLabel.baselineAdjustment = YES;
fromLabel.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = YES;
fromLabel.adjustsLetterSpacingToFitWidth = YES;
fromLabel.size = [fromLabel.text sizeWithFont:fromLabel.font constrainedToSize:CGSizeMake(380, 20) lineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail];
fromLabel.minimumScaleFactor = MIN_SCALE_FACTOR;
fromLabel.clipsToBounds = YES;
fromLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
fromLabel.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
fromLabel.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentLeft;
[collapsedViewContainer addSubview:fromLabel];

Ok, so the label appears, but the text is larger than 12 and the height always comes out to be 21!? Even if I change the height and text size values to extreme sizes, this code creates a label of some fixed size that can't be adjusted. The only thing I can seem to make smaller is the width.

I must be over looking something basic, but I really can't figure out how to get my desired result, nor do I understand why I'm getting the behavior that I am getting.

Answer 1

Does the following work ?

UIFont * customFont = [UIFont fontWithName:ProximaNovaSemibold size:12]; //custom font
NSString * text = [self fromSender];

CGSize labelSize = [text sizeWithFont:customFont constrainedToSize:CGSizeMake(380, 20) lineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail];

UILabel *fromLabel = [[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(91, 15, labelSize.width, labelSize.height)];
fromLabel.text = text;
fromLabel.font = customFont;
fromLabel.numberOfLines = 1;
fromLabel.baselineAdjustment = UIBaselineAdjustmentAlignBaselines; // or UIBaselineAdjustmentAlignCenters, or UIBaselineAdjustmentNone
fromLabel.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = YES;
fromLabel.adjustsLetterSpacingToFitWidth = YES;
fromLabel.minimumScaleFactor = 10.0f/12.0f;
fromLabel.clipsToBounds = YES;
fromLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
fromLabel.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
fromLabel.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentLeft;
[collapsedViewContainer addSubview:fromLabel];

edit : I believe you may encounter a problem using both adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth and minimumScaleFactor. The former states that you also needs to set a minimumFontWidth (otherwhise it may shrink to something quite unreadable according to my test), but this is deprecated and replaced by the later.

edit 2 : Nevermind, outdated documentation. adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth needs minimumScaleFactor, just be sure no to pass it 0 as a minimumScaleFactor (integer division, 10/12 return 0). Small change on the baselineAdjustment value too.

Answer 2

UILabel *lbl1 = [[UILabel alloc] init];
/*important--------- */lbl1.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
[lbl1 setFrame:position];
lbl1.backgroundColor=[UIColor clearColor];
lbl1.textColor=[UIColor whiteColor];
lbl1.userInteractionEnabled=NO;
lbl1.text= @"TEST";
[self.view addSubview:lbl1];

Answer 3

here is how to create UILabel Programmatically..

1) Write this in .h file of your project.

UILabel *label;

2) Write this in .m file of your project.

label=[[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10, 70, 50, 50)];//Set frame of label in your viewcontroller.
[label setBackgroundColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];//Set background color of label.
[label setText:@"Label"];//Set text in label.
[label setTextColor:[UIColor blackColor]];//Set text color in label.
[label setTextAlignment:NSTextAlignmentCenter];//Set text alignment in label.
[label setBaselineAdjustment:UIBaselineAdjustmentAlignBaselines];//Set line adjustment.
[label setLineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByCharWrapping];//Set linebreaking mode..
[label setNumberOfLines:1];//Set number of lines in label.
[label.layer setCornerRadius:25.0];//Set corner radius of label to change the shape.
[label.layer setBorderWidth:2.0f];//Set border width of label.
[label setClipsToBounds:YES];//Set its to YES for Corner radius to work.
[label.layer setBorderColor:[UIColor blackColor].CGColor];//Set Border color.
[self.view addSubview:label];//Add it to the view of your choice. 

Answer 4

Swift 3:

let label = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x:0,y: 0,width: 250,height: 50))
label.textAlignment = .center
label.textColor = .white
label.font = UIFont(name: "Avenir-Light", size: 15.0)
label.text = "This is a Label"
self.view.addSubview(label)

Answer 5

UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20, 30, 300, 50)];
label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
label.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentCenter;
label.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
label.numberOfLines = 0;
label.lineBreakMode = UILineBreakModeWordWrap;
label.text = @"Your Text";
[self.view addSubview:label];

Answer 6

In Swift -

var label:UILabel = UILabel(frame: CGRectMake(0, 0, 70, 20))
label.center = CGPointMake(50, 70)
label.textAlignment = NSTextAlignment.Center
label.text = "message"
label.textColor = UIColor.blackColor()
self.view.addSubview(label)

Answer 7

For swift

var label = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 250, height: 50))
label.textAlignment = .left
label.text = "This is a Label"
self.view.addSubview(label)

Answer 8

UILabel *mycoollabel=[[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10, 70, 50, 50)];
mycoollabel.text=@"I am cool";

// for multiple lines,if text lenght is long use next line
mycoollabel.numberOfLines=0;
[self.View addSubView:mycoollabel];