Evenly space multiple views within a container view

Question

Auto Layout is making my life difficult. In theory, it was going to be really useful when I switched, but I seem to fight it all of the time.

I\'ve made a demo proje

Answer 1

I know it's been a while since the first answer, but I just came across the very same problem and I want to share my solution. For generations to come...

I set my views on viewDidLoad:

- (void)viewDidLoad {

    [super viewDidLoad];

    cancelButton = [UIButton buttonWithType: UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
    cancelButton.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
    [cancelButton setTitle:@"Cancel" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [self.view addSubview:cancelButton];

    middleButton = [UIButton buttonWithType: UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
    middleButton.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
    [middleButton setTitle:@"Middle" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [self.view addSubview:middleButton];

    nextButton = [UIButton buttonWithType: UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
    nextButton.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
    [nextButton setTitle:@"Next" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [self.view addSubview:nextButton];


    [self.view setNeedsUpdateConstraints];

}

And then, on updateViewConstrains, first I delete all constrains, then I create the views dictionary and then I calculate the space to be used between views. After that, I just use the Visual Language Format to set the constraints:

- (void)updateViewConstraints {


    [super updateViewConstraints];

    [self.view removeConstraints:self.view.constraints];

    NSDictionary *viewsDictionary = NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings(cancelButton, nextButton, middleButton);

    float distance=(self.view.bounds.size.width-cancelButton.intrinsicContentSize.width-nextButton.intrinsicContentSize.width-middleButton.intrinsicContentSize.width-20-20)/  ([viewsDictionary count]-1);  // 2 times 20 counts for the left & rigth margins
    NSNumber *distancies=[NSNumber numberWithFloat:distance];

//    NSLog(@"Distancies: %@", distancies);
//    
//    NSLog(@"View Width: %f", self.view.bounds.size.width);
//    NSLog(@"Cancel Width: %f", cancelButton.intrinsicContentSize.width);
//    NSLog(@"Middle Width: %f", middleButton.intrinsicContentSize.width);
//    NSLog(@"Next Width: %f", nextButton.intrinsicContentSize.width);



    NSArray *constraints = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"|-[cancelButton]-dis-[middleButton]-dis-[nextButton]-|"
                                                                   options:NSLayoutFormatAlignAllBaseline
                                                                   metrics:@{@"dis":distancies}
                                                                     views:viewsDictionary];


    [self.view addConstraints:constraints];



    constraints = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"V:[nextButton]-|"
                                                          options:0
                                                          metrics:nil
                                                            views:viewsDictionary];
    [self.view addConstraints:constraints];



}

The good thing about this method is that you have to do very little math. I'm not saying this is the perfect solution, but I works for the layout I was trying to achieve.

I hope it helps.