UICollectionView Self Sizing Cells with Auto Layout

Question

I\'m trying to get self sizing UICollectionViewCells working with Auto Layout, but I can\'t seem to get the cells to size themselves to the content. I\'m having

Answer 1

I tried using estimatedItemSize but there were a bunch of bugs when inserting and deleting cells if the estimatedItemSize was not exactly equal to the cell's height. i stopped setting estimatedItemSize and implemented dynamic cell's by using a prototype cell. here's how that's done:

create this protocol:

protocol SizeableCollectionViewCell {
    func fittedSize(forConstrainedSize size: CGSize)->CGSize
}

implement this protocol in your custom UICollectionViewCell:

class YourCustomCollectionViewCell: UICollectionViewCell, SizeableCollectionViewCell {

    @IBOutlet private var mTitle: UILabel!
    @IBOutlet private var mDescription: UILabel!
    @IBOutlet private var mContentView: UIView!
    @IBOutlet private var mTitleTopConstraint: NSLayoutConstraint!
    @IBOutlet private var mDesciptionBottomConstraint: NSLayoutConstraint!

    func fittedSize(forConstrainedSize size: CGSize)->CGSize {

        let fittedSize: CGSize!

        //if height is greatest value, then it's dynamic, so it must be calculated
        if size.height == CGFLoat.greatestFiniteMagnitude {

            var height: CGFloat = 0

            /*now here's where you want to add all the heights up of your views.
              apple provides a method called sizeThatFits(size:), but it's not 
              implemented by default; except for some concrete subclasses such 
              as UILabel, UIButton, etc. search to see if the classes you use implement 
              it. here's how it would be used:
            */
            height += mTitle.sizeThatFits(size).height
            height += mDescription.sizeThatFits(size).height
            height += mCustomView.sizeThatFits(size).height    //you'll have to implement this in your custom view

            //anything that takes up height in the cell has to be included, including top/bottom margin constraints
            height += mTitleTopConstraint.constant
            height += mDescriptionBottomConstraint.constant

            fittedSize = CGSize(width: size.width, height: height)
        }
        //else width is greatest value, if not, you did something wrong
        else {
            //do the same thing that's done for height but with width, remember to include leading/trailing margins in calculations
        }

        return fittedSize
    }
}

now make your controller conform to UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout, and in it, have this field:

class YourViewController: UIViewController, UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout {
    private var mCustomCellPrototype = UINib(nibName: , bundle: nil).instantiate(withOwner: nil, options: nil).first as! SizeableCollectionViewCell
}

it will be used as a prototype cell to bind data to and then determine how that data affected the dimension that you want to be dynamic

finally, the UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout's collectionView(:layout:sizeForItemAt:) has to be implemented:

class YourViewController: UIViewController, UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout, UICollectionViewDataSource {

    private var mDataSource: [CustomModel]

    func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, sizeForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath)->CGSize {

        //bind the prototype cell with the data that corresponds to this index path
        mCustomCellPrototype.bind(model: mDataSource[indexPath.row])    //this is the same method you would use to reconfigure the cells that you dequeue in collectionView(:cellForItemAt:). i'm calling it bind

        //define the dimension you want constrained
        let width = UIScreen.main.bounds.size.width - 20    //the width you want your cells to be
        let height = CGFloat.greatestFiniteMagnitude    //height has the greatest finite magnitude, so in this code, that means it will be dynamic
        let constrainedSize = CGSize(width: width, height: height)

        //determine the size the cell will be given this data and return it
        return mCustomCellPrototype.fittedSize(forConstrainedSize: constrainedSize)
    }
}

and that's it. Returning the cell's size in collectionView(:layout:sizeForItemAt:) in this way preventing me from having to use estimatedItemSize, and inserting and deleting cells works perfectly.